Our daughter and son-in-law have been visiting this week and it has been such a delightful treat! They came up with the brilliant idea of visiting Stonehenge the one night of the year when the barriers are down and the public can enter the stone circle -- the night of the summer solstice.
When we first arrived to the long, long line of cars all trying to converge on to the parking field, from a distance Stonehenge looked so peaceful, quiet and relatively uncrowded.
It took well over an hour to travel one mile and make it to the designated parking field, park, then walk through the fields to the official gate of entry. By then there were already at least a thousand people converging on the sacred spot. Too bad we weren't the only ones to have the idea to visit on this date.
Regardless of the crowds the stones were awe-inspiring and stunning and we all felt so fortunate to have the chance to walk among them.
• Solstice, or Litha, means a stopping or standing still of the sun
• The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and is celebrated by thousands of pagans across the world. In the northern hemisphere, the solstice usually falls around 21 June
• Stonehenge is believed to have been used as an important religious site by early Britons 4,000 years ago. Recent pagan celebrations at the site began in the 20th Century
• On Litha, the central Altar stone at Stonehenge aligns with the Heel stone, the Slaughter stone and the rising sun to the north east
This was an evening we will never forget: Sacred stones; druids and wizards; happy crowds; ancient rituals; an army of kind and well organized volunteers; solstice sunset; sharing this special evening with Kate and Peter and a few thousand strangers; seeing over 10,000 people arrive by the time we left, knowing that the numbers would grow to 25,000 throughout the night to celebrate the sunrise a few hours later.
