A Visit To Stonehenge in England

When I first decided that I would visit England as part of a trip there seemed to be only one thing that came to mind. That was to visit Stonehenge and thinking back now I cannot come up with why it was the first thing on my mind. But that decision in many ways guided the rest of the time that I spent in England over the following few days.

The Thought Process

When looking at the idea of visiting Stonehenge, I never even considered the idea of a tour from London. While it might have been a much easier option, I looked at the location and immediately the thought of driving seemed the most logical option. That thought established the idea of renting a car and so that is just what I did.

I had the car for five of the seven days I would be in England and had no idea where I would go after Stonehenge. In fact, even though I hated the idea of leaving home without a plan, I even had three nights in England unbooked. I did not book each night until the night before as I covered my journey.

Getting To Stonehenge

I organised to collect the car upon arrival in London at Heathrow Airport. Subsequently also booking my first nights accommodation some 70 Miles (115 Kilometres) away at the Travelodge in Amesbury. However, there were two big downfalls in this combination of decisions. Both of which I would definitely change in the future if I was making similar choices.

1. The timing of my flight arriving in London at Heathrow Airport and subsequent departure by road was not ideal. It turned out that not only was I driving out of London at peak hour but it was also a Friday afternoon. The normally just over one hour drive took me well over two hours.
2. The combination of travel time and departure times in Toronto saw me awake a little too long. I would calculate it at getting close to 22 hours awake, a point I should have been heading to bed, not into London peak hour traffic. Thankfully everything worked out well in this case, but definitely a choice I would make differently in the future.

Visiting Stonehenge

If you are visiting Stonehenge, there is one huge benefit to staying somewhere in the town of Amesbury. That is you are extremely close to Stonehenge. The Travelodge in Amesbury is just 2 Miles from Stonehenge and makes it easy to be there for the opening time.

I was basically stepping out of the car at the opening time for Stonehenge and one of the first few to enter that morning. It allows for a much better and less busy experience with so few people to contest with. The pathway is empty in this photo, but that is because there were maybe 10-20 other people altogether here. But even as I was leaving the tour buses with starting to fill the coach parking and many more people were arriving.