A mile of stop-and-go traffic told me I was approaching my destination: Stonehenge. The stone circle just outside Amesbury is England's most famous archaeological site. Unfortunately, road planners didn't take that into account when they put the junction of the A303 and A344 about 200m away from the stones.

To be fair I have to say that Stonehenge is a lot smaller than I expected it to be. Looks can be deceiving! Don't get me wrong, it is still impressive, especially considering the effort that must have gone into building it. But visitors cannot walk among the stones anymore (unless they booked two weeks in advance and show up for either sunrise or sunset, and pay extra for the privilege), so most day visitors get to experience Stonehenge from about 20m - 70m away. Road development also means, that the A344 runs right through what is known as "The Avenue", the ancient way people approached Stonehenge and the line that points to the solstices.


The many visitors there spoil the experience a little, though. The way to the car park leads past the entire stone circle, so many people just catch a glimpse from the side of the road. But even when you pay your fee and avoid the road through an underpass, you will not be able to get a picture without tourists in it.

There are no signs explaining what it is you see, and how it's been interpreted. Good, on the one hand, as it does not spoil the landscape and just looks better in the photos, but if you can't get an audio guide (which is a possibility on busy days) you're stuck. Of course, you could always hang to the back of a guided group, providing you speak either Polish, Korean, Japanese, Spanish or all of the above.

Stonehenge is a magnificent sight - mysterious and ancient, the last remains of civilisations past. but romantic, it really isn't!

Just up the road (literally 2 miles away) is Woodhenge. Nothing but the holes of the original structure remains, but it is thought that it was quite similar to its stony sister. Today, concrete pillars mark the holes, but it's just a pasture with some pillars in it. Although there is a plan explaining the locations of the holes, it looks like a real mess from the outside. Easy to miss and not signposted, it is in a direct line with Stonehenge, and theory has it that it too was used to mark the passage of the sun.