Stonehenge

Since we live not far from the fabled A303, it is our route of choice whenever we drive up to the South East. As a result, since buying our house down here [Somerset] in 2010 (while we still lived in Reading), and since moving down here in 2011, we have driven past Stonehenge many times. And every time we sailed, or chugged slowly past in the queue that always tends to form southbound (due to a combination of the dual carriageway becoming a single carriageway and drivers rubbernecking at this historic site), we would say 'We really must go there one day'; often tempered by 'Apparently you get the best view from here, though' [ie in the car on the A303.] But finally, on the day that we drove up to Reading (from whence we travelled to London for the Olympics), we stopped - we were child-free and wanted to make the most of it!

There is an interesting, although fairly long-winded in parts, walky-talky guided tour included in the entrance fee (I think it's about £8 to get in; or, if like us you belong to the National Trust, it's free!) which stops you off at various points around the roped off perimeter of the site. Although you can no longer get up close and personal with the stones, you are close enough at the beginning of the walk to see details and it also means that any photos you take aren't marred by hundreds of tourist bodies getting in the way - surely that's a bonus?!

 Needless to say I took a lot of photos, but only with my iPhone as I stupidly left my camera in the car. While the iPhone is a very handy little snapper, it isn't able to deal with light/dark very well, hence some of these photos are under/overexposed. Having said that, I think some of the overexposed ones are quite atmospheric (in an amateurish kind of way.)

 While the closer views above are interesting enough, it's the shots taken from further away (follwing the perimeter rope) that I think capture the atmosphere as the clouds and sky above change and you get more of a sense of the monument in its place in the landscape.

The next shot ise my favourite; the clouds and the colours are fab; just need to Photoshop out those persky tourists. 

 And what's a girl to do when confronted with an English Heritage shop at Stonehenge at the beginning of August? Why, buy a tacky Christman decoration, of course!