Stonehenge Sunrise

By the ripe old age of 30, I had already made it to Stonehenge twice. Once in 1999 with my family when a torrential downpour came and soaked us right through the Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt within a matter of seconds, and once in 2010 with a large group of people from my study abroad program. Both times I thought, “well this is cool, but why do I have to be so far away behind these ropes?” I mean, the answer is obvious – because tourists make it so we can’t have nice things a lot of the time.

I know you’re already dying to see those 1999 and 2010 pics, so eat your heart out. Peak fashion.

After having been twice, I thought I definitely didn’t need to go again, sort of a been there, done that situation. Well, last year a friend was going to be in the U.K. and she informed me that you can go on sunrise tours at Stonehenge and go past the ropes and into the circle – SAY WHAAATTT?! Naturally, I added this to my list. To do this, you have to go through English Heritage Stone Circle Access and request a day to go. You can submit 3 options of dates that will work for you, then it’s up to them which day you go (if any are available). Once you are given a date, the cost is £45 and it is worth every single penny.

This is not something you can just book a week before. You need to book MONTHS and MONTHS in advance. As we speak now, in May 2019, the next available dates are in January 2020, so yeah, MONNTTHHHSSS people. During the summer months when the days are longer, there are multiple morning time slots available, but I figured if I’m doing it, I’m going all out and I went for 5:30am for a proper sunrise.

When my friend went, they got a driver to pick them up in London and they made a whole day tour of it, but that started SO. FREAKING. EARLY. So I decided to make a couple days of it and I went to Salisbury first (more on that later), spent the day there, then stayed at a hotel down the road from Stonehenge, The Stonehenge Inn. This was definitely a good location, especially if you are going to drive yourself, and it is technically possible to walk, but I decided to book a car. Finding a taxi at 5am on what turned out to be a bank holiday was tricky, but I FINALLY managed to find one at the last minute through Salisbury Value Cars.

Once you arrive, there is a bus waiting at the visitor center to take you to the stones, then you are set free for an hour with only one rule – DON’T TOUCH THE STONES. This tour only allows a maximum of 30 people, so it’s nice and quiet and there’s plenty of opportunity to get photos without humans (you still have to wait for them to move a lot of the time though.) I got lucky and got basically a perfect sunrise, but it was COLD the morning I went, so I would recommend layers, warm socks, and waterproof shoes in case of mud.

Alright, enough blabbing, I’m sure you’re only here for the pics anyways, so I’ll let them do the rest of the talking.

*I’d like to say I’m sorry for all the sun flares, but that would be a lie. NEVER SORRY FOR SUN FLARES.