Parachuting into the Sun (Explored 28/6/24)
June 20th 2005 : On a whim I decided to travel down to Wiltshire to Stonehenge to experience the Summer Solstice, taking my trusty Fujifilm FinePix camera with me.
I left London around 10pm and arrived in Wiltshire to find a well organised parking system, although the fields were some distance away from Stonehenge, it did remind me of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, overhead lighting, clearer starry skies and darkness outside the bright perimeter.
I did manage a few hours shut eye, rising around 4am to take the long walk to the stones. I would estimate there were in the region of 2000 other folks, maybe more, hippies, new age and curious people too, like me.
As the sun rose there was a genuine feeling of elation, much singing and dancing, chanting and praying going on around me. Honestly an interesting, historical, fascinating and genuinely worthwhile trip to take once in a lifetime! It did help that the English weather blessed us with clear skies, warm enough temperatures and very little wind, with Stonehenge being out on Salisbury plain.
Once the main event finished people filtered away back across the fields, returning to their lives, touched by something unique and locked into memory.
I don’t know if it’s allowed anymore but in 2005 we had free rein over the site, touching and standing on the stones, with very little interference from the organisers. To be honest clearly nobody wanted to cause trouble.
Love to hear your experiences of the Solstice, particularly Stonehenge. Many thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you can enjoy some of the photos.
Parachuting into the Sun (Explored 28/6/24)
June 20th 2005 : On a whim I decided to travel down to Wiltshire to Stonehenge to experience the Summer Solstice, taking my trusty Fujifilm FinePix camera with me.
I left London around 10pm and arrived in Wiltshire to find a well organised parking system, although the fields were some distance away from Stonehenge, it did remind me of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, overhead lighting, clearer starry skies and darkness outside the bright perimeter.
I did manage a few hours shut eye, rising around 4am to take the long walk to the stones. I would estimate there were in the region of 2000 other folks, maybe more, hippies, new age and curious people too, like me.
As the sun rose there was a genuine feeling of elation, much singing and dancing, chanting and praying going on around me. Honestly an interesting, historical, fascinating and genuinely worthwhile trip to take once in a lifetime! It did help that the English weather blessed us with clear skies, warm enough temperatures and very little wind, with Stonehenge being out on Salisbury plain.
Once the main event finished people filtered away back across the fields, returning to their lives, touched by something unique and locked into memory.
I don’t know if it’s allowed anymore but in 2005 we had free rein over the site, touching and standing on the stones, with very little interference from the organisers. To be honest clearly nobody wanted to cause trouble.
Love to hear your experiences of the Solstice, particularly Stonehenge. Many thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you can enjoy some of the photos.