Stonehenge, A magical road trip

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They are just rocks, a place for rituals, a place of religious significance, a burial ground. Different people have different opinions about it; but for me it was a mystical and magical place.

Most people have seen it in pictures, but are unsure about what it is called. When I tell them that I have been to Stonehenge and show them the pictures. They immediately recognize it! How?… All thanks to Microsoft Windows XP. Yes, one of the wallpapers in Windows XP was of Stonehenge. This is exactly where I myself had seen it first and it had quickly become my dream to visit this place. Never in my life I had imagined that I would visit this remote place, but this the magic of dreams, you never know how and when they translate into reality.

It was October 2005 and my maiden trip to Europe was about to bring my first mental imagery to life. I was on a business trip to UK and was putting up in Basingstoke. I decided to visit Stonehenge and also convinced four of my colleagues to join me. Salisbury, where Stonehenge is located, is around 50 miles from Basingstoke. We first searched for guided bus tours starting from Basingstoke, but found none. We also looked at other options like taking a train, but the train station in Salisbury was too far from Stonehenge. It seemed that renting a car was the most comfortable, economical and time saving option. Now that we were renting a car, we were free to explore more. Most tourists club the town of Bath with Stonehenge, but we decided otherwise. We decided to visit a beach instead and it was Bournemouth. Basingstoke → Stonehenge → Bournemouth → Basingstoke. A perfect triangle day trip.

We woke up to a nice sunny Saturday and headed out to the nearest Hertz rent-a-car place. A Ford Fiesta it was, with me on the drivers’ seat and four brave co-passengers (after all they had put their faith in my driving skills). I was going to drive for the first time in a foreign land and drive not to just any location. It was a location, I had always wanted to go to. It was Stonehenge. I thanked my stars and hit the gas pedal. I must mention that the drive was beautiful. It was a typical English countryside, with lush green hillocks strewn all over the landscape.  As we approached Salisbury plains, I got a glimpse of the stone structure from the motorway itself. The place is actually at the juncture of A303 and A344 motorways. I drove past the structure, turned around and parked the car. After a long walk from the parking, I finally saw the Windows wallpaper come to life. Here I was braving the chilly winds, staring at the “Rocks” in awe and wondering.  There was no sign of any other rock for as far as the eye could see 360 degrees. It was infinitely plain all around ( at least this justifies the strong winds blowing relentlessly in all directions). Unfortunately, the only camera I had with me was a Nokia 7710! No regrets though, I tried my best to capture it from every angle possible. An hour later with a souvenir in my hand, we hit the road again heading towards Bournemouth.

The weather gods were with us throughout the day and once again we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Two hours later we were at the beach. The water was too cold for us, so we decided to sit around in the sand and enjoy the view. A couple of people were trying surfboarding, A wedding photographer was busy taking shots of a newly wed couple, A group of friends were enjoying a ride in the motor boat, A small kid was busy making an elaborate sand castle…and I was shivering with excitement thinking about a dream come true.

Dream realized on - 1st October 2005