12 minute read
Part Two – Stonehenge
Stonehenge
PART TWO
Part 2 – Stonehenge Salisbury to Stonehenge
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Distance: 16km Ascent: 248m
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Highlights
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• The richest prehistoric landscape in the world. • Going the furthest back in time in the shortest distance. • Stones. Big mysterious ancient ones. In a circle. • Solstice rides.
Navigation
• The first treelined singletrack descent into Salterton can get slippery when wet 300m and it ends in a farmyard so be ready 200m on the brakes. 100m 0m • There’s a bit of a footpath push on the 0km 5km 10km 15km optional quieter approach to Stonehenge. • The A303 is extremely busy and drivers 300m can be distracted by Stonehenge, so be very careful if you choose to cross it. 200m 100m
0m It’s only a super short section but there are lots of closely spaced junctions, so have your 0km 86km20km 40km 60km map/GPS close at hand. The route splits at the village of Lake too (OS grid ref: SU 133 390). You can carry on riding road to the A303 at Amesbury and approach Stonehenge from the east or take a quieter but slower off-road route over Normanton Down and roll into 200m Stonehenge from the south. 100m 0m
Area introduction and route summary
We’ve split this section into a very short standalone piece because we know a lot of you will rightly be excited about riding to Stonehenge. The sheer intensity of archaeology and things to take in mean it’s not a route to rush, especially if you take the optional pedal and push route from Lake. In terms of sensible overnight stopping points, you’ll want to roll on past the stones to Tilshead, but that name doesn’t mean much compared to Stonehenge or Salisbury Plain so that’s what we’ve stuck with for the section breaks. Plus, after Stonehenge you swap druids and tourists for tanks and artillery; and that’s a whole other conversation about red flags.
Beneath your wheels, it’s straight onto a stone and grass double track from Old Sarum over into the pretty little Avon Valley, then a twisty tarmac riverside lane and gravel track to Lake. From here to Stonehenge, it’s either more winding road and bridleway via Amesbury or grassy double track, footpath push and farm lane.
Obviously, that can be sticky/slippy in wet weather, but it’s definitely the more tranquil option for transporting you right back into the incredibly rich prehistoric landscape that whispers from every hump and lump in the surrounding fields.
The road route is faster and takes you to the edge of Amesbury which has accommodation options before the long push over Salisbury Plain as well as convenient restaurants at the road services.
Either way, crossing the A303 is a definite caution point until proposed alterations are made, and don’t necessarily expect tranquillity when you get to the tourist hotspot of Stonehenge either. Don’t worry though, you’ll have plenty of quality ‘alone time’ with the area’s ancestors over the next 100km or so, so dive into the selfie scrum and then leave the crowds behind as you head north to Salisbury Plain.
Old Sarum to Lake
Roll out of Old Sarum and you’re on grassy, gravelly double track heading up and down hill (spare a glance back for a good view of Old Sarum) before rumbling along field boundary singletrack enjoying the views north until you drop down into the valley. Go steady here as the combination of tree canopy and/or weather can make this descent quite technical. It also ends in a farmyard, so drop your speed before you emerge. From here, it’s quiet road heading north following the meandering River Avon towards Ogbury, the large prehistoric hilltop enclosure above Great Durnford. You head off-road again just as you get into Great Durnford, turning left to cross over the river where an old mill sits as it splits around a small island. It’s a decent singletrack climb up to join the back road right next to a round barrow, and this is the point where you can really feel the world around you start to hum with archaeology. There’s more recent history too, as the beautiful flint chequerwork of the 16th century Lake House that you can glimpse behind thick shrubs and trees is now the home of musician Sting and his wife, who run an organic farm from there. As you drop back down into Lake past a beautiful half-timbered longhouse, the tiny ‘sentry box’ bus stop and old red phone box mark the point where the route splits.
Lake to Stonehenge
(on road option, safe crossing of the A303)
Unfortunately, the off-road option that we’ll detail later involves a dismount and difficult road crossing. That means for now the official route continues along the minor road from Lake. Continue straight on out of the village past the long, low thatched cottage and follow the tree-lined road along the valley. After around two miles you will curve round onto a T junction. Turning left takes you onto the A303 towards Stonehenge – don’t go this way. Instead, turn right towards Amesbury crossing the river into town before turning left towards the Countess roundabout and using the subway underneath it. This route also handily passes a Travelodge and fast food outlet (more facilities are also available at the Solstice Park road services on the other side of the town and there’s a bike shop too).The entrance to the subway is a bit tricky to spot as it’s from the pavement on the right hand side of the road, so it’s probably safer to dismount and use the crossings to get to it. After the subway, you can follow a section of byway, part of which is a disused small-gauge railway line used by the military in WWI, which then heads up towards the garrison town of Larkhill – passing between two of the recently discovered Durrington pit sites. If you’re taking your time, you can detour here to see Woodhenge (OS grid ref: SU 151 433) and Durrington Walls (OS grid ref: SU 151 437), two more ancient sites located nearby, before looping back south on the byway across the cursus monument to visit Stonehenge up close. It’s worth noting that while you can walk your bike around the edge of the Stonehenge fence you’ll need a ticket to get into the site itself, and these are only available at the visitor centre a few kilometres to the west, not at the henge.
Alternative route
Lake to Stonehenge (off-road option with difficult road crossing)
The off-road route turns left at the sentry/ phone box to contour into a small valley heading eastwards and the archaeometer jumps into life immediately – those lumps on the hillside just below the first piece of road are the remains of an abandoned medieval village. As you swing north again onto farm track, the slopes off to your left are loaded with prehistoric barrow groups and long ditch and bank earthworks that we still don’t know the cattle drive, chieftain boundary or cult reasoning behind.
As you reach the top of the rise, the barrows are so thickly concentrated that they actually overlap and different shapes and groups show this was a high-status burial ground for over 1,000 years. You’d be forgiven for overlooking the grassy mounds all around you though, as from here you’re also looking straight down the track to the legendary site of Stonehenge itself. That’s not the track you’re taking though – unfortunately, this ancient byway stops at the busy A303 main road, with no direct way of crossing. Instead you will need to dismount for a short section across an intersecting permissive path on National Trust land. Negotiations over upgrading this to permit cycle use are ongoing, but a decision has been delayed by the (at the time of writing, currently ongoing) coronavirus emergency, so for the moment you’ll have to push your bike along the short footpath. Once dismounted, and past the gate, you’re heading west for about 400 metres in order to join with a parallel byway, where you can then
Normanton Down barrows
There are a lot of them, with a single Neolithic long barrow and over 40 Bronze Age round barrows. The largest ‘Bush Barrow’ was nearly 50 metres across with decorative gold plate ‘lozenges’, three bronze daggers, a bronze axe and stone mace head buried with its male occupant. These artefacts date the barrow to around 1800 BC but other finds show this was clearly a high-status burial area for over 1,000 years.
remount and continue towards the main road slightly further along for a direct crossing of the A303 onto another wide byway towards Stonehenge. We should warn everyone about the crossing here – it’s a busy stretch of fast road, and at peak times it may be a bit of a wait for a safe crossing. Be particularly aware of the possibility that drivers will be distracted, looking at the stones, and not paying attention for anyone crossing. There are plans to build a tunnel for this section of the A303 past Stonehenge, so at some point in the future this scar across the landscape of the World Heritage Site may disappear from view, with the current tarmac carriageway turned into a more natural-looking non-motorised user route. (Further along the route you’ll see how a similar tunnel scheme at Hindhead/Devil’s Punchbowl successfully reclaimed the landscape and transformed people’s ability to connect with nature.) However, for now we are stuck with a difficult crossing of a busy road, so please do take care.
King Alfred’s Way has been designed to be suitable for people with a decent level of fitness and some experience of off-road riding, rather than requiring technical mountain biking skills. The route uses a mixture of gravel tracks, woodland and heathland trails, grassy field edge bridleways, canal towpaths and quiet lanes.
Stonehenge
While it’s most easily recognisable by its iconic ring of stacked sarsen stones dating from around 2500 BC, the first phase of Stonehenge began in 8000 BC when megalithic people dug four large pits as footings for large pine posts on a possibly east-west alignment. Around 3100 BC, a 100m-wide circular bank and ditch appeared on the site, with earlier artefacts buried in the ditch and 56 large holes within the bank. These may have held large posts for a palisade, or the first Welsh bluestones brought to the site. Cremated and crushed human remains found in the bottom of the holes certainly suggest something heavy was used as a grave marker. More posts, cremation burials and potential buildings were added over the next couple of centuries and then Stonehenge as we know it started to take shape. First with bluestones somehow transported 150 miles from South Wales and then with even bigger more locally sourced sarsen stones which were used to form the first of the signature stone ring and lintel arrangements around 2500 BC. Not only did the transport and stacking of these stones show long-distance communication and organisation of a significant workforce, but the stones were all carved so they dovetail together properly and even shaped to correct the perspective that would otherwise make them look tapered. While the stones were re-arranged several times, they always followed an alignment with the summer solstice sunrise and the winter solstice sunset. Isotope analysis of skeletons found on site show people from Wales, France, Germany and the Mediterranean area as well as more local individuals. In other words, if you’re thinking this wasn’t a really advanced and widespread culture with some very clever thinking going on, think again! What we don’t know – and may never know – is what the site was actually for, although a place of worship and/or healing are the most popular theories among archaeologists.
Stonehenge visitor centre
The visitor centre and car park are 2.5km from Stonehenge itself, but here you’ll come across a museum with finds from the site and a virtual tour as well as five recreation Neolithic roundhouses with resident volunteers to tell you about life 4,500 years ago. There’s also a café, a gift shop and a shuttle bus to the stones themselves. As well as being able to walk round the perimeter of the monument, you can also book a ‘Stonehenge Experience’ which lets you wander around the stones (but not touch them) at dusk or dawn when the site is otherwise shut.
Woodhenge
Just 70m from Durrington Walls and well inside the newly found outer ring of Durrington pits, Woodhenge was just thought to be the outer ditch and bank remains of a large ploughed-out barrow. Aerial photography showed dark patches that turned out to be the post holes for six slightly ovalised rings aligned on the winter and summer solstice. Apart from deeper holes in the third ring suggesting larger, taller posts and dating evidence contemporary with Stonehenge and Durrington, little else is known about the site. The holes are now marked with concrete posts and it’s worth a quick diversion from the route if you have time.
Durrington Walls and pits
Durrington Walls is the site of a Neolithic village containing up to 100 houses, making it the largest known settlement in Europe at the time. The village was arranged around a wood-posted henge and a stone avenue that were aligned with the midwinter and midsummer solstice. Archaeological remains show that the village was occupied for at least part of each year and there is evidence of regular feasting. The henge part was built several centuries later with a massive 5.5m-deep ditch and a bank several metres high and 30m across. With a similar timescale to both Stonehenge and Woodhenge, that was already enough to make Durrington Walls a very significant site.
However, in summer 2020 archaeologists scientifically surveying the wider area confirmed that huge 10m-wide, 5m-deep pits that had previously been passed off as natural pond depressions were dug in the same Neolithic period. Joining the dots formed by over 20 of these pits (at least another ten are assumed to exist but covered by modern buildings) created a 2km circle with Durrington right at its centre and, referencing the earlier Larkhill causewayed enclosure, make this the largest Neolithic monument in Europe.
