According to the BBC, the attendance at the summer solstice at Stonehenge this year may number 40,000 or more. Even though I’m not crazy about crowds, I would love to be there!
According to efestivals in the UK, here’s the scoop:
Access
Access to the stones themselves is expected to be from around 7pm on Saturday 20th June until 8am on Sunday 21st June, with it being a Sunday these hours may be extended. The Stonehenge visitor centre closes at 3pm on Saturday for Summer Solstice. Last admissions will be at 1pm, and will be closed all day Sunday, reopening at 9am on Monday 22 June.
There’s likely to be casual entertainment from samba bands & drummers but no amplified music is allowed. When you visit Stonehenge for the Solstice, please remember it is a Sacred Place to many and should be respected.
Van loads of police have been present in the area in case of any trouble, but generally a jovial mood prevails. Few arrests have been made in previous years, mostly in relation to minor drug offences.
Facilities
Toilets and drinking water are available and welfare is provided by festival welfare services. There are normally one or two food and drink vans with reasonable prices but huge queues, all well away from the stones themselves.
Sunrise is at around 4:45am.
Conditions
Rules include no camping, no dogs, no fires or fireworks, no glass bottles, no large bags or rucksacks, and no climbing onto the stones. Please use the bags given free on arrival and take them out, filled with your litter, to the skips provided. Please respect the rules so that we’re all able to enjoy the solstice morning at Stonehenge for years to come.
Getting there
Where possible, please travel to Stonehenge using public transport. The local bus company, Wilts & Dorset, will be running a service from Salisbury railway and bus stations to Stonehenge over the Solstice period. Access to Stonehenge from the bus drop off point is through the National Trust farmland.
I think there were about 23,000 this year, according to the BBC. It’s the only time people can get near to the stones nowadays. Years ago, when I used to visit you could walk round and touch the stones – times have changed!
Wow, you could just walk around and touch the stones! How powerful that must have been!
It’s the middle of winter over here in my part of the world and we have a festival in Hobart called Dark Mofo.
I’ve never been to it,but hopefully I can go next year.
I won’t be doing the nude swimming in freezing water though.
Here’s a link to a news story about it –
https://www.themercury.com.au/entertainment/events/nude-swimmers-brave-hobarts-river-derwent-for-dark-mofo-winter-solstice-event/story-fnpx40bi-1227409212330
I think I’ll skip it this year, since it would be a bit of a stretch to get there in the next two hours. One day I’d love to go there, too, for 40,000? Yikes! 🙂
Yeah, not this year! But it’s on my bucket list!