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rpaddocktoday at 11:28 AM4 repliesview on HN

In the fall of 2023 I tried to visit Stonehenge. We arrived at 15:15 local time.

I was riding in the passenger seat.

There was a male and female police officer standing at the side of the road, beside a "Road Closed" sign blocking the entrance.

The male police officer came to my window and started yelling in my face:

"We are closed!! Come back another day!!!"

I knew it would be pointless to argue with this a-hole and there was no other day in my schedule that we could come back. So we left and never got to see it.

Do these old rocks get tired at three in the afternoon or what?

I'll be sending this Head of Stonehenge an email about the experiance...


Replies

pnuttoday at 1:15 PM

Sounds like VIP/head of state visit and terrible communication skills.

AlotOfReadingtoday at 2:23 PM

The stones don't get tired, but the humans running the visitor center and keeping the tourists in line do. Operating a highly visited historical site like Stonehenge takes significantly more work than people realize.

rjmunrotoday at 2:20 PM

Last entry is at 3pm in winter because it takes a while to queue then catch the shuttle bus etc. and it gets dark, so closes at 5pm.

But if there were actual Police, not just English Heritage security, it sounds like something strange was happening that day, like a VIP visit or something.

It gets so busy that it's recommended to book a timeslot in advance on the website, even if you are a member and don't have to pay.