Stonehenge – Wednesday 21st November
Mark Anstee draws Stonehenge 21/11/12
It rained so hard this morning it was epic, biblical even, but, two o’clock arrives and the sun breaks through, the sky is blue and it is perfect weather for sitting up at Stonehenge for an hour or so.
Up on the monument field the only path open is the tarmac walkway. The grass is too sodden for tourists; puddles everywhere.
Siobhan is up here with her fabulous goat head staff and the light on the stones is gorgeous. The moon is already rising in the sky, balancing up the sinking sun.
It’s chilly so people don’t seem to mind that their visit to the stones is seriously restricted, it’s not a temperature to be hanging around in.
Mark sits to draw his favourite trilithon in silverpoint. The sky is quite clear but the sun moves remarkably quickly and the shadows grow longer each passing minute.
A school party is in, mid teenagers. They hover over the artist checking out his work. The photo session is underway and one young man on crutches, his left leg bent up behind him, takes on his friends in a race along the path. He’s fast.
I watch a man holding the goat head staff, facing the stone circle, head bowed.
Anstee: Stonehenge in Silverpoint
A group of people walk towards the stones across the field from the byway. The EH staff are swiftly on to it. I hear the ‘intruders’ being invited to buy tickets from the entrance booth, but I know they won’t come back. They shuffle off down the slope and out.
Outside the chain link fence people continue to pull up and take photos through the wire. There’s a line of cars parked along the verge of the A344.
The kestrel is here too, hovering above the meadow where the sheep are grazing. The sky glows a soft lavender as the sun sinks. It’s quite magical. Cold, but magical.
A security guard, tall, strong looking, arrives on the monument field – a new guardian of the stones, his hi-viz vest luminous in the crepuscular light. It’s the non–tourist time, time for us to leave.