Bath—driving to Avebury then Stonehenge

I recall the roads in that part of the country being mostly 2 lanes (1 in each direction), no shoulders, and not overly narrow. Driving shouldn’t be bad, but don’t expect to drive 60mph either.

What would be the mph to expect?

Take a look for yourself on Google Maps. (I have set it so that you will see Avebury. The road from Bath is the A4 coming on the west. The road to Stonehenge goes via Devizes and is the A361 which you will see on the map going off SW. Drag on the yellow man and see the street view at various locations along your proposed route - including the start point in Bath).

Note that you can easily go by train from Bath to Salisbury and then take the shuttle bus to Stonehenge. Before returning to Bath, be sure to see the wonderful medieval Salisbury Cathedral - built in the 1200’s.

The speed limit on a lot of the journey will be 60mph but due to traffic you will likely be travelling slower than that. I do think it’s quite a long drive to launch into if you aren’t feeling very confident. Maybe get the car a day earlier and do some shorter trips to familiarise yourself with everything.

The roads will be fine but you will need to concentrate as you go through towns and villages. Parking at Avebury can be very busy so I’d suggest leaving early to get a space easily.

It will be a mix of 60 mph single and double lane, and slower speed routes. The speed will depend on time and day of the week, regardless of the road type. I've gone past Stonehenge at under five miles an hour plenty of times

What would be the mph to expect?

Probably estimate 40mph

I don’t remember any problems with that drive. I love that you are going to the Long Barrow. I was the only one there when I went. I love Avebury as well. Stonehenge was more fun in the past when you could get right up to the stones.

Thank you everyone!
James, we would love to go via Salisbury but the shuttle stops before the end of the evening inner circle tour. Also we would like to see Avebury.

Does anyone know if we could piece together a public transit/taxi trip that includes the return form the evening inner circle trip and a trip to Avebury and a train back from Salisbury at 21:00 or so?

In a word that is impossible. The only transit to Stonehenge is the shuttle bus, last one back at 7pm.

I just don’t get the point of having an inner circle tour of Stonehenge. When I was a teen, you could wander around the stones at will and because of that, you could not take photos of Stonehenge without people in amongst the stones. It is much better when everybody can stand back and take their photos.

You have to decide what is best for you given the options.
Trains > https://www.nationalrail.co.uk
https://www.thestonehengetour.info/bus-timetable/
https://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-sarum/

Note that pre historic burial chambers can be found all over the Uk but tend to be more prevalent in the west. I remember visiting Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber in SW Wales and was the only person present. This is because most people don’t know about them. It is in fact from the Preselly Mountain in Pembrokeshire that the ancients moved the so called blue stones to Stonehenge. Everybody wonders how and why they did it. The answer is obvious, the ancient Welsh wanted to built a world class tourist attraction for the English in times to come.

Here is another Burial Chamber - this time just west of Cardiff. https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/st-lythans-burial-chamber
It is very near Dyffryn Gardens.

Pretty much at any burial chamber that cannot be easily reached without a rental car, you’ll be the only one there. We too were the only ones at Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber when we were there. It’s off the main road on a narrow one track road. Parking was nothing more than a pull off with space for a few cars at most. Another one we visited was Lligwy Burial Chamber on Anglesey.

Hi mistime -

Just to be clear on this, it is not possible to drive directly to West Kennet Long Barrow. The ‘car park’ provided is actually a lay by on the A4 - to be honest I’ve always walked from the centre of Avebury, taking in Silbury Hill on the way.

The path - which I’m sure will be signed - to reach the long barrow, is across fields for about half a mile, steadily upwards heading south. Of course it’s downhill when retracing your steps! It’s worth the effort!

Ian

Thanks all. I really appreciate this discussion.
Thanks Ian for the idea of walking to the West Kennet Long Barrow from Avebury.
In planning our day, does the following sound best?

Drive from Bath to Avebury then walk to the Long Barrow. (Can we walk to the stone circles also from Avebury?)
Visit the museum in Avebury.
Drive to Stonehenge and see visitor center before it closes.
Wait for Inner Circle Tour shuttle then do that tour.
Does Avebury have a place to have lunch or should we picnic?

Hi mistime -

Once you’ve parked in Avebury, you are already inside the circle. It’s much bigger than Stonehenge and the village is more or less inside the circle! Have a search for aerial photos of the site to give yourself an idea of the scale of the thing. If you can read them, an OS map of the area will guide you to the various sites. You should be able to pick one of those up locally - or, better in my view, if available, a Yellow Publications pocket map (based on the OS map but covering a smaller area, thus pocket sized) would be just the ticket.

It’s been a while since I went to Avebury (wrong end of the country) but there was a cafe and a pub in the village. But if the weather is good nothing to stop you choosing a stone and having a picnic near it I guess (check what the current policy is on that though!).

Ian