Megaliths

I've always loved megalithic sites - ever since first seeing (and climbing around!) Stonehenge as a child in the early Seventies. They have a charm of their own, these first buildings of mankind, often set in eerily beautiful, windswept locations. There is a haunting desolation, the magic and patina of something that has stood for thousands of years against the elements, yet built seventy generations ago.

In that wonder, there is humility too - which artefacts of ours will remain when all the iron has turned to rust? Will our highways still stretch proudly through the landscape in five thousand years - what will we be, who will we have become. Will the stones still stand in another five thousand years, and will there still be those who come to wonder and reflect?

There are hundreds of megaliths in the British Isles alone - sadly the increasing popularity of some means access has had to be restricted. I recall wandering around the stones of Stonehenge - and even in recent years I have seen the French stone rows at Carnac fenced off to prevent erosion. Fortunately many of these sites are less likely to be overrun because of their remoteness. But if you visit any of these - please be kind to the ancient stones. Leave but footprints and take only pictures...