06:24:37
I got the taxi to drop my off at the Red Lion. Hardly anyone around this time of the morning and it was very quiet.06:29:01
Some very dark pictures of the stones of Avebury barely lit by the moonlight.06:30:56
06:32:26
Looking back towards the village, where there were the first glimpses of dawn light.
06:32:33
...I think the difference between this and the previous picture is just camera settings - it hadn't actually lit up that much in the intervening 42 seconds!06:36:22
The moon over the trees.06:37:11
07:02:22
I found these trees very atmospheric in the moonlight.
07:08:03
I took a walk along the Stone Avenue which runs to the south of Avebury's main stone circle, and from here started to see the first glimpses of the pink sky heralding the sunrise.07:08:34
07:16:56
07:18:15
07:18:27
Hard to tell what of the colours here were real, vs what were just artefacts of the camera doing its best in very low lighting - but I like the end result here which looks very primal.07:21:06
07:22:02
You might think the ocassional cars would spoil the effect but actually the headlights added to it somehow.07:23:55
07:27:36
Finally some other people! A bit reassuring as I was starting to wonder if I might have come on the wrong day!07:27:44
Quite a dramatic change in the light levels from here on - finally you can see the green of the grass!07:28:16
...although I was stil mostly using Night Sight on my phone so not sure the level of light / colour was exactly representative of what I was seeing myself.07:29:39
I really like the silhoettes of the people on the ridge in these pictures.
07:29:44
07:30:44
People starting to gather around the stones as well now.07:31:36
07:31:43
07:32:42
07:33:48
More silhouettes.07:33:54
07:33:59
07:34:35
07:34:42
07:35:21
07:35:29
07:39:20
07:39:26
07:39:51
07:40:08
Looking back to the village.
07:40:25
07:40:49
Very grainy!07:40:55
07:43:20
07:43:27
07:48:55
07:49:01
07:52:40
07:52:52
Lovely sky here.07:57:57
07:58:19
Presumably a couple of pagans/Wiccans there in the cloaks?07:58:39
Some of the assembled sunrise watchers.
07:58:44
07:58:46
07:58:50
Looking back to the village again.07:59:14
08:01:36
08:01:46
08:04:42
08:06:36
08:07:28
08:07:41
08:08:11
08:08:36
Sunrise was scheduled for 8:11 so we're getting very close now!
08:09:51
08:11:48
So I guess this is the closest photo I got to the precise moment of sunrise, although you couldn't quite see the sun itself here because of the ridge.08:12:34
08:12:48
08:14:02
08:14:19
08:14:53
08:15:11
Selfie with stones behind me.
08:15:29
08:15:57
08:16:09
08:16:54
08:19:49
Looks really bright now!08:20:03
08:22:01
08:24:04
08:26:58
08:27:33
08:28:37
08:30:00
...and there is the sun - I had wonder why some people were standing slightly lower down rather than on the ridge, but you get a great view of the sun itself from here.
08:30:14
Me with the sun in the background.08:30:39
08:31:02
Avebury and the sun.08:31:34
08:31:41
08:32:00
08:32:16
08:33:13
08:33:55
08:35:23
Headed to the cafe at this point, which had opened at 8:30.08:59:48
After a quick breakfast at the cafe (I oddly ended up having a piece of shortbread) I went back for a few final photos of the stones. The light had already completely changed and the brief moment of golden splendour has passed, leaving behind a bit of a dull, grey day.09:00:17
09:01:24
09:09:46
Last picture of the stones before I went to wait for the bus back to Swindon.