On Friday, the Wilts and Dorset Bus Company … or ‘W&D’ to its friends … launched the Stonehenge Tour. Or rather, re-launched it. There’s been a Stonehenge Tour from Salisbury for many years. ‘Guide Friday’, the open-top bus company, used to run it, only they didn’t use an open-top bus on this particular tour.

A couple of years ago, ‘Guide Friday’ was taken over by City Sightseeing … and they didn’t use open-top buses, either!

A few weeks ago, I was putting some finishing touches to an article about Stonehenge, and doing some research for a ‘how to get there’ factbox.

‘We withdrew the Stonehenge Tour a good while ago’ said City Sightseeing ‘but it could be that W&D are still running them in our livery. Repainting a bus isn’t cheap!’

No, we aren’t, said the Man from W&D. The Stonehenge Tour is well and truly defunct.

Then, yesterday, I called into my favourite coffee bar, and saw a bus schlepping down the street, in smart new red and black paintwork, proclaiming it to be … The Stonehenge Tour.

So, today, I checked it out. You board the bus in Salisbury, at either the railway station or the bus station. Normally, a return ticket to Stonehenge costs £11 for an adult, but for £17.50, you can buy admission to Stonehenge as well … and, if you do this and it’s crowded, you get fast-track entry, too.

You’ll travel first to Amesbury along the A345 road, and a recorded commentary gives details of what you’ll see along the way. And, after travelling to Stonehenge, you’ll catch a subsequent bus … they run every hour until 1^st June; every 30 minutes after that … to return to Salisbury along the A360. There’s a stop at Old Sarum if you want to inspect that ancient castle, but here, you don’t have to wait for the next Stonehenge Tour bus when you’ve finished. Your ticket is good for any W&D bus going into the city.

For fares, timetables and other information, go to www.thestonehengetour.info