Home Page Skip Navigation

Explore Wiltshire

  • Salisbury - Salisbury and Stonehenge
  • Swindon - Swindon
Visitor Review

 Your Itinerary Planner

Welcome to the Itinerary Planner. Use this tool to build your own journey or choose from an exciting range of specially selected tours.

List All My Saved Itineraries

The Sarsen Trail and Neolithic Marathon

New Year, New Challenge – Run it – Walk it – Bike it

The Sarsen Trail and Neolithic Marathon, one of Wiltshire’s important leisure events, will take place on Sunday 6 May 2012. A significant date for serious runners, walkers and cyclists, it is also a fun day for families wanting to enjoy the countryside and raise money for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

This year’s event includes the Full and Half Marathon, a range of walks (7, 11, 15 and 26 miles) and a new route for the 25-mile multi-terrain, circular mountain bike route, starting and ending at Stonehenge. This new cycling route will this year go through Salisbury Plain allowing cyclist to enjoy the vast beauty of this unique landscape.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is celebrating its 50th year anniversary and hopes to raise even more funds to continue its critical conservation work supporting and developing a sustainable future for wildlife and people. 

“This is a rare opportunity for people to access an area which is usually closed to the public and to enjoy this spectacular landscape. I am also pleased to say that we have been given permission to take this year’s cycling route through Salisbury Plain. We had over 2,300 people taking part last year and I expect this year will be no exception. The marathon places are limited and in our 50th year we expect a record attendance, so I urge people to sign on as soon as possible,” says Sarsen Trail coordinator Derek Gard.

It’s a fabulous, fun-filled day on a route full of ups and downs and a mixture of grassland and farm tracks stretching across stunning landscape from the Vale of Pewsey, through the Avon Valley and across the wilds of Salisbury Plain.

For wildlife watchers, the northern half of the route from Avebury to Redhorn Hill is an area rich in wildlife and you can expect to see skylarks, brown hares, sedge warblers and kingfishers. The route crosses fields and country lanes as well as a couple of busier roads and a railway line.

The route is fully stewarded with first aid cover and support vehicles and a free coach service is offered for walkers between the starting and finishing points. The Trust provides regular water and toilet stops with refreshments available along the route.

All participants who cross the finish line at Stonehenge receive free refreshments at the end, along with a medal awarded to all those who finish their chosen route. Thanks to English Heritage those with medals will have the opportunity to enter the Stonehenge site for free for the rest of the day.

Entry fees cover Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s costs for organising the event and more funds can be raised for them through individual sponsorship. This year they are asking participants to take their £50 challenge and to raise a minimum of £50 sponsorship. Sponsorship forms can be downloaded from the Wiltshire Wildlife website.

For further information visit www.wiltshirewildlife.org or email derekg@wiltshirewildlife.org. Online booking via the website will be available from Monday 16 January 2012.