The only metal that came to the area was in the form of ready made tools such as axes.
The transporting of the colossal stones would be the equivalent to seafaring suicide. The metal prospectors could have only made the trip carrying a manageable cargo of ores, but that would be nothing compared to the massive bluestones. Carrying that load in a clumsy raft dependent on paddles and poles along the Welsh coast would have been a perilous journey. Strong tides, sandbanks, and unknown weather would make the trip nearly impossible. Following the sea voyage more challenges remained. After the rafts would be abandoned the stones would have to be transferred to a more suitable craft for maneuvering the winding rivers. Then the stones would have had to been unloaded again for the land portage of several miles. This would have to be repeated almost eighty times over a period of several decades in order to complete the project. (Burl 6).
A modern day group led by Phil Bowen took on the challenge faced by these ancient people; however this group took advantage of many modern day luxuries. A bluestone was dragged on a sled from the Preselis, though not over rough ground but along mesh-covered roads, and a lorry was used to take the load over difficult slopes. A group of boat builders designed and built two Celtic boats called curachs which the group lashed together, with the stone towed underneath. During the boat trip the water became choppy and rope holding the rock snapped and the rock fell 50 feet to the bottom of the riverbed. Bowen hired divers and got the stone back up with help form modern day technology. (Whitelaw) This experiment was not very scientific. It showed that it possibly could be done, but the people would have to be very resourceful, creative and have great resolve in order to complete the expedition.
Aubry gives an alternative explanation as to how the stones arrived on the Salisbury plain.