Magical Glastonbury Tor.

After we had our sandwiches we headed off to Glastonbury Tor - I'm not sure if I actually mentioned to Robyn that there was a hill involved. Especially after I tried to climb Leith Hill with a walking frame and had to turn back in May.

On the way up, the last house was a Buddist temple - with helpful prayer wheels...hmmm thoughtful of them.

Doesn't look too bad, does it? Are those little dots by the church tower really people?

Do you see the terraces running horizontally around the hill? They are man-made and people are still arguing about them. They look a lot like old hillforts - they built wooden walls and used the height to fight off enemies.

Other people think it's an ancient 'labarynth' - a maze like route that pagan pilgrims would walk to carry out a religious ritual. It's not unlike Moslem's on the Haj, who travel a journey carrying out rituals at different spots on the way.

People have mapped out a labyrinth on the Tor and it takes an hour or so to walk it through.

Perhaps another time, we were walking for ages and it just seemed to be getting further and further away.

That's better;

Robyn took this one;

This has been a holy place since time began; they've found Stone age and Bronze age relics, there have been Roman remains, there were Anglo Saxon churches, medieval churches, you name it.

This is the view over the Somerset Levels - they are low lying and flat. They flood so often that Glastonbury Tor has been called 'The Isle of Glass', because when the level's flood it looks like the Tor is sticking out of a sheet of glass.

Back then, they drove tree trunks down into the mud and then put great planks of wood on top to make dry walkways which linked the Tor to all the outlying villages.

 

 

It is stunning whichever way you look.

 

And it's not really surprising that the Tor is also known as 'The Isle of Avalon', King Arthur's country.

 

From Glastonbury to Cornwall and Wales, everybody argues where Camelot was, where Merlin lived, where Excalabour was found or where King Arthur and Guinevere are buried.... ....but there can be little doubt that this really is Avalon. 

 

This is looking down at Glastonbury and Wearyall hill.

 

I can't stop posting pictures! We didn't want to come down.

And there is something enchanting about the place and the people who have made it their home. As we clambered up Robyn heard this girl drumming quietly;

As we came down we heard drums in the town, answering back and echoing around the Tor.

That's a long way down;

And when we left to go on to Western Super Mare, we had to stop and take a picture of the Tor for one last time.

My camera is on full zoom - it's in the middle of the trees on the skyline.

We ended up on the seafront at Western;

For some of this;

And an icecream!

It was a tough old day; roadworks on the M3, we got caught up in the holiday traffic at Stonehenge, got lost several times (I do that a lot), couldn't find our way back to the motorway on the way home so we had a quick tour of Somerset and Bristol city centre, eventually found the M4 and then discovered there were roadworks all the way back and then that the Motorway was actually shut at Newbery and we had to drive all around the world to get back to it and eventually got home at 12-15 am completely dehydrated even though we drank two litres of Tesco's Cherryade on the way home!

And we climbed a great big hill.

How cool is that?

Neil Harris

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The Magick of Glastonbury.

Off on our Road Trip!

We started by taking a look at Stonehenge where we spent the night over the Summer Solstice last month.

Ironically, the best view is from the busy A303 - here it is in the distance;

Even if there are lots of people (and there always are) it's magnificent;

We hadn't really thought things through - it was the last day of July and a Friday....all the roads were packed with people off on holiday.....the road around Stonehenge was stationary.

All the same we made it to Somerset in the end and stopped off for a moment at Worthy Farm, Pilton which is the home of The Glastonbury festival;

It started as a blues festival attracting a few hundred people to raise money for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and over the years it grew to a multi million pound phenomenon attracting over a hundred thousand people.

It still raises money for CND and other good causes, run by Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily.

It finished about a month ago and everybody had gone home when we got there.

Except for the sewage man, that is. He was still clearing up!

We stopped to take a picture of where we were heading - Glastonbury Tor in the distance;

The Tor dominates the whole area and especially the little town just by it.

It's very historic, full of mystery and magick;

 

So, in the church yard is a 'Glastonbury Holy Thorn', which uniquely blooms twice a year; at spring and Christmas; 

 



 

Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea planted his staff on the top of the Tor, which then grew leaves and flowered. It's more likely that the tree was worshipped by the pagans who first settled the Tor; flowering twice a year would have seemed miraculous. The Christians took over the thorn just as they took over the Tor. 

 

But it's a good story.

 

The town is full of little alleyways and even more little shops; 

 

 

 



This is the towns cross - Christianity goes back to it's earliest days here.

There are some really ancient buildings, this is the Tourist Information centre;

This is the Abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII in the dissolution of the monestaries. Nowadays the monks are trying to cash in on the myths and magick of the area by claiming that King Arthur and Guinevere are buried in the churchyard.

I don't think so!

There is a 'holy well' and more besides that we didn't have time for.

Glastonbury is now a centre for magick, mysticism and all kinds of crystals, witchcraft, healing....you name it. Most religions have a presence here.

There was convention of 'Goddesses' in the assembly rooms and an 'Enchanted florist'.

Everything the prospective Wizard, Warlock, Witch and....interior designer would need is on sale; 

 

And even if you think it's all nonsense, it's all very charming; full of nice, friendly people who don't mean any harm.



 

 

The locals are very tolerant of it all, in a town where 'The Old Religions' would always have had a quiet place in the shadows, long before the visitors came along.

 

After we had a look through the town, we were off on the second part of our day - Glastonbury Tor!

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com