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)
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
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