Glastonbury, Westbury & Avebury

Friday 2nd July



We started the day thinking that we would be moving at a more sedate pace and cover less.......well - we all know what thought done!!

We began by heading to Glastonbury and started at the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. At first I kinda thought - "oh no, not another abbey".

This picture is included really for Terry and Jenny as it pertains to a story that Ray was telling them at the airport. :-)

One of the things that I enjoyed about the Glastonbury Abbey was that "Alice from 1538" brought the whole thing alive with her story of who she was, how people lived and a "potted history" of the abbey itself. She drew her audience into the story as well. I gave her a little 'clingy koala' to say thank you.

We left the abbey and headed for the Tor - on the way was the Chalice Well and Gardens. The water from below this well is said to have healing powers, we were told it is very high in calcium. I'm sure there is some sort of 'hysterical' story to go with this, but my tour guide has let me down on this occasion and I haven't had time to look it up. Whatever the case the gardens are meant for quiet reflection and there were many people there resting, meditating and praying. It was lovely.

The picture below is where you can "partake of the waters". The tourist information place gave us a labelled bottle with our enrty fee and we could fill it here. You might notice that there are a couple of glassess under the outlet. Lots of people just used those (not sure I'd want to if people are trying to be cured of something), some people simply drank form their hands, we used our bottles.

From there we went up on to the Tor. Here Archbishop Richard Whyte was hung drawn and quartered by Henry VIII's men. Let me tell you that by the time we got there I felt as though I had been hung, drawn and quartered myself!!

We do have a photo taken from the bottom of the hill, but it was just too painful a reminder of how unfit we are to include it here!

We left Glastonbury and headed off to see if we could get a glimpse of a White Horse.

If you look really hard at this photo you can see it. It looked much closer to us than the photo makes you think. This is the oldest one of these in Wiltshire. There are others elsewhere, but you take your opportunities when you find them............

From Westbury (the White Horse place, above) we set out to find a stone circle at Avebury. This was unbelievable. You walk around saying "how?" and "why?".

Ray took my photo here - I thought you might need proof that I have been here because although I have snuck Ray into a photo or two there have been none of me to date.

Again, my photos just can't do this justice. It's kind of a shame that you can't be in these places alone - the huge number of tourists seems to deplete the mysticsm some how................

From here we headed home again. We had travelled a huuuuuuge circle and ended up quite near to Wales, which is actually where we are going tomorrow.

Depending on internet access from here on in it may be a few days before I get to do another entry.

ADDENDUM

I forgot to mention the 'piskies' in Polperro (Cornwall). No - that is not a typo, and no - I'm not pissed, although I suggested to the shop owner (where I bought one) that when I told people at home what it was they woulkd think I was pissed....... He informed me that there are lots of piskies in Australia as the Cornish miners that emmigrated took them with them! So - to recap - when I get home I CAN spell and I am NOT pissed when I tell you about my very own personal pisky!!