Tor-ism

Last night I came to Glastonbury to stay with P, so that we would be close to the venue of a weekend workshop being held at Wells museum in Somerset.

Today's workshop was was richly evocative, but emotionally tiring. Learning of our inner sub-personalities with a group of people new to me. But the course leader is an old and good friend, who I have been a student of for nearly twenty years, off and on, and who has helped me to appreciate and honour my dreams and their world.

Afterwards when we reached P's home, I mentioned I needed to go for a walk to get a photo for my Blip. Since the light was fading, we rushed straight out and onto the old lane opposite, which climbed up the hill towards the Tor. P told me that this was the route for pilgrims to come up from the Abbey, now lying ruined in the town centre, to reach the Tor itself and the nearby Chalice Hill and Well, both being the most sacred of sites, not only for christians.

We wandered across the fields and along a variety of footpaths, admiring the profusion of berries and nuts, hips and haws. The light was receding with the sun shining lowly between the clouds hovering over the Somerset Levels to the west.

I have been visiting the Tor since the late 1960s, after being inspired by John Michell, who wrote so eloquently about it and this Vale of Avalon, in his unique book The View over Atlantis. On Summer Solstices, I used to stay overnight in the remains of the Church Tower at the summit of the Tor, usually windblown, cold and enervated.

P lives only a few hundred yards from the Tor itself, in an area of Glastonbury called Bove Town. I feel so lucky to now be able to stay here now in great comfort on the hillside itself, looking towards the Tor and then out over the Levels towards Street. Magical, as many of the Glastonbury festivallers must know.

Then back for a supper of Sea Bream, bought in Wells market, and fine Kiwi wine and a good chinwag, before a relatively early night. Dreams were to be encouraged and brought to the next day's workshop.

I liked this picture best with the cow's water trough.