Wednesday 3 August 2016

Sat/Sun 30th April/1st May 2016, visit 87.

My friend Sue and I had a magical Beltaine weekend in Glastonbury. Sue has a lovely little blue camper van, it was such fun to drive down in that. We went the pretty cross country way via Marlborough, where we stopped for coffee, Devizes, Frome, Shepton Mallet. As you approach Shepton Mallet you get the first view of the Tor, I always have to look out for that first view of the tor.

We had a lovely afternoon shopping with refreshment breaks. The town had a Beltaine feel to it, getting ready for the following days festivities. We even saw the red and white dragons having the finishing touches put to them ready for the parade. We had some lovely chance meetings too including with two people in one of the shops who recognised me from Pinterest.

We stayed in a lovely, fairly new B&B on the Wells Road, a few minutes walk from the top of the High Street and about 15 mins walk to the gardens. It was really really nice.

On Saturday evening we climbed the Tor to watch the sun set. There were lots and lots of people there. There was a group doing a guided meditation in the tower and they didn't mind at all that we quietly joined in, in fact we got hugs afterwards. The sunset was really lovely, a magical Beltaine eve. We went for a drink in the George and Pilgrims before turning in.

On Sunday the gardens had opened early, and admission was free. We missed the main celebrations but the maypole and Beltaine fire were there, and lots of lovely people were wandering round. We both got chatting to a couple of men, who were friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. I did a releasing ceremony in the fire, I was the victim of sexual abuse in my late teens but only realised recently that it was abuse, in the light of recent public cases. So I wrote a release note and burned it in the fire. It felt good.

We came home a slightly different way via Midsomer Norton as there were road closures due to a road race. We stopped for coffee in Devizes and also briefly called in at Silbury Hill. It was a really really lovely weekend.





Beltaine Eve on the Tor















Beltaine Morning at the Chalice Well










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