Light on Glastonbury

After a couple of days cooped up at home I think we were all about to go stir crazy. Got to get out. Somewhere. Anywhere. Never mind the rain.

Everywhere around here is awash. If it's not flooded it is ankle deep in mud which is not fun. The path up Glastonbury Tor is at least mostly hard so it won by a mile.

I've photographed Glastonbury before several times so I was looking for something a little different and I wanted to take advantage of the bad weather. It was also mid afternoon with only an hour or two until sunset which made for some interesting light which I hoped to capture.

It had ( just about ) stopped raining at this point so I seized this opportunity of an unusual view of the Tor.

The view from the top. This is not Photoshopped in any way. The combination of heavy black clouds, rain and the occasional appearance of late afternoon winter sun combined to give some  interesting lighting effects. This one of the Somerset Levels .

Taken from inside the ruins of St Michael's church, the sun was   low and so bright reflecting off the floods.

Walking down along the shoulder of the Tor, the clouds gave way to blue sky but the light had an eerie feel which is reflected in this shot. A few moments later and the had light changed completely and the mood was lost.



And finally - a short detour to the White Spring which was open and beautifully lit with many candles. The heavy rain and subsequent  water flow meant that the entire floor was flooded and the roar of the water  meant that talking in a whisper didn't work too well.

They do not permit photography inside to preserve the ambiance (and I guess the privacy of the bathers in the healing pool) but I couldn't resist the fabulous bracket fungus just outside the door!

An Enchanted Christmas

A little different this week. As most people ( at least in the UK) will already know, the South West has been badly hit by torrential rain and flooding. Although the roads around here are mostly  passable with care, everywhere is extremely muddy and the thought of a walk wading through mud and water not  terribly appealing.

The ( fairly ) local arboretum at Westonbirt  does a regular Christmas event which involves a woodland walk with special lighting effects. It's a mile of easy walking and given that it was pouring with rain we didn't think it would be terribly busy!

So after dark we set out. It wasn't terribly busy but even so we were far from the only ones to brave the appalling weather. The walk is lovely and some of the special effects dreamed up by the lighting specialists were extremely effective. Not all photographed well and most of the following pictures were taken on my daughter's BlackBerry which proved more equal to the conditions than my fancy Nikon!

A lot of the lightening effects had movement with the spot lights fading out and coming back on. The rain added a whole new dimension to the scene with the patter of rain drops falling from the trees - well pouring off the trees would be more accurate. The rain didn't let up at all. Those said raindrops contributed an otherworldly mist around the spots as they evaporated in the heat - almost like dry ice.

The following selection of pictures were our best attempts at capturing some of the effects. Unfortunately the bubbles which provided some of the most memorable vistas proved to be somewhat camera shy.

 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's a giant smoke ring!

and another

A tree with a face ( thanks to a camera and projector). Very spooky this one.

and finally a very bad picture of the Green Man  (the others were worse!)










As well as the illuminated trail there was a craft activity for the children ( somewhat underwhelming; most of the children thought so too as I didn't see any actually trying it and only one Dad carrying around the completed project!)

I was hoping for some nice rural crafts as well but I was to be disappointed on that score. We were also faintly horrified by the price of the mulled wine  (£4.00 a cup) so passed on that one.Given the price of entry they could have at least given us a free mince pie :-(

However all credit to them - a traditional Father Christmas. Not a red robe to be seen. 

Blackberries and Mud - Worlebury Hillfort

Didn't want to venture far today after all the travels lately and after seeing some nice sea pictures on a blog I follow we decided to head to the nearest sea.

Well if you call Weston Super Mare coastal! This is the view over the Estuary - Some nice views of the Welsh coast too.

The tide was in so the bay was looking pretty picturesque  with the mud flats of the Severn Estuary hidden under the water.







 The walk took us over the headland at Woodspring Bay  and down on to Sand Bay. I enjoyed the first part of the walk but I'm afraid Sand Bay is not my kind of place. A long concrete promenade with lines of  retirement bungalows behind.  If I ever mention retiring somewhere like that then please shoot me first. It also brought home just how vulnerable this area of coast is to rising sea levels. If it wasn't protected by a long artificial earth mound then it would take only a small rise to flood acres of land.  To add insult to injury the promised pub was no longer there so that lunch was delayed.

Eventually we "escaped" the interminable prom and up into Weston Woods having spotted somewhere for lunch! The New Castle gave us some excellent cider and pannini which refuelled us. Taking stock we decided to abandon the planned route and  instead head up  into Weston Woods in search of the iron age hillfort. It is a long pull up but beautiful woodland, especially at this time of year with all the berries. A couple of pounds of blackberries just might have found their way into the backpacks ( I always carry foraging bags - just in case!).


At the tip of the headland we found Worlebury hillfort - allegedly one of the most notable ones in Somerset. The hillfort is iron age, on the site of earlier bronze age remains. Stone was extensively used for the fortifications and great heaps remain.

 

An interesting feature are the deep pits ( now partially covered with  blackberry plants) which are believed to have been used for food storage and later on as burial sites.






Having reached the end of the headland there was no option but to retrace our steps. Going back the views were very different. The tide had revealed the infamous mud flats and the sun had vanished behind forbidding grey clouds promising rain which duly arrived with a blustery wind signalling a rapid retreat to the car!

If April showers...

... bring forth May flowers what do April hailstorms encourage?

Gorgeous sunny start to the day so off we go with water/wind proof jackets. Really didn't seem worth taking the waterproof trousers - yes I know!

It is Mothering Sunday here in the UK so daughter invites herself for tea. This means another fairly local walk and avoidance of all pubs which will be packed. It's been years since we visited Stoney Littleton and that was a brief run up and back so time to do a proper walk.

The spring flowers are fully out now - lots of celandines, wood anemones, primroses and violets to name but a few. Lots of ramsons too so picked a bag for supper.We even saw the first English bluebells coming out . The proper English ones too. No sign of the Spanish invader. Although  we kept a good look out for hares, we were unlucky. The sighting of a stoat though more than made up for the lack of them.

Some 6 miles later and a rainstorm or two (!)  the Barrow comes into view. This is an English Heritage site but they do seem to leave it alone other than fencing it off. Access is via a style.

According to the badly defaced information board the site is believed to be built 3500BCE and either a tomb or a shrine or maybe both.

If you visit take a torch - you need it.

The entrance leads into a corridor with burial/side rooms off. The main problem with the site is that the tunnel is only about 4ft high. I'm 5'10 and I find the access incredibly awkward. At no point can I stand upright and you block the light from the entrance as you enter - hence that torch!



This is one of the side chambers. I don't have many interior shots, one reason being taking photos when bent almost double isn't that easy!

Right by the entrance is this Ammonite and there are other sea life fossils in the stones.


More information on the site is here





The weather was now looking distinctly ominious and on the dash back to the car  2 miles away the clouds burst and the hail descended.....