Magical Tour

I mentioned the Holy Isle, Iona in my last post. I was tempted to set a time travel romance on the island going back to a year before the Vikings raided the community but authenticating the time period proved to be a daunting task so I gave up.

On our Magical Tour we'll head south to Glastonbury, in Somerset, England. The legends of King Arthur are writ large in and around Glastonbuy. He and Queen Guenievere (sp?) are allegedly bured there. Two graves are marked as his and her burial places but much doubt exists since no one knows for sure whether a King Arthur actually lived and died as the legends tell us.

Glastonbury was once upon a time a magnificent abbey with great wealth. The ruins are awe inspiring. The glory is still there. King Henry VIII wanted the abbey gold and wanted the Catholic church brought to its knees so he could divorce one queen and replace her with another. Abbeys throughout Britain were destroyed. Only walls remain to remind us of a time when the great abbeys were a force in society. Their ruined beauty is breath taking.

It used to be easy to walk through the Glastonbury ruins and contemplate - whatever one felt like contemplating - but the authorities had to enclose it after New Age campers tried to move in. Some did and damaged the already fragile ruins. There is a "feel" to Glastonbury that speaks of long ago worshippers. I wondered at the architects who designed and built the abbey with primitive equipment but who had a profound desire to raise a building in which to worship God. When I walk in and around these holy places I feel something through my feet, something like a vibration left behind by past generations who walked there.

Glastonbury Tor rises high above the surrounding land. Long ago parts of Somerset were under water, called the Somerset Levels. Stories of Camelot and magical islands abound. Drift in a boat through swampy bushes and hanging willow trees and you will find yourself coming to a dreamlike place. Step on the shore and ...

We stayed at a small 15th century hotel on the main street in Glastonbury. George and The Pilgrim certainly looked ancient. A winding staircase led to the second floor. Our room had a large four poster bed. An oaken chest had seventeenth century carved on the front. I almost didn't sleep our first night fully expecting a ghostly knight to appear. He didn't!

I'd love a comment or two. Are my posts intersting or boring! Am I blethering too much?

Anita Birt
www.anitabirt.com