On Friday, I left Oxford at 8.00 am. Since I had to switch trains in Bath, and Bethany had already offered to take me to Bath one day, we decided to meet and spend the day there before heading to her town. We started out at the Roman Baths. After having studied Classics for four and a half years, it was really exciting to see a real Roman bath complex. I couldn't help but think of the description of Quintus going off to the baths in Rome in my Latin text book. The baths were more than just a bathing and entertainment area; they were adjoined to a temple of Minerva Sullis (an amalgam of the Roman god of wisdom and her Celtic counterpart). They had uncovered some of the remains of the temple and the sacrificial altar which (like the altar of burnt offering in the Jewish tabernacle) had been located in the courtyard of the temple. After that, we went to the Jane Austen museum in Bath. It is located in a house that is very similar to the one she lived in with her family (the actual house is privately owned). It's a smallish museum and we had a brief talk on the history of Jane Austen and her family and her connections with Bath. The museum had various displays about what life would have been like in her day. We got to try on some 18th C bonnets.
After a toasted sandwich lunch at a small restaurant/pub, we wondered around town, visiting various shops. At around 5.00 we headed back to the station to catch the train to Bethany's town. She lives with her dad Simon, sister, Abigail, and their black spaniel, Ollie. It's the first time I've had a dog to pat since leaving home and Ollie looks a lot like our Juliet, with longer, curlier hair. I'm pretty sure Julie has some spaniel in her though her face is very clearly dachshund.
After a toasted sandwich lunch at a small restaurant/pub, we wondered around town, visiting various shops. At around 5.00 we headed back to the station to catch the train to Bethany's town. She lives with her dad Simon, sister, Abigail, and their black spaniel, Ollie. It's the first time I've had a dog to pat since leaving home and Ollie looks a lot like our Juliet, with longer, curlier hair. I'm pretty sure Julie has some spaniel in her though her face is very clearly dachshund.
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| Roman Bath |
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| Roman Bath |
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| Temple Pediment |
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| Reconstruction over remains of altar |
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| Jane Austen bonnets |
On Saturday, Bethany and her dad took me to Glatonbury and Stone Henge. To understand the significance to me of visiting Glastonbury, you need to know a bit about my interests in King Arthur. During high school, I read a series of book by Stephen Lawhead called the Pendragon Cycle. They are set in the dark ages of Arthurian Britain. Much of the story takes place in Glastonbury (the "Glass Isle") where the Fisher King (an Atlantean survivor and Merlin's grandfather) sets up a kingdom with his remnant from Atlantis. The later books are about Merlin and Arthur himself. These books led to a phase during my high school career when I was really interested in King Arthur and the history of the legend. This culminated in me doing a research oral (speech) on him for English class in Grade 11. Outside of the book series (which is rather imaginative in it's links with Atlantis), Glastonbury has long been associated with the history of King Arthur and of early Christianity in Britain.
The old Glastonbury Abbey (occupied between the 7th and 16th centuries) is associated by legend with the site to which Joseph of Arimathea supposedly came, bringing Christianity to Britain long before the first Roman missionaries arrived. In the grounds of the abbey, is a thorn tree that was said to have been planted by Joseph himself from his staff. The current tree is a descendant of the original. We happened to arrive at the tree while a tourist guide (in Saxon dress) was explaining to his tour group about it. He said one of the interesting things about the tree is that genetic tests have shown it is not of the local thorn variety but more closely related to the type found in Palestine. It is possible that it was brought over during the Crusades to substantiate the legend associated with the place. Another interesting thing about the tree is that is is said to flower every Christmas and Easter. We were there on Easter Saturday and while it was not in full bloom, it was certainly flowering. Of course this is not unusual since it is spring. The tour guide claimed, however, that he has been there at Christmas time and that it does flower then.
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| Glastonbury Abbey Ruins |
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| Lady Chapel (site of first church) |
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| Glastonbury Abbey Ruins |
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| Joseph's Thorn |
In addition to the legends associated with Joseph of Arimathea, there is a site within the abbey where monks digging in the late 1100s claimed to have found a cross with an inscription declaring that this was the burial place of King Arthur. A coffin was also supposedly found with bones of a very tall man and a woman. Both have long since been lost and it is largely thought to have been a hoax (the abbey was in need of money), although it seems there was a real (forged) cross and coffin which have both been lost. The cross was lost in the 18th century but pictures of it remain.
The town of Glastonbury itself is quite strange. It seems to be a tourist centre for New Agers and every second shop is a fairy or crystal shop or the like. I imagine this has something to do with the legendary status of the town and possibly the connections of Merlin via King Arthur. So skirting the shops and town, we made our way to the abbey. The ruins of the abbey are quite substantial, the abbot's kitchen being the most complete section. After a picnic lunch in the grounds of the abbey (in a light rain shower that had kindly stayed off until then), we made our way to the Glastonbury Tor.
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| Ruins |
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| King Arthur's grave |
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| Abbot's kitchen |
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| Picnic spot |
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| Arthur's cross |
The tor is quite spectacular, and a steep clime but well worth it. It has a good view of the Somerset plains. Historically, the plains would flood, making the tor an island. Even today, there are canals draining water away as part of the plains are below sea level. At the top of the tor, is a tower. This is the remains of the church of St Michael that was located on top of the Tor. The tor in it's island state has been associated with the legendary Avalon.
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| Glastonbury Tor |
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| Sommerset Plains - view from Tor |
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| At the top |
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| St Michael's Church |
After descending the tor, we left Glastonbury and made our way to Stone Henge. It is no longer possible to go right up to the stones but there is a marked of area and path surrounding them which make for good viewing. We were unable to get audio commentary devices as they had run out of English ones. At the time we thought that rather odd, but there were many American tourists who were clearly using the Easter weekend to make their visit. The stone circle seemed slightly smaller than I'd imagined but I think that was partly because of the distance we were from them. Interestingly, there is a kind of lichen growing on them, making them a lot greener than I would have thought. We saw two types of "wildlife" near the site. Crows, actually sitting on the stones, and sheep being herded nearby. The sheep are apparently a common site as the tourist shop was selling mugs with pictures of the stones and sheep among them. Apparently someone thought it would be funny to sell tourist paraphernalia with the motto "Stone Henge Rocks". It doesn't strike me as particularly appropriate, however.
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That evening we had take-away chips. Bethany had the more usual fish with hers but I decided to try battered sausages, apparently a "thing" here. We also watched on DVD How to Train your Dragon, one of those films I've been wanting to see for a long time, but had never gotten around to.
On Easter Sunday we started out going to Bethany's church, an Elim Pentecostal. After that, we took a trip down to the coast and I got to see an English beach for real this time ;-) We went to a nice pebble cove known as Lulworth Cove, with chalk cliffs. The sun came out while we were there which was really nice. After that we walked across to Durdle Door. It was the second steep walk of the weekend but worth it again for the view. Durdle Door is a limestone rock formation carved out by the sea
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| Lulworth Cove |
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| Lulworth Cove |
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| Looking back on cove - walk to Door |
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| Durdle Door |
Bethany was working on Monday morning so I headed back to Oxford. I had to catch three trains. Unfortunately I had a 40 minute wait at one of the stations (with the trains running on bank holiday services) but it was nice and cosy inside the station. I managed to make all my connections and arrived back in Oxford around midday.
In all it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Great thanks to Bethany, Simon and Abigail for putting me up for the weekend.
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| Bethany and Simon outside house |
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| Ollie |
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| At Lulworth |
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| Eric the Red |
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| Fond Farewell |
Disclaimer: most historical, geographical and other facts are written from memory of things I've heard and read and may not be thoroughly accurate. Please don't quote me on them ;-)
