Glastonbury Tor

We've encountered the 'Glastonbury experience' a few times now, with it's heady mix of mysticism and mythology, so we decided not to linger with the hippies in the High Street and headed for the Tor instead.

We strolled out of town, uphill all the way, and were soon walking along leafy lanes. I love these tree roots that we saw along the way.

We could see the famous hill looming ahead of us .... it can be seen from half of Somerset ..... at first it seemed like a gentle stroll....

but as we got closer the steepness of the slope became more apparent. It was not going to be as easy as I thought!

Glastonbury Tor has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries and has many mythical connections..... it has been called a magic mountain, a faeries' glass hill, a spiral castle, a Druid initiation centre, a hill fort from the time of King Arthur, a magnetic power point, a cross road of ley lines ... and a converging point for UFOs. The legends are many. We do know for certain, that the last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey was dragged up here with two of his priors and hanged in 1539, at the time of the Reformation. It is easy to see why the little town has become a centre for all things weird and wonderful.

At the start of the climb we came across this carved stone and wondered what it was ....  thanks to Rowan who left a comment on my previous post, I now know that it's a milestone to the nearby town of Wells. The carvings represent the mute swans who ring the bell for food at the Bishop's Palace. (Isn't the internet a wonderful thing!)

Meanwhile, while we were pondering over the stone, Inca had found somewhere to have a sneaky swim!

No matter where we go, we always end up with a wet dog!

The path up to the Tor was well laid and snaked around the contours of the hill. Halfway up, the heavens opened and we quickly made our way to the tower at the top.

This is all that remains of St Michael's Church which was built in the 14th century. It was quite strange, that on our way up we saw very few people, but when we got to the top it was packed! There was a huge school party of French teenagers all huddled inside the tower. Hopes of shelter from the rain were dashed when we saw that there was no roof and the rain was pouring through.

We decided to head straight down as fast as we could, with the tower brooding in the rain behind us.

From some angles, it looks like the tower isn't on the top at all. Very odd!

So... did we have a mystical experience at the top?

No, I can honestly say, that in all the wind and the rain, the "energies of King Arthur" didn't come to us, nor were we "empowered by magnetic energies opening our crown chakra" and we didn't feel the "holy vibration" ... but it was a jolly good walk!