The Hippies of Glastonbury

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Mother Nature Makes up for the Rain

Mother Nature decided to make up for yesterday’s bad weather by giving us a beautiful day today. It was blue skies and about 70 degrees Fahrenheit all day, perfect for a visit to the city of Wells and town of Glastonbury. Wells is known for its mighty Cathedral, but I was really excited to visit Glastonbury because it is the site of King Arthur’s tomb. Glastonbury also has a Tor, which is Celtic for “high hill”, which overlooks the town and is renowned for its mystical or magical properties because it is at the intersection of a major ley line.

The City of Wells, an Unexpected Delight

The first stop was the city of Wells which was on the way to Glastonbury. Wells is famous for its Cathedral, but we stopped more as an afterthought and because it was convenient. I didn’t have high expectations, but as we walked up the main street the hum of the local market place caught my interest. It wasn’t a touristy market, but a real outdoor market where the locals could buy coffee for breakfast, sausage for dinner, and flowers for your girlfriend or wife. Before you could say “tight as a fish’s bum”, Tiffany and I were checking out the market stalls and buying things.

At the end of the street was the “Penniless Porch”, an impressive gateway to the Cathedral that was built by one of the bishops to shelter beggars. We explored to the right for a minute, and found ourselves in front of the Bishop’s Palace which looked like a miniature castle complete with its own moat. Apparently the parishioners didn’t always like the Bishop!

Amazing Cathedral

Back around to the left, the passageway led to the front of the Cathedral and a grassy field. As I looked up, the front of the cathedral was just overwhelming. It is simply massive but beautiful. The photos barely describe the size and workmanship of this giant place of worship. It’s really amazing what our medieval ancestors could accomplish with just a chisel, block and tackle. After we made our “donation” and went inside the Cathedral, the first place Erin and Tiffany visited was the bathroom. The bathroom seemed to be the first place we visited in every town. I mean come on ladies, are your bladders really that small?

Inside the Cathedral was equally impressive. There was an old clock from the year 1390 that had the earth as the center of the universe and knights that would joust every 15 minutes. We all sat on a bench watching the clock and double checking our watches, waiting for the action. There was also a carving of Jesus made from a yew tree by a German prisoner of war from World War II. I had no idea that Germans were kept prisoner in the beautiful English countryside. No wonder some of them stayed after the war.

Holy Kitty Kat

Erin’s favorite part of the Cathedral was the kitty cat she discovered outside in the cemetery as we were leaving. The cat was just relaxing in the sun, oblivious to everything including Erin. We stopped at the market on our way back to the car park and got some sandwiches for lunch, drinks and snackage for later.

The Friendly Hippies of Glastonbury

Anyone who has ever watched a King Arthur movie would understand that the chance to visit his tomb in Glastonbury is too cool to pass up. Back in 1191, the local abbot “discovered” King Arthur and Queen Guinevere buried nearby, and had them placed in a marble tomb. This increased the tourist trade (important even back then), which had fallen off due to some Thomas Becket guy getting killed in Canterbury, which became all the rage to visit. So you can guess it probably wasn’t really King Arthur buried there, but we are going to pretend he is anyway.

Parking was a pain in Glastonbury. Fortunately Gina the Garmin was actually useful in finding us a parking lot. As I walked up to the ticket machine the first magical event of the day happened. A pretty blonde woman drove up to me and rolled down her window. “Excuse me,” she said in that lovely British accent. “I have an hour left on my ticket, would you like it?” I think I stammered yes, and then thank you and then she was gone. Looking at the ticket there was no telephone number written on it (haha - what were you thinking?!) but it was indeed good for another hour. I guess karma is good in Glastonbury, or the hippies are just really nice.

Talking Potties

By a stroke of luck, the car park was behind the main street, right next to a church. There were also public restrooms here that the girls quickly visited (what did I tell you?). Erin came running out of the restroom laughing and saying something about hearing voices and music. As it turns out, these sophisticated potties gave you instructions as you entered, warning that you only had 15 minutes to do your business before the doors were unceremoniously thrown open. Then soothing music ensued, presumably to relax you since there was now some time pressure to finish your business. Alyssa got some video of the whole thing and probably has it on her Facebook page if you want to check it out.

We took a narrow lane between the church and another building and as we emerged onto the street we were thrown right into the middle of Hippie Central. There were street performers belting out Beatles tunes, Hari Krishna guys handing out stickers (I declined, thanks), some dude in a medieval costume playing a harpsichord, and a shoeless hobo-looking guy playing a flute. There were tons of super-hippie-mother-nature-back-to-earth stores. You could buy all manner of crystals, herbs, books on natural healing and more. It was great fun to just walk around and soak up the ambience.

Magical Parking Ticket Machines

Almost by accident, we stumbled on to the entrance to the Glastonbury Abbey. I was all business at this point, ready to see King Arthur. Then I realized that the time on my parking ticket was about to expire, so I ran back to the parking lot to get another ticket. As I approached the ticket machine a second time, another magical event occurred. Stuck in the crevice of the ticket machine was another parking ticket, good for 2 more hours. The hippie goodness was really paying off today. Thank you hippie people!

King Arthur - My Ancient Relative??

The Glastonbury Abbey was a real treat. Henry the VIII was really on a rampage when he got divorced and decided to tear down all these churches. I bet he didn’t know he was also tearing down King Arthur’s tomb! Erin didn’t care much about King Arthur, but they did like the ice cream I bought them. Meanwhile, I strolled around the grounds of the abbey until I found King Arthur, and then I did pay homage. The abbey is a perfect place for a picnic or a lunch the next time we visit. We bought a few things in the gift shop as we left. The lady at the register commented that there was a prominent Gilmore family in Glastonbury. Hmmm, I wonder if they were related to King Arthur….

The Glastonbury Tor

The street leading up to the base of the Glastonbury Tor was full of traffic. Too far to walk from our previous parking place, and too cheap to pay for the bus, we struggled through traffic to find a free spot to park. I dropped Tiffany and girls off close to the base of the Tor and went off to find a parking spot. The plan was for them to start up the trail to the top of Tor, and I would catch up to them since I like to walk so fast.

After I finally found a parking spot, I made a bee line for the Tor and started walking up the path. After about 5 minutes I was panting, sweating and really wishing I wore shorts instead of jeans today. Strangely, I didn’t see Tiffany or the girls on the path. When I reached the top, the view from the Tor was absolutely incredible. I think one of my favorite vacation activities is to climb high places and take in the view. The Glastonbury Tor has a commanding view for miles around, you can almost see forever. Naturally my binoculars were safely back at the B&B.

Tiffany Gets Lost

Then fear gripped me, I couldn’t see Tiffany or the girls anywhere. I had expected to meet them on the trail, and when I didn’t, I figured they had beat me to the top. “Oh no”, I thought. “They must have taken the wrong path.” Tiffany is going to be so mad at me for making her walk up the Tor the long way! So for the next 30 minutes I anxiously scanned every possible path up the Tor, until I finally spotted Erin.

By then I was actually worried that Tiffany had passed out somewhere on the trail, or been caught in some magical time warp or ley thing, so I rushed down with some water. Fortunately Tiffany was ok, all her working out lately helped her conquer the hill. As it turned out, yes - they had taken a much longer trail by accident. They were going to continue on the long trail when a local person popped out of nowhere (Alyssa thinks he was a leprechaun, but they are only in Ireland) and gave them directions.

So reunited at the top of Tor, I could finally relax and enjoy the view. Of course it wasn’t maybe 10 minutes later I started getting asked, can we go now. With all the anxiety from earlier and short time on the top I never got a chance to get in touch with my mystical side on the top of Tor. Oh well, I will just have to come back again next trip.

P.S. No hippies were harmed in the making of today’s blog.

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Photos

We Made It !!
Alyssa and Brian celebrate their arrival on top of the Tor.

Hiking the Tor
Near the top.

Comments

[Jaffe]

I guess talking potties is another name for potty talk :) Just don't tell my 4 year old you saw talking potties!