Wholistic Arts

Silbury Hill, Wiltshire Drove down to Wiltshire and checked out three castles that were around where the St Michael and Mary Leyline cross another major ley line. Unfortunately, we did not really see much of these castles and decided it would be better to visit them another time when the light was better. As usual we were heading to our destination, Silbury Hill, with little time to spare. Driving along the road we suddenly came upon it, a vast mound appearing before us with a slight mist made it quite eerie. Undaunted we quickly pulled up and parked where we could and vaulted the fence and proceded up to the top. We imagined all sorts of things and there has recently been another archeological dig from inside. It was thought at one point to contain a pyramid. We stayed and watched the light appear but did not get a good sunrise. However, the view was exceptional. Dave

Double Sunset in Leek, Derbyshire Set out at 15:00-ish. Checked around the Churchyard, lots of trees so anticipated we probably wouldn't see the double sunset as first discovered by Dr Plot. So did a diversion by going to the Roaches just outside Leek (large rock formation), brill, the views were incredible. Perched high on the top commanding and breath-taking views all around. Nearby is a ring of rock stuck out right angles, when passing in car the background is sky then rock then sky and gives the appearance of winking. Hence the 'Winkingmans Arms' pub closeby. Back to Leek for sunset but as expected we couldn't see it from the Church, so we followed the sunset onto a park, extremely good view but obviously no 'double' as this can only be seen from the Churchyard. Dave

Uffington White Horse, Berkshire WE DID IT!!!!! Having walked around the famous white horse before sunrise, we then crossed over the top of the hill to the hill-fort nearby and stood and watched the sun rise over the horizon! This was a really good one all round, and not just for the sunrise - we had the full range, with the horse, the hill fort, a dolmen nearby, and we even stopped off at a stone circle on the way back. Vic

Bryn Celli Ddu, Angelsey (Not our photo!) A trip back to Angelsey, this time to see the impressive neolithic burial mound of Bryn Celli Ddu. It was really exciting to be able to climb on top of it, and go inside as well. We realised that there wasn't much likelyhood of us seeing a sunrise from inside, so we watched from the top instead. It was cloudy, and the view was blocked by mountains, but finally we actually caught a glimpse of the sun through the clouds! Not a full sun-rise, but close enough, and a really exciting trip, looking around the place both after dark and once the sun was up. Vic

Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk This expedition took us to the most north-easterly point of the St. Michael and Mary Ley-line, which we'd already seen the most south-westerly end of at St Michael's Mount. We found this ley-line particularly interesting, as it crosses the country diagonally, passing through Bury-St.-Edmunds, the home of my Dads sister, Ann. We followed this ley-line back from the coast and stopped off at several churches along the way (All called St Michael's or St Mary's Church!), as well as Eye Castle, a marvellous little folly on the top of a hill in the centre of the village of Eye in Suffolk. We looked out over the sea to watch the sun rise, and as usual, our view was blocked by clouds, but at least it was a good excuse to take some sea-air! Vic

Aston Cursus, Derby Another trip that was close to home because of work commitments. We were interested to find out that one of the largest cursuses known lies under fields in Aston, and we went wandering through the fields trying to see if we could make it out. It's very overgrown, and not easily noticeable (apparently it can only really be made out from the air!), but we were amazed to see in the twilight a stone circle. As we walked towards it, we realised it was fenced off, and wondered why we'd not heard of it, but as we approached the fence, we realised they weren't stones, but clumps of bushes growing up from the long grass! We speculated over whether these bushes might have grown over the site of a stone circle - and didn't see a sunrise because of clouds! Vic

Angelsey, Wales (Not our picture!) We spent the sunrise walking around the ruins of a celtic village overlooking the sea, pondering what life must have been like watching and waiting for the Romans to come and destroy all that you have worked for. Once the sun was up (again we didn't actually see it rise!), we walked around the spectacular coastal road and found this small dolmen. We hadn't gone there for sunrise for 2 reasons - first, we knew we'd never find it! and second, it is behind some trees and fenced off, so you can't see through it to see the sun anyway. Vic

Wet Withens, Derbyshire (Main picture is not ours - small pic taken on Dave's watch-camera!) We arrived at the site after midnight, and walked around the moors in the darkness for several hours, finding rocks we thought were it but weren't, and nearly walking off a sheer drop (dad's torchlight caught the top of a small tree growing out of the side of the rocks!). We also kept an eye out for the 'Fairy Lights' which are rumoured to appear on the moor at night - we noticed little dots of light which were reflections of distant streetlights in the puddles on the moor, but nothing that could be confused with fairy activity! As with nine ladies, it wasn't until it was nearly light that we found the place. I saw a person off in the distance, and said 'I bet its over there'. Again, we got to the middle of the circle just before sunrise which again was obstructed from our view (this time by a large hill). Vic

Nine Ladies, Stanton Moor This fabulous little stone circle was the start of a new 'trend' for our Solsticequinox trips - getting lost and then finding the place just moments before sunrise! It still continued our initial trend of not giving us a clear view of the sunrise (because of trees this time as much as clouds!) but by this time we'd got used to it, and standing in a stone circle at sunrise is pretty inspiring even if you can't actually see the sun. Walking through the forest to get there, we saw lots of make-shift tents of protesters trying to stop the local quarry from encroaching any closer to this ancient monument, and we realised that Breedon was right on the edge of a quarry too. Let's hope that modern consumerism doesn't eat up this beautiful ancient landmark. Vic

St Michael's Mount, Cornwall We travelled to Cornwall in Dad's Mazda MX5, with the top down at least part of the way because it was such a sunny, pleasant day. We slept in the car overlooking the island, and woke to find a really dim, cloudy morning! Yet another missed sunrise, but we'd grown used to it by then, and we spent the day on the island, wandering round looking for mysteries, and as always, speculating over the hidden meanings behind seemingly ordinary things. Vic

Glastonbury Tor, Somerset Going back to the Grail connection for this trip, we discovered why the Tor is thought to be King Arthur's Isle of Avalon when we climbed to the top and found ourselves completely surrounded my fog. As the daylight slowly crept in, the fog slowly receded to a thick mist, making the hill seem like an island floating on a white sea. We didn't get to see the sun rise as it was too cloudy, but we were pleasantly surprised when three witches (dressed in ordinary hiking clothes) came and offered us a drink of mead before returning to their ceremony. Vic

Breedon-on-the-Hill, Derby (This is not one of our photo's!) We went to Breedon because of work restrictions, as it is close to home. Nevertheless, this was not a casual choice, as it is quite a significant landmark on the Melbourne horizon, and is the crossing point for several ley-lines. Vic

Rosslyn Chapel, Edinburgh Long before reading The Da Vinci Code (or even before it was published, I think!), we decided to visit Rosslyn Chapel because of it's Knights Templar connections, and the rumour that the Holy Grail was buried somewhere beneath the crypts. We didn't find the Grail, but we did find lots of symbolism that we both found very exciting, and we had a wonderful time speculating about the builders of this marvelous little church. Vic

Stonehenge, Wiltshire What better place to start than at the most famous of all Solstice/Equinox related sites - Stonehenge. We spent most of the first day queuing in traffic waiting to be allowed into the parking area set up specially, but were pleased to be able to get into the site and walk around before sunset. We spoke to some druids, and watched them have a small ceremony for the sunset, and then spent the whole of the night wandering in and out of the stones, listening with awe at the way that the sounds of drums echoed around the structure, making it seem to dance with life. We watched the druids begin their ritual for the sunrise, and positioned ourselves perfectly to watch it rise through the henge stones. It started to rain, and we, like the thousand or more other spectators, were a little disappointed not to see the sun (little did we know that this was the pattern that we would follow for most of our excursions!), but we left feeling good about the overall experience. Vic