Wholistic Arts

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne or Holy Island is a beautiful place, it has a Priory which is now in ruins and a castle on a hill. The castle was used by the military but I would imagine this was probably an iron age hill fort earlier. St Cuthbert was buried at Lindisfarne, and his remains later transferred to Durham Cathedral, having been there last year this was our homage to him to see where he spent most of his life and wrote the famous Gospels. Coincidentally, we saw this on TV soon after we arrived home. The Gospels had come 4th in the most treasured 'secrets' of the UK (The Domesday book being no.1). A magical island which can only be reached via the causeway at low tide. We tried to leave early in order to visit Bamburgh Castle but the tide beat us! Dave

Vigo and Tui Casa dos Mouros, Candeán, Vigo A dolmen on a small piece of land in the middle of a housing estate. It took us ages to find, and the path is quite overgrown with bracken, but it was well worth the trip. We didn't stay long, as it was a scorching hot day, and we wanted to get to the next place before it got too hot... Alto dos Cubos, Monte Aloia, Tui A castro at the top of a mountain forest. It was at least a couple of kilometres walk through the forest, but the tall pines kept us shaded from the heat. The castro was wonderful, with a view down the mountain to the town of Tui and the river that seperates Galicia from Portugal. As with all the castros, we noticed that it had a great strategic location, as you'd see the Romans coming for days before they actually reached you. Vic

Guimaraes, Portugal We headed towards Porto to try to find the remains of a celtic town (Castro in Spanish, Citania in Portuguese). We got a bit lost on the way, and ended up finding the beautiful historic city of Guimaraes. We found this Templar guarding the entrance to the castle there! (He's supposed to be the first King of Portugal). After lunch, we headed to a different 'citania' than originally planned - Citania de Briteiros. This is a the remains of a vast city on a mountainside - apparently a very cosmopolitan place at the time of the Romans. The whole city has a gutter that would have had water running down from the natural spa at the top. At the bottom of the hill is a pool for bathing in the spa waters (unfortunately empty, but with renovation work going on at the moment). Vic

Druid's Circle, Penmaenmawr, Wales We had a little glimpse of 'summer' on Wednesday. James and Dave (dad) went to sea-side for a drive (James drove 276miles! Still learning!). We went to Prestatyn, Rhyl etc. on to Conwy, then Penmaenmawr. There, up in the Welsh mountain is a treasure called 'Druids Circle' , it is a fantastic ring of around 30 stones and it stands on the headland of Penmaenmawr above Conwy in Wales. It is close to a prehistoric trackway and three other stone circles. It has a portalled entrance consisting of 4 stones and may have been raised as early as 3000BC. We parked and walked for miles, then came down as the sun was setting, watched it go down over sea while eating curry and chips, really good. Dave

Castro Baroña A castro is the remains of a celtic village, and this one is on a small island in the sea connected by a tiny strip of land. We visited this site during Raye and Dave's trip to Spain for New Year, so Solstice-wise we were a few days late, but close enough! I think the thing we love most about these types of places is, while they may not be as 'mystical' as standing stones, they give the imagination a real boost as you try to ponder what life was like in one of those tiny circular houses, built together like a honeycomb. Vic

Brittany The full team plus one for this visit - we brought Claudia (Loreto's neice) with us too. Brittany is a beautiful place, and the only problem is the sheer quantity of sites to visit. You could easily spend a month there and still find out on your last day that there's something amazing you've missed! The first pictures shows the Dolmen de Crucuno - the centrepiece of a quiet little village which also has a very nice stone circle in easy walking distance. The second picture shows the most famous stones, at Carnac. There are literally thousands of stones spread out over several kilometres - far too many to see all at once, so you probably only get a true idea of the scale if you view it from the air (maybe next time!). The final picture shows by far the most impressive site for me (even if it was raining heavily while we were there!) - La Roche aux Fees. The name means "Fairy's Rock", and it certainly feels enchanted. You round the trees after leaving th...

Costa da Morte We spent the weekend travelling around the 'Coast of Death' - where we visited a magnificent dolmen (pictured). The most exciting thing about this dolmen is the conservation project - It's currently preserved within a big tent - but will soon be the centrepiece of an enormous permanent structrure to protect it from the elements. Not too much of the modern interfering with the ancient, the dome will respect the appropriate allignments as well as protect the site from the harsh Galician winter. Later, we visited Cabo Fisterra (Cape at the End of the Earth) - so called because it was the furthest point west that the Romans managed to venture. Scorching hot day too. No sunrise viewing this trip, but we did get sunburn! We also did the St John's Day celebration a couple of days later - same as usual, although the fireworks where much more impressive this year. Loreto and I jumped the fire together this year - no photo's tho. Vic

Blog Construction We went to Madrid the week before, so work constraints prevented us from making an equinox trip, but I made up for it by creating this blog instead. And because I started work on this blog on the night of the 22nd, I feel that I still marked the occassion in a suitable fashion, even if I didn't physically go anywhere! Vic

Bartlow Hills, Cambridge Back in the UK again, this time we'd arrived at Stansted, so we stopped off at the picturesque village of Saffron Walden (and got lost - reviving old traditions!!) and later managed to find the twin burial mounds in the tiny village of Bartlow Hills. It was getting dark when we arrived - we were too late to see the sunset, but we managed to find the mounds, one of which has stairs up to the top. They look quite small from the ground, and in twilight, but once you've got to the top, you realise that they're enormous. There were more here at one time, but now there's just the two, and we tried to use Dad's pocket compass to figure out if they were alligned, but everywhere we stood on the top gave us a different reading! Very charged electromagnetically, we decided. Vic

Petroglyphs, Pontevedra (Not my photo!) Another trip up into the mountains, this time a lot further away from home, to see some of the larger neolithic carvings - carved into large flat rocks at the top of a mountain. This was in the middle of a forest at the top of a mountain, but was quite a sad sight to behold, as the forest had been stripped bare by the enormous forest fires of the previous year, and only black trunks surrounded us, with bright green ivy growing up them. I wondered how many forest fires these ancient carvings must have witnessed over the last 10,000 years. Vic

St John's Day Festival, Pontevedra A return trip to the local festival - this will probably be the case every year, after all, our home town is called San Xoan (St. John)! Vic

Mountains of Pontevedra Returning to the idea of watching the sunrise, we went up into the mountains near home and found the perfect spot to look across the country, with the sea behind us. There are many neolithic markings on rocks in these mountains, but they're surrounded by trees, so we found a clearing with no particular mystical significance to welcome up the sun. A spectacular view of the sunrise from up there, and on the way home we saw a wild horse wandering along the edge of the road! Vic

The Bridestones, Cheshire (Not our picture!) We arrived back in the UK at Liverpool airport, and on the drive back, stopped off near Congleton to revisit a site we'd stopped off at one time on the way to Angelsey, The Bridestones. These two colossal stones are the entrance to what was once an enormous burial chamber - although many of the other stones have been removed. This site is particularly interesting as we used to drive past it every weekend on the way to see my grandparents, but you can't quite see it from the road, so we'd never known it was there! Vic

Braga, Portugal We went across the border into Portugal and spent the day at the marvelous city of Braga - a former Knights Templar stronghold - and delighted in finding numerous Templar crosses in the cathedrals and churches there - including the one's found in the cathedral at the top of the vast staircase shown in the picture above. We weren't there to watch a sunrise, but the sun was very hot that day, and climbing these stairs was quite an effort! Vic

St John's Day Festival, Pontevedra For my first solticequinox day in Spain, we went to participate in the St John's Eve celebrations, which include burning an enormous bonfire, and setting smaller ones which you have to jump over three times to have good luck for the rest of the year. The small fires were not dangerous in themselves, but the scary part is the fact that dozens of people all run at the thing from every possible angle, so there's a real risk of crashing into somebody mid-air! The St John aspect of this celebration exists in the name only - an example of the Church taking over a traditional pagan ceremony and allowing it to carry on unchanged. Vic

Glastonbury Tor, Stonehenge A trip taken with a mixture of sadness as well as excitement as this was my last weekend in the UK before moving to Spain. This in mind, we had decided to visit the place that we had been most impressed with, and it seems fitting that we watched a sunset at the Tor after so long chasing sunrises. But out of every ending comes a new beginning, and my dad had successfully recruited my mum as his new travel companion, at the same time as I had converted my partner, Loreto, into mine! Vic

Rolllright Stones, Oxfordshire This was a fabulous place to visit. We arrived as the night was closing in, but the moon was shining bright and the stars very vivid. We walked around the stone circle and investigated and felt quite awe struck in the shining moon imagining what it must have been like many years before. We also visited the Kingstone and Whispering Knights in a field opposite the main road. The 5000 year old burial chamber, believed to be part of a Neolithic long barrow . The Knights are a small group of five upright stones , who got their name because of the conspiratorial way in which they lean inwards towards each other as if they are plotting against their king, a separate stone. We checked the following out: "It is said that at one time Long Compton was a favorite place for witches - as many as 14 witches are said to have lived in the village at one time. But the witch of our tale was Mother Shipton of Shipton-under-Wytchwood who lived from 1488 to 1551. A would...

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