20.09.2011 – 20.09.2011  16 °C

I got myself up and going early again today (no real reason to hang around when there isn’t anyone to talk to!!!). I’m off to Bath today with a side stop in at Glastonbury.

Arrived in Glastonbury just before lunch time to a very overcast sky and the occasional downpour! Good old English weather!! I started my trip around Glastonbury by climbing up the Glastonbury Tor. The Tor is this pretty high naturally occurring hill that dominates the Glastonbury skyline that is topped by a ruined church spire. The Tor used to have an abbey built on its peak, today only the spire is still visible above the green grass.

To see the ruin up close you naturally have to walk up the whole hill.. I’ve got to say that it seems that all ruined castles/ abbey’s seem to be on top of really high hills.. Gosh the old calves and bum are starting to feel it!!!! After checking out the view and saying g’day the local lawn mowers (more commonly known as sheep) I walked back down the hill and into town to see the very famous Glastonbury Abbey.

The Abbey has been ruined since the reformation in the mid 1500s and was once a part of a very large St Benedictine Monastery. Much of the monastery has since succumbed to the weather but the main abbey is still partly visible and is surrounded by beautifully green lawns. I enjoyed a 20min talk about life as a Benedictine monk, apparently the monks were woken at 2am every day to start their day. The day started with prayers, and in total a monk would have prayed 7 times a day! That’s a lot of conversations with the all mighty! Each monk was only given 1 meal per day, which consisted of fish, vegetables and bread. To supplement their diet the monks decreed that beavers were also a type of fish, and since the middle ages beavers have been extinct from the British Isles largely due to the monk’s diet!!!!

Glastonbury is most famous for two graves that were exhumed in the early 12th century. The two graves were thought to contain Arthur and his queen Guinevere and were re-interred under the high alter in the main abbey. These graves were desecrated during the reformation, meaning that the whereabouts of the skeletons was lost hundreds of years ago.

After getting thoroughly wet, I left Glastonbury to have some lunch in town at this very bohemian café. (I neglected to mention that Glastonbury is a melting port of all types of New Age hippies! I saw everything from people dressed in wizard’s robes through to one woman wearing basically nothing!) This café sold Fish Finger sandwiches!!!! Well that was decided, my lunch was a fish finger sandwich and a chocolate milkshake!! How awesome that you can buy something like a fish finger sandwich in a café?? Only in Glastonbury!

Finally hopped back in my car and continued my journey into Bath. Arrived after 5pm so spent my evening doing my laundry and reading my book before heading to bed. Off to discover Bath tomorrow!!