Morris On!

Last weekend there were a number of events in Godalming as part of the Godalming Heritage Open Days. We happened to be in town on the Saturday and saw a couple of morris sides dancing in the High Street. It looked great fun, so on returning home I did a quick online search to see what it was all about.

As it happened, I discovered that the next day there were a number of sides dancing at lunchtime outside our local pub, The Anchor.

So, Sunday at midday we dragged the Squidlings away from their computer games and down to the pub. What a great couple of hours it turned out to be! It was sunny and warm, the Anchor was bedecked with flowers, the beer was flowing, and the morris dancing was just the ticket.

A number of sides were involved including Belles and Arrows:

The Off Spring Morris:

Mayflower Morris (who were spectacular!):

and Godalming's local boys, the Cup Hill Morris:

One of the Belles and Arrows ladies came over for a chat with us during one of the breaks, and mentioned that the Cup Hill morris were in need of new dancers and musicians, so towards the end I went over for a chat with them to offer my services - I really like the idea of this most traditional of dance musics. They will be contacting me in October to let me know when they start rehearsing. Well, it'll make a difference from my recent metal excursions!

Way Out West

Finally a new blog! Sorry for the delay, but I've had a hectic summer.

For those who haven't heard, the new Black Tempest CD is available now:
http://www.noiseweb.co.uk/

You can listen to an MP3 stream, buy the CD, or download tracks from iTunes. I've also built a Black Tempest MySpace now:
http://www.myspace.com/blacktempest1

Feel free to be my "friend" (I hate that usage of the word)!

Right, back to the bloggy business. Way out west? We've just returned from a splendid holiday in Cornwall, staying in a cottage near Penzance. The weather was reasonably good, which was a suprise given that it felt like winter the week before we left. We spent a lot of time on the beach - the nearby Praa Sands. I've been there before a couple of times, and it is still as lovely as ever, although the cafes could do with a coat of paint! Our other activities were mostly visiting a bunch of neolithic sites, although we did visit the Gweek Seal Sanctuary.

The first site that we visited was Boskawen Un. A short walk from the A30, this circle is an absolute beauty, with an uncanny resemblance to a sundial. Shortly before arriving, we stopped off at the nearby Blind Fiddler stone, just off the road in a field of cabbages:

Boskawen Un is a fantastic stone circle, hidden in peaceful seclusion by a hedge of gorse:

After a peaceful half hour amongst these stones, we wound down some tiny country lanes to Carn Euny ancient village:

This is an amazing place, tucked away in the middle of nowhere, with a lovely unspoilt atmosphere. You can just imagine the village as it was. It also has a fogou with huge long passages:

There is a beehive-like structure inside the fogou, which features some spectacular phosphorescent moss - it glows lime green in the darkness!

As with all the sites we visited, I would highly recommend Carn Euny.

As I mentioned above, we visited the Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, where they do some marvellous work looking after sick and injured seals who would not survive in the wild. It was sad to note how many of the seals had been blinded by polution or hurt by fishing equipment. Here is a resident sea lion:

On the way to visit the Merry Maidens stone circle, we stopped off to see the Boleigh fogou. This is in the grounds of Lamorna Cottage, where they do B&B. They like you to phone in advance if you want to visit the fogou. The entrance is dark and a little forboding in amongst all the greenery and foliage:

Sue and Will in the main passage of Boleigh fogou:

I had a weird experience here. After we had explored the dank and rather muddy interior for a while, Sue and Will went out to find the other entrance, which was blocked off from the inside by a wooden barrier. Matthew climbed out, and he nipped ahead to find them. I stayed awhile to get a feel for the place. It has an interesting little creep, with a narrow entrance. The creep winds around to the left, almost going back on itself. Once I had seen all I wanted, I climbed out too. Matthew had been waiting, but darted ahead of me through the bushes. I followed, but within two seconds realised that I was lost! I couldn't work out which direction the others had gone, or even which direction I had come from! This is particularly odd for me, as I usually have an unerring sense of direction. I called out, and soon found the others, but could not shake the sensation of disorientation until some time after we had driven away to head onwards for the Merry Maidens stone circle.

On the way there we saw the two Pipers - nearby megaliths visible over the tops of hedges. The Merry Maidens is a wonderfully circular circle. Unfortunately, due to the easy access and visibility from the road, it gets lots and lots of visitors. It is difficult to sit here quietly and soak up the atmosphere. I found it interesting that in the middle of the circle lies a worn patch where people imagine the centre to be, but by inspection of the layout of the circle, and it's alignment with the Gun Rith menhir visible in a nearby field, the actual centre would appear to be a metre or so adrift from the worn patch! You can just make out Gun Rith in this picture:

Here are the Squidlings with the Gun Rith menhir, which I believe has been recently re-erected.

Here is a merry maiden by Gun Rith scoffing blackberries, with the Merry Maidens in the distance:

Also nearby to the Merry Maidens is the Tregiffian long barrow, sadly half destroyed by the road, which runs right through it. Whoever thought that was a good idea? Spot the Squidling hiding!

We spent many happy hours on the wonderful sandy beach at Praa Sands. Sadly, it wasn't until the last day that we discovered that the small cafe there did more vegetarian options than all the other eateries in the vicinity! Following in a beach tradition started last year, here is Pebblewen Un:

The Squidlings discovered the joys of skim boarding this year. I'd never come across it before, but it seems a very entertaining pursuit, provided you don't mind a few bumps and bruises! Within a couple of days, the boys had got pretty efficient at skimming across the shallow surf with the best of them. I did have a go myself, and did OK until I hurt a toe!



Finally, here is a picture of me on a neolithic surf board!