Our Samhain Visit to Avebury by Janie Spencer

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Before we start on our journey, let me give you a bit of background on Avebury. It is a beautiful stone circle, so big that you can in fact fit a village inside it, as you can see from this overhead map! As well as being a tourist spot, it is both a home and a gathering place for many people who have different beliefs, lifestyles and spirituality, but the yearly cycle of our earth.

People congregate throughout the year, from the summer and winter solstices, to the equinoxes, and other festivals such as Beltane (1st May) and Samhain (Halloween). The four of us travelled down for our weekend away in my new Kangoo can (we decided it was a cross between a car and a van, so had to be named a can)…it's first adventure.

We were all very excited (if a little nervous about the weather); would it be warm or would we all freeze. We couldn't tell, so packed as many layers as we could. Can packed, we set off, resting at Leicester and Morton on the Marsh (we followed the Fosse way), and six hours later the journey was over and we were in Avebury.

By that point it was dark, and it was time to pitch the tents in the field behind the car park (people are allowed to camp there, under the conditions from the National Trust that the tents are taken down every morning. Once the tents were up and the tea (more of our cooking later) eaten, it was time to go down to the pub, where we all drank and relaxed, meeting old friends, and making new ones. Here we can see Derek, Julie and Johnny (left) being rather merry!?!, and trying on Andy's hat.

Once the pub had shut it was time for bed, as we were all in need of a good nights sleep, and all the other people there were exhausted too, having spent the whole of the night before up, celebrating Samhain. During the night we got quite worried, as it didn't just rain, but poured down!! Julie told us the next morning that she had to get up in the night to peg her tent down!!

Anyway, to our delight, the rain stopped, and so we got to cook our breakfast without getting soaked. Now, cooking in Avebury is an experience; we do not cook on an open fire, or a stove, but cook using a metal colander stood on a metal plate and cooling rack on which to sit the rack. This is perfect, as it does not damage the soil, it holds the right amount of wood to cook a meal, and it is quick and easy to extinguish. In the afternoon we decided to go and visit Stonehenge, and as we approached it on the A606, we tried to imagine what our ancestors had seen thousands of years ago. It is a place we love, but sometimes I think it doesn't have the same feeling as Avebury, as tourists cannot get into the stones and feel the energies, (although you can apply for special permission to get in from English Heritage). However, we were lucky that we stayed in the stones long enough to see the sun setting behind the henge, a magical experience.

Continued ...next page,

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