A trip away

On Friday John and I had a few errands to do before we set off on our weekend away. Once packed and ready to leave we first stopped at work as I needed to drop some books and files into the office. I've had them at home since March but in October we started teaching face to face and can also go into the office to pick up things we need for our working from home days. If I'm teaching I go into work otherwise I work from home. It didn't take long to drop the bits off and say hello to staff who were in. Next we stopped to get the drivers side front bulb replaced on the car. This blew a day or two ago but I hadn't had time to change it. John and I had a cup of coffee will the garage changed the bulb and the one on the number plate which had also blown. Finally we set the sat nav for our first stop which was Glastonbury. We had visited the town in the summer because we wanted to climb up to Glastonbury Tor. On that occasion the town was heaving with visitors and so we changed our plans. With a low temperature and a cold wind blowing we knew we would be able to climb the Tor this time. The journey was uneventful except for the drizzle every so often. We had no problem parking and as we walked through the town to the Tor it was quiet.

Glastonbury Tor is a hill near Glastonbury in Somerset UK. On the top is St Michael's Tower which is a listed building. The Tor is mentioned in Celtic mythology and in particular, stories linked to King Arthur. The Tor has many mystical and spiritual links  and Glastonbury has a lot of shop selling crystals, runes and other linked goods. We weren't interested in browsing the shops, our aim was to climb the Tor.

The Tor rises by 518 feet from the plain and can be seen for miles around. We walked up the steep side along a good path that snaked around the hill and also had a lot of steps. I lost count of the number of steps near the top but by then I gone up 171 steps.  As we left the top I took a photo of St Michael's Tower.

From the top of the Tor you could see quite a distance and the sheep in the fields looked tiny.

By the time we got back to the car it was dark and so we headed to our hotel. We had time to relax and do some reading before dinner.

Saturday we visited Midsomer Quilting, my favourite quilting shop before we headed off to WWT Steart Marshes, a new to us bird watching area. The centre was opened in February 2014 and this was the first chance we'd had to visit. The weather on Saturday was perfect for walking and birdwatching. It was sunny and dry but the wind was a lazy wind and preferred to try and blow through you than blow round you. Out of the wind it was lovely.

We walked all round the reserve and spent some time in the hides watching the geese and waders. The hedges and trees were alive with small birds in varying shades of brown. The good news is that in the colder weather you can actually see the little birds since there are no leaves on the trees. We also walked along the river a little way to watch the birds on the mud flats. I only had my small camera with me so I didn't get any pictures of the birds. What I did find was this bird on a fence at one of the hides.

and in the distance a deer also made from willow. It took me a couple of moments to realise it wasn't real 

Our shadow selves had come with us and also enjoyed some bird watching. I like bird watching but at times there is just too much standing around for me. Usually I take a book along with me but I forgot this time.

We had a fun day but by the end we were getting rather cold. We drove back to the hotel as it got dark. A hot bath soon revived our spirits, aided by several cups of tea and I enjoyed a little slow stitching before dinner. Over the weekend I've done some work on the millennium sampler.  This is where I'd got to before we went away. I was going to take a new photo but I need to recharge my camera first so I'll do that tomorrow.

Today, Sunday we travelled home via the Fleet Air Arm Museum. This was a really good visit and I'll tell you about it tomorrow, plus what I bought at the quilt shop. I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's quilts for her Slow Sunday stitching.

Take care

Lyndsey