We had made the long journey to Devon (with a stop half way) yesterday. Well I say Devon and we had touted our staycation this year being to Devon, but we had spent the night in Taunton, which we discovered was actually in Somerset. Not that it mattered.
I got up early, which is my usual routine for some sunrise photography, and I headed to Glastonbury, which is not too far from Taunton, especially on the empty roads this early in the morning. Even the M5 motorway was empty, which was in stark contrast to our journey yesterday, when it jammed in both directions (the Friday apparently).
I had planned to go to Glastonbury Tor, which was well but in the dark, it was difficult to work out where best to park and where to go. By chance, I had seen what looked like a great view on the drive in so I decided to head back that way and see what I could actually see when the light started to increase. After a short walk, I found a great location by a river and I was extremely pleased with the sunrise.
the way back, I avoided the motorway and went on the winding back roads. Again, by chance, I spotted Burrow Mump, which is a ruined church on top of a small hill (or at least to Glastonbury Tor. It was worth a quick stop and a climb up the steep hill for the views over the surrounding Somerset Levels. These often make the UK news as they are notorious for their flooding, although there were no such worries today.
I got back to the hotel in time for breakfast. The hotel was full and breakfast chaos, so it was a matter of grabbing what was available and making do.
My wife was also keen to see Glastonbury Tor and I wanted to actually see it so we agreed to go back that way again. The motorway was starting to get busy again and we could see it grinding to a halt just after we left at the Glastonbury junction.
There is obviously a parking problem around Glastonbury Tor (it was clear now why I was struggling in the dark), so
we followed the signs towards a Park and Ride - or at least we did until the signs stopped and left us unable to find it. We parked outside someones house in a residential area (which they probably get extremely frustrated about), which was a relatively short walk to the Tor where we were faced with the rather steep climb to the top.
It had started to rain - only lightly whilst we were walking, but it got a lot heaver once we got back to the car, which was our excuse to go to the nearby Clarks Outlet Village for some shopping. This is, apparently, the UKs first outlet village and grew from a shop for the nearby Clarks shoe factory. Interestingly (and we had never this noticed before) the Clarks logo features Glastonbury Tor.
On the way back to Taunton, we stopped off at Burrow Mump again and also at the nearby King Alfred the Greats Monument. This 220 year old monument is, apparently, on the site of the former monastery at Athelney, which is where the King of Wessex took refuge from the Vikings in the ninth century.
stay with some friends who we had not seen since they moved to Taunton, but we had some time to spare first so we had a quick look around the town. Its a nice enough place, but there was not a lot to see to be honest.
