Writer Wednesday – What I Know

First a confession about the art class. I didn’t stay for the entire class. The class was not for beginners as it had been listed and I had no idea what to bring. I found it disjointed and unorganized. I got a refund.

That doesn’t mean I won’t paint. I will. I just may not take a class in painting…for now.

So I’m back to being a writer…just a writer. I spent a sleepless night thinking about an unfinished book, an Arthurian time travel. I blame the book on Arthurian legends I was reading and watching “Outlander.”

There is that old saying: “Write what you know.”

Well, I know Glastonbury (Avalon) and Arthur. I have a library on the legend and the history of England during that time period. Some of the books in that library were written by Geoffrey Ashe, an Arthurian scholar, whom I met on my last trip across The Pond. I’d seen him in a Glastonbury tea room on a previous trip but I was too star-struck to go up and talk to him. I might have even been carrying one of his books.

Yes, I’ve been in Glastonbury several times. It’s a touristy-type town but also one rich in history. It’s thought to be the site of the first Christian church in the British Isles. Glastonbury Abbey was once the largest abbey in England…that is until Henry VIII began the Dissolution after declaring himself head of the Church of England. The Abbey is now in the ruins left by Henry and many manor houses in the area are built of Abbey stones.

Image: bbc.co.uk

But even before the Abbey, there was the Tor, the hill that rises above the town. I’ve walked up the Tor twice. One time was on Beltane morning. I stood on the edge of that magical hill and looked down into the valley. I did not see the town, the mist was too thick…the mist the ancients called “the dragon’s breath.” Legend states the Tor as the possible resting place for Arthur…resting until the time he is needed again.

Image: infobritain.co.ik

Another hillside near Glastonbury is a plateau now used to graze sheep, Cadbury Castle. I’ve trudged up it twice to marvel at the view and to dream about the hillfort that once stood on the top. An archaeological excavation in the late 1960s discovered the remnants of what was once a 500 CE British chieftain’s fort….Arthur’s? Maybe. There are legends that his knights ride out from the plateau on midsummer eve.