Blog

‘Mabon’ is the old name for the autumn equinox. It’s a time of poise and balance between the old and the new. Summer is tired and wants to sleep now, while wintry things like fog seep up from the depths. I live a Persephone life, gardening in the summer and writing in the winter. There is always transition time, and the restlessness I feel right now, unable to settle, will have gone by Samhain. Between Samhain (November) and Imbolc (February) is the intense period for writing. Right now the least I can do is blog! Apologies for long absence.
Although it was supposed to be a holiday, I can never travel without a purpose, and so when we visited Lincoln to see family in August, I had to go to the new museum, The Collection, and see the objects deposited in the river Witham at Fiskerton. They even have a bit of the causeway under glass for you to walk on. Museum review: 4 stars.
At Carrawburgh on Hadrian’s wall we stayed close to the farm where I spent holidays in childhood with my great aunt Polly, so we revisited some of my personal sacred sites (where the camera went funny, so no pictures here). Housesteads was a favourite destination of my father’s for our walks. I had no idea it was so far (6 miles), yet my little legs coped somehow. Not this time. Even though I drove there, the climb up to the new visitor centre reminded me very painfully that I have sarcoidosis. I thought I was going to sit down and die on the spot, or at least cough up blood, but I felt drawn onwards. Something told me there was something there I needed to see, and there was.

These hooded guys are haunting me and I’ll do another post on them soon. Once I’d got my breath back, there was the view, even better than remembered.

The final destination was Lindisfarne. We stayed at Budle Bay and went to the island once by boat, once by causeway. The Lindisfarne Exhibition Centre – put on by locals – four stars. There are some amazing quilts there, inspired by the Gospels.

Weather was fine throughout, until the last day, when autumn came off the sea.

And so home, via Durham and the Lindisfarne Gospels Exhibition (two stars). Two days after we got back, we took off for Cirencester to catch the last of the fine days. At the Corinnium museum, there they were again, this time with Mum.

Corinnium Museum – 3 stars. I struggle to like modern museums, where the focus is on ‘experience’ for children and the objects take second place. Of all the museums visited recently, Chesters Roman Museum gets 5 stars for its unaltered displays – great cluttered cabinets of curiosities.