Trip to Porlock Weir, Exmoor and Glastonbury

A rare week day off and, reflecting the spontaneity for which our family is renown (not), we select Porlock Weir in North Somerset as the destination for a trip out. Estimates that it will take just over two hours to get there prove inaccurate due to the many sets of road works we encounter - that and stops for coffee and picnic food.

Sadly the weather isn't great, with the constant threat of rain. We reach Porlock Weir around lunchtime. It is a tiny collection of buildings around a small harbour. The town is dominated by a large hotel which is currently closed. The owners took possession of the building from the lessees back in June. It is hard to see how such a large establishment could thrive and prosper in such a location. Maybe if it was half the size.

We have a short walk round the harbour, buy some soap in the gift shop and resist going into the tiny aquarium which apparently has five types of shark on display - all local species from the Bristol Channel.

Instead we have a walk along the shingle beach back towards the slightly larger village of Purlock itself. We pass a family laddened down with drift wood - kids included. Do they burn this as fuel or make ornaments from it - who knows? All the while I am taking lots of pictures. The light is not great, mainly grey and overcast, but there is sufficient interest to make for some good pictures. Later, as we have our picnic on the beach, the grey increases and it starts to drizzle. No chance of any good pictures in these circumstances.

So we drive out from Porlock into the Exmoor National Park. The cloud closes in and adds to the wildness of the road we are on. A large looping drive takes us across the top of the park and back round towards Taunton.

We head for Glastonbury to catch the last couple of hours with the shops open and take in some "esoteric metaphysics" and various other interesting bookshops. Several book highlights, though we bought nothing today. Instead I have tried to memorize the authors and titles and will have a look on the internet once home. Linda is particularly taken with a book about houses on the Pacific coast in the USA. I would have most liked a huge book called Monasteries and Monastic Orders on sale in the Abbey. Plenty of earth goddesses and hippy guys on show as always. Nice to think that such a place can still exist.

We dine at a pub in Chippenham. We arrived here at 7:00pm and the town was virtually deserted - rather spookily so. An odd end to the day
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Never quite know what these features are - are they to help keep the harbour channel clear of stones that would otherwise be moved by the sea?

Another attempt at more abstract landscapes - seaweed on the end of the jetty

Old wooden posts on the seashore - wonder how old they are?

Possibly a better picture than the other one above - more texture?

This could be a candidate for A3 printing I reckon

More old wood embedded in the shingle - that or whale teeth

The geometrical shapes might just work for this picture

Very keen on this one - another A3 candidate

A typical Glastonbury bookshop - lots of weird and wonderful stuff inside

Everything that the modern witch needs in one handy shop