BeenThere-DoneThat Blog

Today is the shortest day so tomorrow we’ll be on our way to Spring. Yesterday I heard the rather tuneless song of a Mistle Thrush. Although rather monotonous, in the literal sense, it is very distinctive and is not normally heard until early in the new year. Another indication of the coming Spring albeit rather early.

Meanwhile a very merry Christmas and a happy new year to all our friends and visitors both at home and overseas. We look forward to meeting at least some of you in the new year.

When we visited Wells Cathedral this past summer we eventually found ourselves in the Quire. At one end of the Quire stalls was a small pulpit with a flat wooden stand on the front edge which was obviously meant to support an open book. On this board was a cushion and on the cushion was - well see for yourselves.

This is Louis. He lives in the cathedral apparently in considerable comfort. Must be noisy when the choir’s singing and a chap is trying to get some sleep but then some people have no consideration.

At the end of last week we were thinking of going away this week, because of the weather forecast, but by Saturday the forecast was changing again and we decided not to risk it. I’m glad we didn’t go as yesterday and today is grey, overcast, gloomy and not at all warm.

During the weekend, before the sun disappeared, Amanda photographed another butterfly in the garden. This time it was a Red Admiral. That name is actually a corruption of the original Victorian name of ‘The Red Admirable’.

I don’t know if anyone has actually noticed but putting Smilies in your comments is now very much easier.

Also I have made two additions on the Wells pages. Next to the picture of the clock in Wells Cathedral is a link to a short video sequence of the clock in action and next to the picture of the swans on the Bishop’s Palace moat is another short video sequence of the swans doing their thing. Both sequences are courtesy of that famous film producer ‘Amanda’.

In my previous post I mentioned, regarding our trip to Burrington Combe, that I started caving there as a youngster (ish). I was around 27 when I used to go there with a friend and this is a photograph of that friend in one of the Burrington Combe caves. I’m the one behind the camera.

The way out of this cave is where the water is coming in. We used to thoroughly enjoy getting wet and muddy.

The photograph is black and white as at that time colour film was fairly insensitive and, consequently, not really suitable for use underground apart from also being expensive.

The camera had to be carried in a waterproof container.

Anyone care to join me?

The weather this morning started as it meant to carry on - cloudy.

We had decided that today we would go to Glastonbury whatever the weather and so that is where we arrived in pouring rain. After what seemed an age the rain did stop so we went for a walk around the town. Glastonbury doesn’t have a great deal to offer - there is a quite nice, small market square with a market cross, the George and Pilgrim Hotel, pretty old from the look of it, the Abbey and, of course, Glastonbury Tor.

The town has a very generous sprinkling of what I could only describe as Weirdo’s shops which were full of mystic related things. After having lunch here we opted to climb the tor whilst it wasn’t raining and to prove it here is Amanda about to arrive at the very top.

It was a bit breezy on the way up but on arriving at the top we were buffeted by what seemed to be a full gale. Going back down the path so that one descended about 6 feet vertically and it was back to a breeze. Very odd!

We had an excellent view of some very, very murky looking weather approaching the tor. I suggested staying up there and sheltering in the tower until it had passed until Amanda pointed out that it had no roof. Whoops!

We hurried back down and reached the shelter of the car just before the next downpour.

We decided to go from here to Burrington Combe a beauty spot a little north of Cheddar. It was pouring when we arrived so we decided to wait it out in the car. We waited and waited and waited… In the end we gave up and returned to Wells.

This must have been our worst day of the week so far for weather. Only one or two photographs of Glastonbury Tor and none at all of Burrington Combe. The weather forecast for tomorrow is only marginally better so we shall have to wait and see.

We woke up this morning to sun and a blue sky. After breakfast we went out to try to take some photographs before the sun disappeared. This is one of the gates into the cathedral precincts and the building just outside is our hotel.

Walking through the cathedral precincts we emerged into the Market Place. Through to the top of High Street we looked back to see this view.

The structure in the middle of the market place is the fountain fed by the natural springs in the Bishop’s Palace grounds. To the right of the fountain is one of the twin towers on the cathedral West Front and to the right of that is the central tower. On the right of the market place is the Bishop’s Palace Gatehouse.

The cathedral West Front is an amazing piece of work with all those carved stone figures.

We stopped for a lunch break and then continued our wanderings. Needless to say this mornings session was interrupted by banks of cloud coming across and obscuring the sun for 30 minutes or so at a time and this afternoon we had two thunderstorms the second including hail. This is an English summer after all.

You may have heard of the swans which live on the moat surrounding the Bishop’s Palace and which have learned to pull a rope to ring a bell when they want food. Here one of the current brood of cygnets has learned the trick already even though they can only be 2-3 months old. When the bell is rung food is thrown out of the open window. You should be able to see that it has hold of the rope with its bill with the bell just above it.

Tomorrow, I suppose, we shall have some more of this wonderful August weather ( I hope you recognise sarcasm when you see it).

We set off from home in sunshine and as we progressed further west so the amount of cloud increased. We arrived in Wells at around 2 o’clock, 4 hours later, under total cloud cover complete with the occasional shower.

After a quick lunch we went for a walk round the city. This is England’s smallest city and, being a city, it has a cathedral. A walk around the outside soon convinced us that this was indeed an impressive cathedral. The city centre certainly is compact with some attractive corners.

With the weather being the way it was I didn’t take any pictures on our brief walk but after dinner just before it was nearly dark I took this picture of the cathedral West Front partly lit by the surrounding street lights.

The next day (today) it was still cloudy with more rain forecast so we thought that indoors would be good. A trip to see the inside of the cathedral was our plan. We spent a few hours there and finished our visit with lunch in the cathedral refectory. This was the first photograph I took.

We also had a look round the Bishop’s palace after lunch both inside and outside. No pictures in the garden though as it was raining but it would certainly provide some good pictures in the sun. If we get any sun this week and we happen to be in Wells at the time then a return visit to the Bishop’s Palace gardens will be on the cards as will some outside pictures of the cathedral.

We shall have to wait and see what the weather brings.