Nina and I took a day trip to Glastonbury, which is supposed to be where Avalon was. For those of you who don't know, I love the Arthurian Legend, particularly Marion Zimmer Bradley's version, The Mists of Avalon. So to be that close and not go was almost unthinkable; it felt like a pilgrimage to me. I would have loved to get to Tintagel also, but it was too far this time.

Anyway, we got on the bus around 11:00 and were there by the early afternoon. It was very rural all the way, so Nina got to see lots of sheep and cows. Our first stop was Glastonbury Abbey, where we had some lunch and played in the ruins. There are tombs there which are purported to be Arthur and Guinivere, but who knows...

While we were at the abbey, we asked about getting up the Tor, and were told that we couldn't take a stroller and that there wasn't anywhere to leave it at the bottom, so I was a little upset about what I was going to do with it (carrying it up didn't seem so attractive to me).

So, we were following the signs, and I saw one that seemed a bit neglected, but it pointed in the right direction, so I followed it. That turned out to be one of the best things I could have done! It led to the dirveway of a little ashram called shekinashram; it was so cool to see the prayer wheels in the midst of Glastonbury, at the foot of the Tor. After spinning them, we went in to see if they would let us leave the stroller there. They were super nice about it, offering to bring it in, but even though it was raining, we had the raincover on and left it in their beautiful little garden. It was a real lifesaver.

Right outside the ashram was a sign for the footpath to the Tor. So we gamely walked through the turnstile into just exactly the experience I had been hoping for. This was definitely not the path most people take on the way up. Instead, it was one of those public footpaths across private land (complete with turnstiles) that I always heard about but couldn't see how to find. Most of it was grazing land with cows present. Nina was really excited to see "cow poop" and had to point out every single pile she saw. The other super cool feature of this path is that there were blackberries rioting everywhere; Nina and I ate our share.

About 3/4 of the way we joined the path that most people take up; it seemed paved and well-travelled; I am so happy we stumbled on our alternative route!

Nina was a super trouper; she walked almost all the way up, only needing to be carried a few times, for a few minutes at a time. I was seriously amazed at how far uphill she walked. The adorable boots I bought her at Target paid for themselves!

We didn't get back to Bristol until 7:00; Nina fell asleep as soon as we got off of the bus and only woke up to eat a few bites of dinner.

This day was the highlight of the trip for me.