Avalon
I have been to Avalon, on holiday...
Well, Avalon Marshes anyway. The Somerset Levels, where King Alfred had his fortress hidden away in the secret, pathless marshes.
I went to the RSPB nature reserve at Ham Wall, which I have always wanted to visit. It is not the easiest place to find. I overshot my turning on the way there, and thought to make my way to Ham Wall by the back lanes. Big mistake. I ended up the lostest I have ever been in a long career of losing my way. Making my way along one-track lanes, occasionally reversing into gateways to let tractors pass, Glastonbury Tor mocked me by appearing now and then on the skyline: now on my right, now on my left. It was sheer chance that I actually stumbled upon the place. No wonder the Vikings couldn't find King Alfred. They too had no satnav.
But it was worth the long circuitous journey. It was a grey day, and my photos weren't good, but that doesn't matter. Ham Wall is fabulous. A magical place.
Along the Ham Wall Loop - a path which follows the old Glastonbury Canal.
"The reserve name derives from the Ham Wall rhyne which flows through the site. "Rhyne" is a local name for drainage channels between plots of land, pronounced reens in the east and rhine in the west of the Levels area. "Ham" is an old term for pasture or meadow, and the Ham Wall may have been a bank to hold water on the flooded fields." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_Wall
Grey Heron.
Gadwall.
Glastonbury Tor.
It is a very, very peaceful place, the Avalon Marshes, by the water and the willows. There is only the wind blowing in the reeds. The clucking of moorhens and the quacking and whistling of ducks.
Great White Egret. Ham Wall is one of the few places you can see them in the UK.
Islands of tangled willow among the marshes.
The sun started to break through the cloud as I turned to follow the Loop back along the other side of the canal. Hawker and Darter dragonflies took to flight.
