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The Winter Solstice Is Upon Us
And it’s cold as hell in Cumbria
It’s not as though I was wanting to go cavorting round a stone circle, I’m too exhausted and in pain for that these days — and to be fair, winter doesn’t call for a great deal of ‘cavorting’ anyway, that’s a descriptor more likely to fit Beltane, unless we’re counting stomping up and down on the spot and rubbing your arms vigorously to try and get warmer?
The point is though… hang on, oh yes, the point was — that even had I wanted to trek out to a stone circle, it’s just not the weather for it. It’s raining (as per), grey and gloomy, with low misty clouds — and also, have I mentioned this? It’s cold.
Added to that, well, we’ve not got Glastonbury Tor, Stonehenge or Avebury stone circles and henge up here. No, we have Elva Plain Stone Circle, near Cockermouth.
Now, once you’ve finished giggling at the name of that town (don’t feel bad, everyone above the age of what? 10? who doesn’t live here has a chuckle, just pull your minds back out of the gutter and pay attention won’t you!)
Elva Circle is on private farmland, accessible on foot via a path from a ‘B’ road — you can visit, but frankly, it’s underwhelming and not entirely advisable either in winter or in the dark. Not least because farmers round here would definitely still shoot…