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April 10, 2025
Sublime Rambling
English Epistle #11
Feb. 14, 1998
By Vicki L. George
The Bandera Prophet
We got our directions and headed back the way we came for a couple of miles to turn deeper into the moors on an unnamed and unnumbered road. There were a couple of signs and we only had to turn around once. We stopped at the end of a dead-end road. Fortunately, two men were sitting in a jeep at the end of the pavement near a wide gate. So, I walked over and told them what we were looking for. No problem, said the men, just go through the gate, to the right around the boggy patch, then to the left, over the first hill, then over the second hill, and look for the two rivers merging. Go down to the rivers, turn right, over the next hill you see, and you can’t miss it! Okay.
We told them we’d heard about getting lost and the peat bogs, and I asked if they had any advice about that. Again, no problem they said; there are horses, ponies and sheep on the moors and they know where to walk. Just follow the animal tracks and we would avoid the bogs. As for getting lost — well, they know we’re out there! Okay.
Hubby, bless his heart, was a little hesitant about this trek, but I was determined to find that stone circle. So we put on our Wellies (tall rubber Wellington boots), bundled up against the cold wind, packed the camera and extra film, and went through that gate.
We walked about 20 minutes, I think. My eyes were watering in the wind and I kind of lost track of time. Missing the boggy patch and going over the first hill was easy. Somehow, even though we did top another hill and saw a river, we weren’t sure if the water oozing up through the ground to our right was the other river. So we kept on and, by that time, we had lost sight of buildings, fences, everything — everywhere we turned we could only see moors! For me it was exhilarating. Hubby was getting a little anxious, I think. We stayed with the tracks of a draft horse and sort of veered to the right, finally crossing another hill. Eureka! The Scorhill Stone Circle!
This circle is one of the area’s best standing stone circles, put up during the Bronze Age. The Ley line is a magnetic line in the earth that starts at St. Michael’s Mount (the castle in the bay across from our hotel), runs through this circle and on up to Glastonbury (on the Salisbury plain, where Stonehenge is). Standing in the middle of the circle, the tallest stone is due north and stands more than seven feet tall. The rest of the stones are less than five feet tall. When standing in front of the north stone, with my back to it and facing the inside of the circle, one of the stones lines up with the sunrise and another with the sunset. The diameter of the circle is about 50-60 feet. I loved touching them — talk about getting in touch with your roots!
When Hubby pointed out that it was getting late and he didn’t want to have to drive that narrow road in the dark, we left. I wanted to follow the horse tracks back the way we came. However, Hubby thought he now had the moors figured out and decided to go straight across the next hill to the right. I tried to show him that there were no tracks that way. But he took off and said to follow him. Okay. I stayed far enough behind that, if he suddenly disappeared in a bog, I could find some tracks and get help. Maybe.
Fortunately, on the way we ran into some more tracks and were able to follow them to the safety of our car. And those two men had disappeared.
As it was getting dark and late and very, very cold, we decided to take the road across the moors to the mid-point to stay the night at Two Bridges Hotel, which is in the very center of the moors.
We told them we’d heard about getting lost and the peat bogs, and I asked if they had any advice about that. Again, no problem they said; there are horses, ponies and sheep on the moors and they know where to walk. Just follow the animal tracks and we would avoid the bogs. As for getting lost — well, they know we’re out there! Okay.
Hubby, bless his heart, was a little hesitant about this trek, but I was determined to find that stone circle. So we put on our Wellies (tall rubber Wellington boots), bundled up against the cold wind, packed the camera and extra film, and went through that gate.
We walked about 20 minutes, I think. My eyes were watering in the wind and I kind of lost track of time. Missing the boggy patch and going over the first hill was easy. Somehow, even though we did top another hill and saw a river, we weren’t sure if the water oozing up through the ground to our right was the other river. So we kept on and, by that time, we had lost sight of buildings, fences, everything — everywhere we turned we could only see moors! For me it was exhilarating. Hubby was getting a little anxious, I think. We stayed with the tracks of a draft horse and sort of veered to the right, finally crossing another hill. Eureka! The Scorhill Stone Circle!
This circle is one of the area’s best standing stone circles, put up during the Bronze Age. The Ley line is a magnetic line in the earth that starts at St. Michael’s Mount (the castle in the bay across from our hotel), runs through this circle and on up to Glastonbury (on the Salisbury plain, where Stonehenge is). Standing in the middle of the circle, the tallest stone is due north and stands more than seven feet tall. The rest of the stones are less than five feet tall. When standing in front of the north stone, with my back to it and facing the inside of the circle, one of the stones lines up with the sunrise and another with the sunset. The diameter of the circle is about 50-60 feet. I loved touching them — talk about getting in touch with your roots!
When Hubby pointed out that it was getting late and he didn’t want to have to drive that narrow road in the dark, we left. I wanted to follow the horse tracks back the way we came. However, Hubby thought he now had the moors figured out and decided to go straight across the next hill to the right. I tried to show him that there were no tracks that way. But he took off and said to follow him. Okay. I stayed far enough behind that, if he suddenly disappeared in a bog, I could find some tracks and get help. Maybe.
Fortunately, on the way we ran into some more tracks and were able to follow them to the safety of our car. And those two men had disappeared.
As it was getting dark and late and very, very cold, we decided to take the road across the moors to the mid-point to stay the night at Two Bridges Hotel, which is in the very center of the moors.