Glastonbury festival 2007

Several years of ticket hotlines, engaged tones across the world we finaly get tickets for Glasto 2007! With an absence of far too long, sun hat and wellies in tow Oli and I join up with my family in England for a weekend of artisitc talent and........mud!
Of course, the grass is always green when you first arrive but this year I was shocked to see the camping full by Wednesday lunch time. I was glad we hadn't waited any longer to 'go in'!!!! Most people had arrived and set up camp by the time we had collected our tickets! I was rather nervous getting them as we had to go to a little portacabin for International sales. What if we had come this far only to find some kind of internet balls up with the tickets!!!


We headed straight up to the Kings Meadow and the stone circle, what with it being Solstice eve and joined in with the lighting of the solstice fire and peace ceremony as the sun began to set down in the valley below! What better way to celebrate this energetic time of year than at a festival with a spiritual feeling that doesn't forget music is not the only reason to go!!. (Of course this was via a stop at the cider bus! We started out as we meant to go on!!! With no mead on tap cider is the next best thing for solstice toasting!) I'm glad to have found some things at the festival have'nt changed!

The building atmosphere in the green field was really good, only to be disturbed by the environmental police chasing dirty buggers trying to pee against the hedges! This was an ongoing fight between the green police and the hedge peeing few, all weekend. Thankfully this new control seemed to work and hedges were still smelling of greenery at the end of the weekend!!! No would be hedge polluter could pee unseen!!!

I have never seen so many bands at Glasto, what with cider being my only pollutant! From the folkie Boat Band, cajun blues and Seth Lakeman, west country folk, to the silent disco.........


.........Kaiser Chiefs and Dame Shirley Bassey to Amy Winehouse, drunk girlie with a great voice! As well as old favorites like Dreadzone, who were brilliant, The Manics and new ones like Arctic Monkeys. New discoveries were Cold War Kids and Switches, the most energetic band of the weekend. Tangleberries were a fun german folk band. Folk Ska was all over the place!! Including around the tipi fields and in one of any of the new Chai tents that have sprung up all over the site!!! Infact we spent alot of time in Chai tents watching really cool bands and eating delicious cakes with tea while the rain relentlessly poured down outside!




This year alot of time was spent in the healing and green fields making secret little discoveries! Near the stone circle was a peace garden where you could pass dedications to the elements, the Oak King and the goddess and place your wishes on the branches of the wishing tree. The peace garden also brought all religions together, including Islam, Christainity, Buddism and the beliefs of the Native American peoples. It indeed was a very peaceful and thoughtful place to be. The music is great here but I really enjoy the fact that people can express all creative energies!!! I was tempted by the gong therapy but, well.....just being in those fields was theraputic!!!! Sharing this space was good enough for me!



















In and around the healing fields we also discovered a mediation circle, each little bower being dedicated to Fire, Earth, Water or Air. It was a relaxing place to watch some spontaneous music and wait to catch up with the others.
Not easy. Given the time lapse with sending and receiving tewt messages, however we did meet up over the weekend either to watch a band or for yet another welcome cup of tea! Indeed Glastonbury really is a great place for al kinds of families!!






With all this tea and cider drinking the dreaded loo stop was inevitable. Not wanting to risk the shepee (female urinals) I opted for the safer openair loo! They might not feel very secure but at least you get to breathe air that's not too rank! In fact the toilet situation has generally improved and I have no horror stories to tell!!! Instead I felt free from toilet worry to explore every strange and interesting corner of the festival site! Free to eat to my hearts content with out fear of not being able 'to go'!!!
Wednesday night the rain fell, and fell and fell. The mud rose liquified and became a sticky thigh workout. Escape one could not!! To begin with the mud became a fascinating element, equal in demanding attention as all the other weirdnesses of Glasto. The textures and colours warrented more than a mere passing glance. The joy of splashing in thick gooey paste, all most good enough to eat took everyone back to childhood playfulness.........
That is until the thigh ache and wellie rot began to sink in!!! Four days in festival mud tries your relationships, it tests your endurance, your ability to rise above its ever trying attempt to suck you down. This is when you find out what really makes you tick....what your limits are, how English and 'jolly good fun this mud' minded you are!!!! Of course, I had my moments, as did we all but by the end of the weekend I was sorry to leave behind every trace of mud, skraping off the traces of sod and grime as not to muddy the clean and comfy seats that were Natalie's car!!! I'm glad I made it this year. I had great fun and can say as Eavis would put it....''the best one ever''!!!!

Collioure

Camping is great fun, that is when stormy winds have died down, the clouds have passed to give a blank canvas of a sky and you are just a short walk along a coastal path to the beautiful seaside town of Collioure. Situated along a stretch of the Mediterranean called the Côte Vermeille, not far from the Spanish border in Southern France. It's about 2 hours drive from Toulouse! Collioure was founded by the Phoenicians and Greeks as a trading port but was later occupied by the Romans, Visigoths and Arabs.
I have to admit the first night spent at the small beach side campsite was probably the windiest night I have ever spent in a tent, and between the canvas being bent down to my face and reassuring Oli that the tent would still be over our heads in the morning I didn't sleep that well.
Still, imagine waking up to the gentle lapping of the waves on the sand and strolling along a pretty coastal path littered with flowers and giant cactus plants.... you can imagine all worries just faded away! It was a little paradise above the sea. One last slope and we were confronted with the fabulous view of the town and harbour.

Curving bays, lined with street cafés with hills, mountains and vinyards as the backdrop! Quaint little houses in an array of coulours...you can see why so many artists such as Matisse have been coming here for over a hundred of years to capture its beauty!

The harbour is overlooked by a castle. There are also further Cathar castles way up on the hills and one fort is still used by the military today. The castle that sits on the harbour front is the château-royal and was founded by the templars in the 12th century. A hundred years later it was used as a residence by the kings of Mallorca and Aragon.



Most of the activity was along the beach front where we sat drinking Sangria all afternoon, slowly getting drunk!!! It made the walk back to the tent interesting as once again the wind had got up, the dry grasses were clacking, the old WW2 coastal watch bunkers ominous in the dusk, I managed to spook myself rather!!!
After the first lazy day we spent the second looking around the narrow streets known as the Mouré and the chateau, where we got some great views of the bussle down below. We were also lucky enough to see some traditional Catalonian dancers. The Catalan region stretches into Spain across the Pyrenees. It was traditionaly in the realm of the counts of Barcelona. The French crown took control of the territory on the French side in the 15th century. Catalan is the language of the medieval troubadors, it is still sometimes spoken here and some of the folk customs and tradition still survive. The peak of the Catalonian sacred mountain Canigou can be seen on the horizon behind the town.





















The church of Notre-dame-des-Agnes at the other end of the harbour was built in the 17th century and once also doubled as a lighthouse! It has been damaged many thimes by storms and war. The narrow streets are full of great places to eat. There are also lots of touristy shops, though in the side streets are many art galleries and shops of the local artisans.












It was so hot that we decided to head on back to the campsite and get changed for an afternoon on the beach. We stayed there until the sun began to set and I nipped back to the tent for a bottle of cider and we sat by the sea watching the sun go down and listening to giant frogs croaking in the twilight! A lovely end to a great weekend!!!! I fell in love with Collioure and can't wait to go back and highly reccommend this place for a perfect weekend away!!!