One last UK post

Couldn't resist posting a picture of this place. Our B&B hostess highly recommended a local place in Whitcombe on the Moor for dinner. She called ahead to make reservations, gave us directions and when we arrived we found it was called the RUGGLEstone Inn. Couldn't resist taking a picture (and taking account). I wonder if it has anything to do with OUR Ruggleses. (sounding very LOTR here - which is entirely appropriate. All of Devon and Dartmoor evoke the Shire and surrrounds)

What can these stones be?

A little surprise for Max that I can't contain any longer.

Steph and I spent a day walking around Tintagel - 1st stop Merlin's Cave below the cliff to gather rune stones for Max. A promise fulfilled. Here they are, Max - waiting to be carved and cast: I expect only the most glorious divinations to result.

Tintagel was remarkable and has all the elements one would expect from a place of power. Very dramatic - even in a ruined state. I don't know how, why or for what the site was chosen, but clearly the place hums with a deep energy. I can only imagine that it's been considered a place of power since its first discovery.

The ruins are only reachable via long climbs up steep and precarious stairs cut into the cliffside - yet there were tons of people willing to make the climb.

Catching up to myself

I have the feeling that this blog is never going to quite catch up to me until I'm in Boston - but that's a good thing. For now, though I'm in Oslo and there are still photos from the UK that need posting. So, I'll back up a bit even though that was then and this is now.

The first are from Totnes, Devon where my ancestor John Chapin was born in the 16th century. The photos are of the interior of the Church of St Mary's, parts of which date from the mid-15th century and stood in the middle of the old town centre. Standing in the church, I was struck by the thought that my ancestors may well have stood on the same space and looked on the same view.

I feel something here, but I'm not entirely sure what. I am unprepared for experiencing the UK as an ancestral place - though I remember the first time I came to Devon: I had a strong sense of familiarity and home. It felt like a place I could easily stay.