The Journey North

What a journey and we’ve only just begun!!!

It’s been such a mission to wrap up work to come away. We were working up to the last minute so we could submit the US version of our Moon Diary to the printers.

Below is a map of our journey from the south coast of the UK to the Callanish stone circle on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides – an island off the north west coast of Scotland.

This is a journey we did 19 years ago for the last Major Lunar Standstill in 2006. A pilgrimage for us, the completion of a cycle and the beginning of the next…

First Stop

Our first stop was in Malvern where we met up with friends that are travelling with us on our journey north. On our way, we visited our printers and then a friend in Stroud before arriving in Malvern.

Journey to the Lakes

The next day, we all set off together with our first stop being the Lake District. We experienced the busiest motorway in England on a bank holiday Friday – not the best of planning! I’ve never seen so many cars, vans and lorries. In amongst all the traffic, our van showed an engine error warning. After waiting over an hour at a service station, the recovery service gave us a lesson on AdBlue. Our van is pretty new to us and we’ve never had a vehicle that uses AdBlue. Now we know all about it! After adding a huge container to the tank, we were back on the road. The whole journey was full on and by the time we reached the Lakes, we were all absolutely exhausted.

Arriving in the Lakes

Once we reached Keswick, we only had five miles to go. Unfortunately, the Sat Nav sent us on a route with such tiny roads and a tiny narrow bridge that we only just fitted through! Then there were more and more tiny roads until we finally reached our destination at the end of a track at a farm in the middle of the mountains. Absolutely stunning in every direction. Wow!

Resting

After such a full on journey, we needed to just STOP! We’ve realised that when we did this journey last time, we were 19 years younger which makes so much difference! We spent our first day, resting…

Today’s Walk

We’ve just been on a stunning walk through the mountain valley directly from where we’re staying. With strong gusty wind, the shadow from the moving clouds created a beautiful light. We followed a meandering river until we reached a very powerful waterfall dropping down the side of the steep fell. It’s so good to get out and walk in nature – makes us feel so alive. The size of the fells makes us feel so small in comparison. We walked in awe and gratitude.

High Lunar Standstill – 28th May

This Wednesday (28th), the Moon will reach high in the sky. However, because it’s New Moon the day before (27th), the Moon is with the Sun so when the Moon reaches her highest in the sky, it will be daytime and not visible. We may see the crescent Moon as the Sun sets, weather permitting of course! If you see her, you might notice that she’s higher than usual for a crescent Moon. This is due to the Major Lunar Standstill when the angle to the horizon is more extreme.

Major Lunar Standstill

The next Lunar Standstill is on 11/12 June and will be the lowest Full Moon in the 18.6 year cycle. Full Moons near the summer solstice are always the lowest as the Moon is opposite the Sun which is at its highest. Because we’re in the Major Lunar Standstill season, this low Full Moon will be at its extreme and so at its lowest. That is when we’ll be at Callanish where we hope to witness the Full Moon skim across the Sleeping Beauty mountain and set in the stone circle.

Onwards and upwards… For now, we’re in the Lake District and hoping for good Moon gazing weather….

Ceri, Tina & Undle, the dog x