*
This next part was amazing.
We suddenly came out of the forest into this huge clearing. It was dusk, but you could still see right across to where the downs rose up before disappearing over a brow in the east, about a mile or two away. We were going down this gentle slope and I nearly lost it. I could not believe it. You should have seen it. On my left, there it was. I was completely gob-smacked.
The Cursus!
I recognised it because I’ve seen about it on Tori’s website. Oh boy, she would have loved it. The Cursus: it’s a huge rectangular space, almost two miles long and maybe a hundred yards wide. It’s edged with a chalk bank and a ditch. From that hillside we could see everything. There were fires and people with flaming torches. The banks around it were dead smooth and shone in the fire light. There were loads of people milling about, some in - you know, like crocodiles, some standing in groups. There were these guys wearing cloaks painted with stars and moons. Some had fur faces, you know, like a real wolf-face or a bear-face. The noise was crazy. They all sounded so happy, laughing and chattering. It was like a holiday resort.
Then old Blaith grabbed my arm and pointed to the right, to an area where I think Stonehenge should be. He wanted me to see some blokes working on a tree trunk, a massive one. They had a fire and flaming torches, but I couldn’t see what they were doing. They had this tree laid on the ground. I think they were cleaning it up, getting all the branches and twigs off, or maybe they were carving it or something. I couldn’t see. We were too far away. Anyway, Blaith was pointing and grinning. He was really proud of it, whatever it was. He called it “Kafel “. I don’t know what Kafel means yet. Another word he said at the same time is, “Duh“. It’s like doo with a, hh on the end, not doh, like Homer Simpson. I don’t know what Duh means either, but I’ll find out.
Anyway, he led us through this clearing for about a mile and up the other side. I just kept looking at all those people in the Cursus. Some were cooking and having parties, some were singing and all sort of happy and gay. Some were doing other stuff too, you know what I mean? Yeah, true man, right there with everybody watching ‘em. They are sex mad these people.
All of it was amazing, but from the brow of the downs, I looked out over something even more extraordinary. A sight I really wasn’t ready for. I saw huts and houses and fires, dozens of fires and torches. It was pretty dark by then. The moon was coming up, and I couldn’t see details, but I didn’t need to. I knew that I was looking at a city. Yes, a city, right there before me. And slap in the middle of it was this massive circular building, like an amphitheatre.