Mystery Window, Maureen Wilson and Dwynwen, Welsh patron saint of lovers

Stayed up way past my bedtime last night as I uncovered some more things about St.Morwenna....maybe becoming a 'Tad' obsessive! So as a result didn't do any research today, but here's what I gleaned yesterday!

These are in no particular order of discovery. I’d started putting together a timeline to work out where she slotted into history – how long after the Romans had left was she born (about 60 years), when the Saxon's arrived (450AD) etc..then got slightly distracted by doing another google search to see what else I could find.

Well then….

Mystery window in Suffolk.

I found a mystery window in a church in Cavendish, Suffolk for one thing! It popped up on someone’s flicker page: Here’s what it says:

‘Cavendish St Mary. Saint Morwenna

A tiny window high in the west wall of the tower of St Mary's, Cavendish. This appears to show St Morwenna in her traditional Cornish cliff setting but how did she end up in the Stour Valley being asked to pray for us? The kind person who showed us the window said it was donated in 1947 by a parishioner named Morwenna but knew nothing of its age or history. Does anyone recognise the arms , as they may offer a clue? It has, perhaps, come from a private chapel. But , if so, then where was it? It feels as though there is a story here!’

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8118630@N08/4635783681/

Click on the link to view it as I don’t have approval from the photographer to share it yet.

I’ve emailed them to see if they’ve found out any more information of how it got there, but had no response yet. Also contacted the vicar at the church to see if they know the details of its history. Another mystery to be solved!!

Who is Maureen Wilson?

Also came across an e-book called ‘Morwenna’ written by Maureen Wilson – in I *think* 1996. I’ve not be able to find any hard copies (nothing on Amazon) or anything about Maureen Wilson herself yet. But it’s 13 chapters of very interesting and helpful information – She had done a lot of research by the look of it. I haven’t read it all in detail yet, but some things stood out – the fact she would have been a healer and a herbalist and Maureen thinks St.Morwenna actually lived until she was in her 60s. 

She would have been very well educated and would have been taught many ‘skills’ including how to farm. Maureen also thinks that she actually originates from Ireland (Killearny) and that the 24 children of Brychan, 12 girls 12 boys, were in actual fact not his real children at all, rather ‘students’ that joined his order and then were taught by him. If anyone can let me know how I can go about finding out who Maureen Wilson is – and what drew her to write about St.Morwenna – I’d love to know! So will have a proper read of that and will add my learnings! ;-) I found it on Geocities?

Then I came across a model called Morwenna Lytton Cobbold  - From Premier model agency website: is a British model, DJ and heiress to the Knebworth Estate in Hertfordshire. A former face of Burberry she has modelled for designers including Christopher Kane, Vivienne Westwood, Aquascutum and Richard Nicholl and has shot for British Vogue, Italian Vogue, i-D and Dazed.

I read an interview with her where she tells a lovely story how she got her name and about how St.Morwenna used to sail around the North Cornish coast in a seashell to warn sailors of the rocks and to keep them safe. I’d not heard that anywhere before and really liked it! Really conjured up lots of beautiful images, of her in a pearly pink shell and the rough harsh Cornish waves smashing against the rocks. (hmmm Children’s book in there I think!)….Next project maybe ;-)

Dwynwen, Welsh patron saint of lovers

My the internet is a wonderful thing! Came across a welsh children’s book written by Sian Lewis about Dwynwen, Welsh patron saint of lovers, who was one of St. Morwenna’s ‘sisters’!

The story goes that thwarted in love by her father ‘not allowing her to marry Maelon, the man she loved’ Dwynwen prayed and angel came and gave her three wishes:

Firstly, she wished to be free of Maelon, and he vanished;

Her second wish was that she would never marry and the third that she could help other lovers. She wanted to spend her life helping anyone who was in pain through love.

The cult of Dwynwen has existed for centuries and people have always made pilgrimages to Llanddwyn. There are still the remains of the church and they hold a service each year.

Read the full article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northwestwales/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8458000/8458910.stm

I’ve contacted the publishers and they’ve given me Sian’s address, I’m interested to find out if she learnt anything of St.Morwenna whilst she was researching Dwynwen.

I think that St.Morwenna was a patron saint of children in some way as most things appear to mention her teaching, but I’ve yet to come across anything that clear states St. Morwenna, patron saint of….???

Ummm what else did I discover?

1. There is a St.Morwenna’s Endurance Ride on the 17 June. (Mum's Birthday - miss you) Started last year and is a horse riding event. No I haven’t signed up to do it.
2. There is a Dr. Morwenna Ludlow, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion at Exeter University who is an expert in the time period of 100-500 AD. (PERFECT so she’s bound to know loads!) Will contact her.
3. There were a few thousand people living in Britain in the 5^th century. Today there are around 62 million (2010 figures).
4. Morwenstow is known as Lannvorwenna in Cornish
5. Registered to be in The Bristol Zombie Film. Will know on Wednesday if we’ve been successful....

Also been contemplating if I should actually tie this trip in with the Marhamchurch Revel which is in August and does celebrate St.Morwenna? Perfect example of my usual ‘feet first approach’ hadn’t really crossed my mind to do that until this morning!! 

I guess I’d seen it as being about Morwenstow and her feast day – which is in July, and going by what Maureen Wilson says in her ‘book’ she had two celebrations – one in Morwenstow in July and one at Marhamchurch in August. It rather depends on the sailing bit really. So once I’ve spoken with the lovely people at Swansea Museum, will work out what’s best to do. There and plus and minuses for both! Sticking to the 5th at the moment.

I think that’s it for the moment - time for a hot chocolate.. or should that be a glass of metheglin? 

Rohan, walking in the rain and wild brewing (yeast pee, pumps and poo)

Has all gone a bit quite on Olga the clipper at the moment, so will give them a call on Monday to see how things are working out with the tides.

Rohan

Heard back from Rohan on Friday, had a lovely email from Andy, who said it was a great adventure, but unfortunately they weren’t able to support by donating any kit or in any financial capacity (they must get 1000s of requests) but I can post details of the journey on their forum.  So will do that.

Rain

Rich and I went walking in the rain on Thursday (training). Got wet. That’s that.

Wild Brewing

So, on to more exciting stuff. Wild Brewing – or ‘Booze For Free’ as the workshop was called.

This, I thought would be a perfect way to a) do some research into what would have been drunk in the 5^th century, and b) improve my knowledge of brewing.  A useful skill for a lady.

So off I went to Windmill City Farm to do just that.

The workshop was run by Andy Hamilton – who is a bit of an expert in foraging and brewing.

Andy is a bestselling author (latest book – Booze for free – I now have my very own signed copy ;-), co-founder of award winning website www.selfsufficientish.com, guardian blog writer  - check this out for interesting recipes (as well as other magazines), Autumn watch presenter and all-round nice chap. Check him out here: http://www.theotherandyhamilton.com/

Our first introduction to brewing was to learn about how yeast works – ‘Fungus eat my sugar’ and that yeast – like all living beings – pees, pumps and poos.  (Stronger words were used – but I’ve opted for these as I think they are funny.)

Yeast pee = the alcohol, Yeast pumps = carbon dioxide 

and Yeast poo = the sediment.

The three P’s of brewing. 

We got very technical with our terminology. ;-)

First off we made ‘prison booze’ (great name!)  – which consists of sugar, warm water, fruit juice, yeast water– (from bread that has been soaked in water, wholemeal works best apparently) all put in a plastic bottle, left somewhere warm and then ready to drink in five days! (Mustn’t forget to open the lid now and again to let out the yeast ‘pumps’ otherwise they’ll be an explosion..!

We were given a blue peter style ‘here’s one I made earlier’ sample to try. And it was GOOD. Just like orangina but alcoholic.  

Then we moved on to making yarrow beer. We took a trip outside at this point and walked around the farm, where Andy pointed out different plants and told us what we could do with them.  I love this kind of stuff! Burdock, nettles, jack by the hedge, hops, herb bennett – the roots have a clovey smell and this was used to flavour ale in medieval times (just what I needed to know) as well as plantain, cleavers (goose grass) and alexander’s. Which I’ve been eating recently! There is so much around us to eat, enjoy and experiment with! (Think I’ll add another page just on these herbs as they have so many uses and fascinating histories). We picked some yarrow and headed back inside as it started to rain.

The yarrow is actually used to flavour the beer and adds the ‘bitter’ flavour. Without these bitters beer would taste rather sweet.

In medieval times – before the introduction of hops in the 11^th century, herb beer or ‘gruit’ was made. As hops act as a preservative medieval beer would have only lasted a few days. So it didn’t keep or travel very well.  Hops are also a soporific so make you sleepy, Andy told us a wonderful story about a party he held where he served Rosemary beer – without any hops, and it went on till 07.00am. No one was tired. New kind of energy beer perhaps…who needs Red Bull?

Typical herbs that would have been used in medieval beers were: Yarrow, Bog Myrtle, Bay, Ground Ivy, Rosemary, Thyme and Woodhaven (Herb Bennett). And they would also have drunk something called Metheglin – which is a ‘spiced’ honey based alcoholic drink. So a ‘Spicy’ Mead!  Spices such as cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg, or herbs such as oregano, hops, or even lavender or chamomile were added. So could also be considered to have been medicinal. Neat.

As the beer didn’t last that long – 5^th century folk would also have drunk ‘gone off beer.’ We tried some today – and I liked it. It was fizzier than you might expect for a beer but wasn’t nasty tasting, in fact it was rather tasty and didn’t taste ‘off’ at all.

Apparently you can still buy this kind of beer. It’s called Lambic and is made in Belgium.

Here’s what I’ve found out about that: (thank you wiki)

Lambic is a very distinctive type of beer brewed traditionally in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, lambic beer is produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, usually with a sour aftertaste.

After making our beer, siphoning it and bottling it – then having a go using the bottle cap ‘fitter’ it was sampling time and Q&A. We tried plum wine, knotweed, alexanders and rubharb wine, yarrow beer, horshradish vodka…I think that was everything! Personally I enjoyed the beers more than the wines as I found them a bit too sharp for my taste – but others on the course really liked them.

So after a great day, gaining lots of really useful information and meeting some great people, I feel all fired up and ready to have ago at making some actual medieval beer and metheglin.  Anyone fancy making some and comparing notes?  We can take it with us then and drink it when we get to Morwenstow. (or err on route if it won’t last…?).

Tides, sponsorship and being a zombie

Had a call first thing from Matthew at Swansea Museum asking for some more details. Appears it’s ok sailing from Cardiff and he wanted to know what time we’d be in Cardiff – I reckon about 16.00 on the Sat, but said obviously can be there when you need us to be and can move timings around to fit. 

Also (as thought) it might not be possible to sail into Minehead so he’s looking into the tides now and also which location along that stretch of coastal path will be best. Brilliant! Fingers still crossed.

Sponsorship

Popped into Nomad today and asked about how it works with sponsorship/kit donation – they were really helpful and suggested I contact manufacturers directly (esp. British ones) for any kit donations and also that if I buy anything from their store they’d give me a 15% discount as it's for charity! How nice is that!

So carried on up the hill and called into Rohan. Where I spoke to Emma and Ben. Again they were really helpful and Emma even rang head office for me to find out if they could donate any kit. That was really nice of her to do that. She couldn’t get through, but took my details and will get the name of who I need to speak to.

Fancy being a Zombie?

Whist she was on the phone I was chatting to her colleague, Ben, about my trip and he said – "Your trip sounds cool, why not? it's what life's about - adventures. I’m making a zombie movie – would you and any of your friends like to be in it?"

Not a question you get asked everyday! 

Turns out he studied music tech. at Bristol City College and decided to make a film, so is looking for volunteers to be in it! Yep I said. Cool. 

He’s spoken to the peeps at Watershed and they’re keen to show it on Halloween – which also fits in with the Bristol Zombie walk. (They are still sourcing funding - so if you know anyone who might be interested...)

Have joined facebook page and will await further instructions….

So, If you fancy being a zombie, live in the Bristol or surrounding area and will be available between 2-10 June he wants to hear from you.  You can join here – (you have to be approved) 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/295807531723/members/

Ah darn. Just realised will be away for some it if so might only be able to be a ‘part-time Zombie.' Sounds such fun.

NEWSFLASH – Emma from Rohan just called and she’s given me the name and email address of the person I need to speak to…apparently they like to hear about the different adventures Rohan customers get up to…so I’ll be emailing him tonight! VERY HELPFUL ;-) PLUS Rohan is British! ;-) YEAH!

Olga, Taff Trail and listening to your Uncle.

So, after cleaning the bathroom, I plucked up the courage to call Swansea Museum again and spoke to a brilliant lady called Garethe. 

She was VERY enthusiastic about my trip and wants to be involved! OMG! I couldn’t quite believe it. SO excited! Was buzzing around then and found it difficult to focus on anything else!

Turns out she’s also done some cool adventures herself – The Three Musketeers Ride, to name one – so she knew where I was coming from! WOW. Rang my sister straight away as I was so excited!

Tried to calm myself down by remembering what I’d learnt on my Mindfulness course (which is a brilliant course btw) and after a few deep breaths was calmer. Of course there are the logistics to sort now so there is still a risk it might not come off. BUT the fact she liked my idea and didn’t think I was completely crazy was FAB!  *phew*

So have emailed her details and…...watch this space!

Design

Have also had a draft design from Jeremy for the logo design! (He has very kindly agreed to do this for free – so expect lots of mentions about him here as he’s an ace graphic designer!) You can look at his work here:  www.jeremycole.co.uk

A Coat of Arms – nice. Need to get the welsh link in there somewhere too. So we’re working on this.

Stephen at The Stroke Association

Thought now was also a good time to let Stephen, who is the regional fundraising manager for Stroke, know about my plans. I’d wanted to get some more details sorted before letting him know (as you can see from this blog, I really get into something, then drop it, then pick it up again. So wanted to be 100% committed before letting him know) Also means I’m going to do it now. Whatever happens. This will happen!

The Taff Trail

Have also been researching the Taff Trail today. 55 miles of amazing scenery by the looks of the photos I’ve found. This trip if def. going to be a treat!  Hard work too though - don’t want you thinking it’s going to be a holiday!

I’ve signed up to their forum and posted a few questions as I’ve not cycled this route before. Only actually heard about it last year.

Checking out what the trail is actually like – surfaces wise etc. and if the bike I’ve got will be right for the job. I’ve got a lovely Trek Hybrid, but reckon I’ll need to get some chunky-er tyers as some parts are a bit ‘off-road’ but other than that is mainly tarmac. Need to watch out around Merthyr Tydfil.  Apparently the signs tend to be pointing in the wrong direction…! so lots of helpful tips on the site.

I have also found some time trails which is really helpful and gives me an idea of how long it’s going to take. The fastest was 4hrs 8mins. Slowest - 8hrs 5mins. So that gives me guidelines. 

I'll aim for somewhere in the middle (hopefully via a pub stop or two…;-)

Helpful advice from my Uncle Terry

Had a great chat with my Uncle Terry this evening (who is in his late 70s now – but you wouldn’t know it!) and he gave me some great advice. He said ‘do the 50mins walking and 10mins resting and you can’t go wrong!’ Sound advice. Obviously, he was referring to the walking part of my adventure!!

By using this technique, he told me, they managed to get my cousin Carolyn (who sadly is no longer with us) to walk between 8/9 miles and she had more challenges with walking than I face.

Also discovered than when he was twelve his job was as a ‘knocker’. This involved collecting the coal money as his Dad owned a coal merchants. Terry would have to go around on his bike and knock door to door collecting payment. Not related to St.Morwenna, but I found it interesting. 

We also talked about their business (My aunt and uncle used to own a caravan park in St.Ives) and how they survived the recession in the 80s. All fascinating stuff! He’s always great to talk to, as is my Aunty Ann ;-)

Actually thinking about first job’s mine was in Swansea market on a cockle stall, and don’t think I was that much older! I *eventually* became a dab hand at wrapping the lava bread (edible seaweed) and err eating crabsticks…! Oh and I like cockles with vinegar and black pepper. 

Tasty.

So slight detour there...but Terry is very taken with my idea and has promised to do some research into St.Morwenna for me to see what he can find! Excellent!

Until tomorrow!

Crossing the channel

Small achievements today. I spoke to Stuart, captain of The Morwenna, and unfortunately they'll be in Southampton when I'm doing 'The Journey' - but being the helpful chap he is, suggested I contact Swansea Museum as they have a Bristol Clipper called Olga.
http://swanseamuseum.wordpress.com/
so I rang and spoke to a very friendly lady, who told me that the people I needed to speak to were in a meeting and so she took a message. Will call again tomorrow and see if they are interested. After reading about the fact the ship gives disadvantaged children the opportunity to sail, I thought it fitted rather well with what St.Morwenna was about. She was a teacher and from what I understand her main focus was helping children. So fingers crossed this will be a positive lead! ;-)


Then popped off to Snow and Rock in Bristol to sort out my shoes. They were really helpful in the store and I've chosen these beauties.  Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX.

Had to order them as they didn't have my size, so will pick them up end of the week. Apparently they are coming from their Liverpool store. Need some smartwool socks now...don't want any blisters thank you very much!  Look slightly different to what St.Morwenna may have worn on her feet.....

Celtic footwear 1-5th century - Dawn of time crafts

How to pay my way?

was interested in a feature on Countryfile this evening where the poet Simon Armitage recently walked the whole of the South Pennines without a penny in his pocket - so to pay his way he gave poetry recitals and then asked people to make a donation and that paid for his accommodation. So that has got me thinking. How can I 'pay my way' from the Brecons to Morwenstow??

Ideas?

Have been finalising the timings and so far it looks something like this:

Day 0 - Friday 22 June - Travel up to Brecons with bikes stay over night

Day 1 - Saturday 23 June - Cycle Taff Trail  (55 miles)  

              Plan A - boat related (TBC)/ Plan B - drive to minehead stay overnight. 

Day 3 - Sunday 24 June - Minehead to Porlock Weir - 12.5 miles

Day 4 - Monday 25 June - Porlock Weir to Lynmouth / Lynton - 14.7 miles

Day 5 - Tuesday 26 June - Lynmouth / Lynton to Combe Martin - 13.6 miles

Day 6 - Wednesday 27 June - Combe Martin to Woolacombe - 13.6 miles

Day 7 - Thursday 28 June - Woolacombe to Braunton - 14.9 miles

Day 8 - Friday 29 June - Braunton to Instow - 11.4 miles

Day 9 - Saturday 30 June - Instow to Westward Ho! (via Bideford) - 12.5 miles

Day 10 - Sunday 01 July - Westward Ho! to Clovelly - 10.8 miles

Day 11 - Monday 02 July - Clovelly to Hartland Quay (pick up donkey hopefully) - 10.1 miles

Day 12 - Tuesday 03 July - Hartland Quay to Bude - (leave donkey with owner) - 14.7 miles - END!

Day 13 - Wednesday 04 July - Contingency Day!

Day 14 - Thursday 05 July - CELEBRATE St. Morwenna's Feast Day and completing the journey! Hurrah!

sooo now need to work out how to A) get to the Brecons with bikes, B) How to get from Cardiff to Minehead and C) how to get back from Morwenstow...ooh and how to keep the costs to me as cheap as possible!

Accommodation booked! Yipee

OK so another step closer. 
I've booked accommodation for the 4 & 5 July at Hawker's Old Rectory so at least I'll have somewhere comfortable to sleep once I get there! (not sure what the journey itself will hold for me). 


Also discovered yesterday after meeting up with Nicola and Alison that Nicola knows the one and only Morwenna Banks via a friend of a friend of a friend (you get the picture) who knows David Baddiel...so that's pretty cool. Haven't heard back from the lovely Donkey people so will give them a call and also need to call the lovely boat people too and find out where they are and if it's going to be feasible or I need a plan B. 


That will be a job for next week.