So, on the 15th July my good friend John and I went Paranormal Camping at the Rollright Stones in North Oxfordshire. This is our fifth annual "PC" excercise and so far we have experienced nothing that we can even come close to classing as paranormal. Actually you could argue that our use of even the phrase "Camping" is dubious when you consider my £15 pop up tent.... but that's by the by.
We had performed a reckie of the site a few weeks earlier in order to agree a spot for the tents (it's technically illegal after all, so we don't want to turn up on the day and wander round with camping equipment looking for a pitch) and found a spot that we felt was hidden from view but very near to the stones. It turned out to be a good spot and on the evening we rocked up at about 8pm, gathered some firewood, pitched the tents and set ourselves up.
I'm not going to post a shot of the pitch in case we want to use it again. I hasten to add at this point that we are fastidiously tidy campers. We leave no evidence of our camping, especially not litter. We both love the countryside and the camping part of these events. Although it's usually technically "illegal camping" we do everything we can to ensure we can continue what we do by respecting the land.
At about 9pm we wandered to the "Whispering Knights" and then on to the stone circle. At this point we took a load of photos. All of them were uneventful except for 2 which featured loads of orbs. Here's one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewline ... hotostream
In all I guess we took about 50 photos (which we still have if any one wants to see). They showed no orbs apart from the two mentioned which featured loads. I wonder if this is due to seed spore being released en mass at certain times. In the middle of the circle someone had left a bunch of "flowers". See here with me studying the (apparently Pagan?) flower arrangement
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewline ... hotostream
After absORBing the atmosphere (see what I did there!?) we crossed the road to the King Stone. The sun had just set to the West and the view over the North of Oxfordshire was awesome as you are elevated. We approached the King Stone itself which is full of legend
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_K ... tcard_No10).jpg
As we were talking about the immense size of the stone we had a bizarre moment when the wrought iron gate simply swung open in front of us. Anyone whose been there will know that this is a bit like the fence at Stone Henge opening. Since the 1940s the King Stone has been surrounded by a strong, 4 ish foot high fence. I've never known of anyone getting inside it, let alone it swinging open of it's own accord. In fact I think you would struggle to get over it even if you put your mind to it. We took this picture
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewline ... hotostream
We then entered the inner sanctum (this felt very special and we almost tip toed into it!) and touched the stone. It was odd as only when you get that close do you realise how big it is. Here's a photo of John posing "under" it's curving shape:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewline ... hotostream
This is definitely the most Fortean type event we have ever had. In fact, up till this point, the orbs were the weirdest thing we had experienced in the 5 years we have been doing this. But I can't even describe how odd it was when the gate just swung open in front of us. We were just standing in front of the gate as it happened. It left both of us speechless.
I must say that at no point were either of us alarmed, more shocked. My lasting impression of the site in general is an overrall feeling of "calmness". I'm not a hippy or anything but it was a very comforting atmosphere. And when we went to bed, back at the campsite at about 2am, I felt nothing but happiness. Although we'd had a few bottles of beer (as you might have noticed from the inner circle photo!).
We always wake early after Paranormal Camping in order to get packed up before the early morning dog walkers. On this occaision it was pretty miserable with heavy rain and a bit of a driving wind. But we were thankful that the night itself was dry enough to facilitate the wanders round the stones followed by a miniature bottle of Champagne by the camp fire to celebrate the fact that we were both about to become Dads for the first time.
I'll never forget it. And I look forward to more Paranormal Camping with one of the best friends I have ever had.
