This land is my memories. For two thousand years this valley has been mine alone. I know every rock, every stream and every tree. I know
forces that shape this land and people who inhabit it.A billion years ago this land was a migratory trail for animals of Western Europe. They roamed freely across huge land of one continent. Millennia passed as rivers washed silt to ocean and sun raised rain to sky. At that time mass of Eurasia was joined. The tectonic plates shifted and islands formed, raising proud, green peninsulas on green water, thrust out to ocean. Long before my time forces of nature battled along coasts of Western Europe. From Southwest, Gulf Stream warmed and opened land with summer heat. From north, ice raged and cracked rock of what would become British Isles.
The land tells me it was an epic struggle. The generous heat of earth, venting her spleen, wash of water, cooling and circulating air. Rain succoured land and ran back to sea, endless cycles, repeating endlessly. The earth shifted, chasms opened and sea swept in, submerging areas and separating islands of Britain and Ireland from mainland.
Spouts of boiling lava spewed from molten centre of earth to create granite formations, a source of wonder till end of time. A great rift opened up what is now Bristol Channel and Irish Sea, separating land into distinct areas. Many characteristics still connect Brittany, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall. Their joining can still be seen in place and people. But veins of power run through sea, a matrix of energy criss-crosses land and reaches out around our planet.
The Phoenicians, Egyptians and Greeks journeyed to these coasts even before Iron Age, in search of Keltic wisdom, since long before time of my youth. They followed trail of gold and wisdom across sea to Cornwall and then to Wales and Ireland. Later, tin trade followed these routes across Brittany and journeys of wise men and saints to west of land, land of setting sun, of Gods and quest for immortality that haunts us all. Ships and boats from French and Spanish coasts often sailed to rivers on south coast of Cornwall in search of trade and journey with friendly and civilised Keltii, hopefully avoiding pirates that have ravaged these coasts for millennia.
