In the South West of England they have their own special way of celebrating Guy Fawkes, by putting on amazing illuminated carnivals. One of the biggest of these is The Glastonbury & Chilkwell Carnival which took place this year on Saturday 15th November.
We left London that morning, arriving in time to check in to our hostel before watching the Australia v England rugby game, the less said about that the better. Some of us had a pub lunch and bought some alcohol before returning to our hostel which overlooked the parade route.
Finally the carnival started, signalled by a group of bikers on Harley Davidson’s revving high which was loud in the narrow streets. The next couple of hours was a feast of colour, lights and music as float after float passed by. The amount of effort that had gone into the floats was as usual, amazing! There was a huge range of themes, ones that stood out included an amazing Ghost Train and one called Cleopatra.
Glastonbury Carnival
When the carnival was over it was replaced by the sound of drummers below our kitchen window. Jen and Carolyn had both bought a lightsabre and drunken fights broke out before finally everyone retired to bed.
On Sunday three of us decided to get out into the fresh air by walking near Bath. The others kept warm and dry seeing the sights of Bath, mainly the insides of coffee and cake shops!
It had been a fun weekend and I have no hesitation in recommending the carnival to anyone.
