Category Archive: Bard on a bike

May 01

The Cathedral of Trees

Categories:

bard, Bard on a bike, beltane, ecowarriors, Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, Gloucestershire, Green, Green Man, May, May Hill, Morris, rain, Seasonal

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1st May Last night I gave a talk on my book Turning the Wheel: seasonal Britain on two wheels to the Bath Positive Living Group – I talked about seasonal customs large and small and the eccentric folk who celebrate them… Today I joined their ranks, walking (or riding) my talk, as I got up [...]

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Apr 05

Isles of the Ever-Living

Categories:

Afterlife, Amergin, Atlantis, Avalon, bard, Bard on a bike, Britain, Celtic myt, Celtic myths, Extraordinary Places, Faerie, Fairy, Fortunate Isles, Hyberborea, Ireland, Ithaka, Kalevala, Kevan Manwaring, Lyonnesse, Myths, Otherworld, Robert Kirk, Taliesin, Thule, Tir nan Og, TS Eliot, Ynys Enlli, Ys

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Islands of the Ever-Living Kevan Manwaring (the second part of a two-part article. Last time we looked at Isle of the Dead) No Country for Old Men Isles of the Dead often blur into Islands of the Ever-Living – in the mythic imagination it is hard to see the join – but the latter are [...]

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Mar 30

Isles of the Dead

Categories:

after-life, Avalon, bard, Bard on a bike, belief systems, Bocklin, Death-canoes, Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, Isle of Man, Isles of the Dead, mythology, Travel, Viking ship burials

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ISLES OF THE DEAD Where do we go when we die? This question has haunted humankind for millennia and although no firm proof has come to light there’s no shortage of theories! This article attempts to make a minor foray into this nebula of super-abundant speculation, on a raid in the spirit of King Arthur’s [...]

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Mar 04

Feet on the Ground

Categories:

Bard on a bike, Delapre Abbey, motorbike, Northampton, Turning the Wheel, waterstones

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‘We are never more than an extension of the ground on which we live’, Iain Sinclair, Edge of the Orison Northampton, 24-26th February 2012 Last Saturday I went back up to my old home town to do a book-signing at Waterstones on Abington Street. This was for my book Turning the Wheel: seasonal Britain on [...]

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Jan 10

Sturm-und-Drang

Categories:

bard, Bard on a bike, Britain, Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, Seasonal, Travel

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Germany 28 Dec-7 Jan Over the New Year I went on a writers’ retreat in Germany with some friends – well, when I say ‘retreat’, it was more like an ‘advance’…  When one travels abroad it is a very ‘yang’ act in a way – in effect, penetrating the world, when my natural inclination at [...]

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Dec 11

The Bear Moon Licks its Paws of Frost

Categories:

bard, Bard on a bike, Bear, Books, Britain, Frome, Frost Fayre, full moon, Glastonbury, Seasonal, Travel, Turning the Wheel

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Turning the Wheel Tour 9-10 December Back on the road again as my Turning the Wheel tour continues. Riding this time of year can be beautiful … but deadly. The cold sun is blindingly low in the sky, but it illumines the bleak landscape and bare trees in a wonderful way. Our wooden cousins arch [...]

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Nov 29

Turning the Wheel

Categories:

bard, Bard on a bike, biker, book launch, Britain, Buddhism, dharma, Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, karma, media, radio, Seasonal, Stroud, Totnes, Travel, Turning the Wheel, Wales, Wessex Research Group, writer

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Turning the Wheel book launches 25 & 27 November; 1 December On Friday I launched my latest book, Turning the Wheel: seasonal Britain on two wheels, with a ‘book launch celebration’ at (what was) first ‘the British School’, then the Five Valleys Foyer in Stroud (it changed its name half-way through my publicity campaign to [...]

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Nov 23

Riding with Gerry

Categories:

bard, Bard on a bike, Britain, Dad, Delapre Abbey, Extraordinary People, father, Gerald Manwaring, motorbike, Northampton, remembrance, sacred, time, Travel, Turning the Wheel

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‘We won’t be here forever…’ This was one of my Dad’s favourite sayings. Although I knew this – and found it a little irritating – it came uncannily true sooner than anyone had expected. Gerald George Manwaring (known as ‘Gerry’ to his mates) died suddenly in early January 2008, aged 69. The family pulled together [...]

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Nov 20

In Comes I!

Categories:

bard, Bard on a bike, Bath, Britain, carnival, Commedia dell Arte, Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, hobby horse, Marshfield Mummers, Mummers Plays, Mummers Unconvention, procession, Seasonal

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In Comes I! Saturday 19th November Today I took a sunny ride down to Bath to experience the raggle taggle delights of the first ‘Mummers Unconvention’ – a gathering of performers, academics, enthusiasts and support teams involved in the obscure world of ‘Mummers Plays – the possibly ancient folk street theatre traditionally performed over Yuletide [...]

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Nov 17

The Devil has All the Best Tunes

Categories:

Ambrose Bierce, bard, Bard on a bike, Bardic Poetry, Cheltenham, definitions, Devil, Devil's Dictionary, documentary, Everyman, Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, George Harrison, Green, Kneehigh, Living in the Material World, Martin Scorsese, Satan, Sympathy for the Devil, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Wild Bride, Theatre

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The Devil has All the Best Tunes It might be a truism to suggest that old Nick could belt ‘em out, as it were, but it seems to be often the case. Last week I took my lady to a great show at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – The Wild Bride, by the ever-wonderful Knee-High [...]

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