Tag: Bayeux

To Make a Ghost

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Murderers were human, and the root of each murder was an emotion. Warped, no doubt. Twisted and ugly. But an emotion. And one so powerful it had driven a man to make a ghost.

Louise Penny, Dead Cold

I’ll admit I was tempted to leave the publishing of this post to next month in the spirit of Halloween. I mean, the title alone suits the spooky season. However, I’m on such a roll lately with my blog posts, and this was the next one chronologically in my travelogue of France, I decided injecting a little ghoulishness into an overly hot September was perhaps not a bad thing.

So, get yourself something delicious to drink and settle in for a tale filled with at least one deliberate murder and another, well, mystery.

Setting the scene: Bayeux Cathedral, 2015 (Photo: Erin of the Hills)
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The Realm of Spirit

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Chief Druids were those who, from childhood, had demonstrated an intimate awareness of the Otherworld. Its mysteries were not mysteries to them; its patterns were carved into their bones. They could move in and out of the realm of spirit, seeing that to which others were blind.

Morgan Llywelyn, Brendan

If there’s anything I love as much as graveyards, it’s cathedrals. Or any site of worship really. The two are almost always inextricably entwined and the older the better. Though regardless of their age, they are always filled with stories.

These places seem to inhabit the veil between this world and another. As if…if you just listened hard enough, stayed still enough, you could hear and see a glimpse of the other side.

Though I could wax poetically on this forever, I thought that today I would return to my France travelogue with the tale of one cathedral in particular: Bayeux.

I know it has been a while since my last entry from my travels. So, grab a hot (or cold) drink of your choice and come away with me, just for a few moments, to Bayeux, France.

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Returning to the Unfinished

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun.”

Christina Rossetti

Way back in September of 2021, I wrapped up my recollections of visiting the Beaches of Normandy with an emotional post, stating that I would be giving myself some time away from these harder travel stories for a little while. I have a ritual about writing these types of posts which often means sitting with those dredged up feelings of overwhelming sadness at the incomprehensible loss of life all those years ago. After spending so much time back at the beaches, remembering all the mental anguish I had experienced walking freely and unhindered where so many fell, I needed to focus on the lighter sides of life for a while. Little did I know this would translate into almost an entire year off from blogging.

Well, it’s now been 16 months now since my Beaches blog went live so…I’d say it’s OK to finally return to that unfinished travelogue. That said, I will be easing into it with a little human interest story to start things off.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

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Love Instead of Loss

Posted on by Erin of the Hills

They settled, just for one blessed instant, on a place that held love, not loss.

Louise Penny, A Still Life

I promise this entry will be much lighter than the last few chapters of my travelogue have been – finally focusing on a sense of peace and awe instead of destruction! Savour it well because the next one will tell of our visit to the beaches of WWII fame. And that one is a doozy.

After taking in as much as possible of the information about Caen’s experience of the Second World War, we turned away from this beautifully tragic city towards our next destination: Bayeux.

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