Mud Dancing at Llansteffan Castle

Teena Gould suggested Llansteffan Castle for my Tai Chi and Castles Film shoot so I decided to whip up there this afternoon to do a bit of a risk assessment.

We'll be with @ 30 primary school children who will embrace tai chi for the filmscape so I need to be sure it is safe & a recognised public area etc.

It's quite difficult to park at the Castle so I pulled over and walked up. It was absolutely lamping it down with rain!

It was quite a long walk up so I thought I would cut through up a little walkway ...

But it got quite steep so I thought .. 'mmm ... best turn back!' 

When I turned, I realised that I had actually climbed up quite high and behind me the rain had made the downward slop a very muddy place to be!

 

Not to worry, rather cunningly, I thought, I just used the branches of the overhanging trees to lower me down. It was tremendous! There I was, a middle aged woman alone in the woods, climbing and sliding in the pouring of rain, like I was a child of 6 years old again ... and then this overwhelming feeling came over me!

For some reason, completely unbeknown to me, I had this deep urge to take off my shoes and socks and stomp about in the mud! I wanted to feel it squelching in my toes!

'That's ridiculous!' I thought to myself as I took off my boots and socks and sunk my toes into the wet soil.

I looked up towards the castle. Years ago people wouldn't have had boots and socks. They would have walked this soil bare feet. And in that thought, I felt my soles had connected to something far bigger than me, than this castle or the huge house that peered over at me through the misty rain.

I had connected with the history in this mud. I felt the heart beat of the trees in that moment, the white belled flowers bobbing, the leaves licking at the trickling raindrops ... I AM ALIVE I shouted out loud.

And then I thought I heard someone coming! For a moment, the freedom was lost. The cell doors slammed shut. Oh my goodness, someone might see me, hear me ... BUT WHO CARES!

I carried on walking down the lane through the deep puddles to wash my feet clean and climbed back into my beetle.

'My feet are dirty with history inside these socks and boots,' I thought to myself.

When I got home, I ran a bowl of hot water with bubbles and sat on the sofa. I took off my socks and boots expecting my filthy feet, but they were clean as a whistle! Seems the puddles had fixed them after all. 

As I soaked them in the hot steamy bubbles, I could feel them wondering what mad cap adventure we would be going on next!