Chapter VI Continued...

Chapter XIII

As previosly stated, our cosmic messengers focused their prime messages at Silbury - they came literally very close to creating a Belshazar finger, pointing at the pyramid. In July of 1988, a woman (a native of nearby Marlborough) was driving her car on the A4 road, when she saw a large intensely luminous object hovering in the sky over Avebury. Then, the object sent a long narrow beam of light toward the field next to Silbury1 - the beam then raised and pointed directly at Silbury ... Besides the messages, they certainly seem to be trying very hard to point out something about Silbury itself.

Thus, even if you happen to have the opportunity to visit England, out of season for the Crop Symbols, there are a considerable number of places you might have overlooked on previous visits ... And, if you have time to spare, please include a trip to the magic West Country of the island - it is as much off the beaten tourist path as Avebury & Silbury. You go there on the Riviera Express from Paddington Station - the train does not go to France, but to a part of England the English prefer to keep to themselves. The tip end of Cornwall is the English Riviera - complete with palm trees and a climate that is the equal if not better than the French version. I might add that the cliffs at that end of Cornwall make California's Carmel look like Kansas. And the area is second best to the Wessex Triangle for Megalithic monuments.

All of which brings us to suggestions regarding travel in England ... Arundel, West Sussex is the perfect base camp for traveling about England. Traveling alone 81 or guiding an individual or a full tour group, I never fail to make Arundel my first and last stop on an English visit ... Arriving on a nite-flight to Gatwick, one tends to be all fuzzy & weary - gather your bags, go down the escalator, and you have train connections every 15 minutes to put you in London's Victoria station, right in the middle of rushing crowds and traffic and high priced accomodations - bad idea!

With a few more minutes wait, you can catch a train south to Arundel. The best and only real cure of jet lag and the time-change on your mental clock is to stay awake the full first day, and make it a nice, quiet, meandering sort of day. And Arundel is that perfect cure - the village is large enough to supply your every need. And, small enough, that I can relax and let the newest of first-time-visitors stroll to their heart's content - it is virtually impossible to become lost. A nice castle to visit, more than sufficient shops - and a river to walk along, maybe all the way to a bird sanctuary. The pubs and inns offering bed and breakfast are consistantly better, at half to a third of the London prices (and the trains can provide perfect day trip visits in & out of London). I have a favorite inn, just off the main road, before you cross the river - and because it is my favorite, I will not name it. Just trust the taxi driver at the train station - there are only two expensive places, one by the train station, and the hotel on High Street. I made Arundel my home for all of 1989 & 90 - with a flat (apartment) on High Street. I lectured on crystals and the Crop Symbols with the Shadows Psychic and Mystic fair - they are the best of their kind in England, giving programs almost every weekend in England's southern coastal resorts. For the traveler,the best part of Arudel is a small shop on High Street - the office of the British Tourist Association (if you doubt your taxi driver, have him deliver you there for the best suggestions for local accomodations) (I don't think I ever noticed their street number - High Street in Arundel is only three blocks long, from the bridge to the top of the hill). The tourist office is much more important for its "book-ahead" service. And working with the Shadow's group, I gave it the full test, every Thursday or Friday, for nearly two years, I went into the office and gave them the name of a tiny resort village, or a major town such as Brighton or Bristol, and within minutes, they selected the best available B&B, called ahead, made my reservation and sent me off, complete with a town map of my destination, all for a fee so minor it rarely equalled the cost of the phone calls they made. In the summers, on the weekdays, they provided me with my initial bases for researching the Crop Symbols. They never once failed to find me a quality place at a moderate price.

Marlborough (for Silbury/Avebury) and Warminster (for Crop Symbols and UFO sightings) would be two suggested bases in the Wessex Triangle.

Now for the downside of travel in England - please note that I have only mentioned travel by train and taxi - a Britrail pass will serve your every rail need - and village taxi service is both remarkably inexpensive, and an extra source of information - I found several Crop Symbols by simply getting off the train and asking the local taxi driver if they knew of any new Corn Circles in the area - on both occasions, they shut off their meters to share the experience with me. The only better source are the country buses - once, passengers on the bus not only directed to a fresh Crop Symbol the family was keeping quiet about (to keep tourists out of their field) but they also provided me with a nice room, dinner & breakfast, and would not accept any form of financial thank you.

Pubs, as journalists should have known, are not always the best source of sober information - limit your use of pubs to the service they are intended for, good cheer and good drinks (my local, in Arundel has a large chess set in its courtyard - and, they are good places for an inexpensive yet filling meal. Now to that specific downside, try not to make an American tourist out of yourself and rent a car and endanger everyone in the land besides yourself. Do you think you would have no trouble with driving on the left side? Many country roads only have one lane - and in that emergency, can you trust yourself to turn to the left side? Not to mention changing gears with your left hand ... A final, side value to Arundel is that within that short drive from the station to the village, there is a roundabout - there is no describing them, just imagine driving one and shifting gears with your left hand. Oh yes, do not believe that the danger of opposite traffic patterns is limited to cars, watch your walking!

Chapter VI continued...

Chapter XIII