Avebury Summer Solstice 2024

[@neilbowie3513]

Avebury is the best One Love to ALL.

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

I get so confused! What is more important, the sunrise or the sunset? I’m utterly in awe of the sleeping outdoors without a tent. I wouldn’t even want to sleep in a tent! So incredibly impressive and I take my hat off to you. I’d sort of pencilled in doing something for the Solstice myself, but it seems I slept in! Well done and thanks for saving me from all the hassle!

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Mr WC21! I'm never quite sure either whether the sunrise or the sunset is the main event. I know there is an exact moment of solstice (it was 9:50pm on Thursday evening this year), which as it happens this year occurred just after sunset. In a way (at Avebury at least) people are celebrating the shortest night, perhaps not least because some of the attendees, like me, are getting on a bit, so of the entire year this presents the least challenging opportunity to stay up all night... although I did go and have that nap. Oddly I think the bivvy bag actually helps me feel a bit more relaxed about camping rather than a tent. The main thing which keeps me awake at night when wild camping is the slight background anxiety that somebody is going to come and tell me I shouldn't be doing it... Does using a bivvy bag even count as "camping"? It's really no different from just having a lie down for a bit, which you're perfectly entitled to do on Open Access land, where you're also entitled to be at any time of day. I also like being able to see out from the bivvy - if I'm woken by strange noises it's much easier to have a quick look around and go back to sleep. Of course it's only really suited to nights with good weather unless you also put a tarp overhead, and by that point you might just as well bring a tent.

[@Campingwilder]

Both!

[@baileysbritain]

What a beautiful stunning video you have provided, I have spent many a night during a solstice period at Avebury and stonehenge, camped with the Merlin and sat amongst the stones, glad it's not so police heavy as it used to be, happy solstice everyone 🙏😌

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thank you and happy solstice! I think the management of this event is just right, there is a small police presence, as well as some security guards, but they all seem to be good natured and fairly hands off. As far as I can tell the attendees are all pretty well be behaved, and the numbers involved always seem manageable. I hope it stays this way!

[@earthboundboy]

I half expected to see Julian Cope in the background somewhere!

[@RealGrooveRandom]

It was a lot of fun this year, quite warm with almost a full moon then a perfect crisp sunrise! Love it! I was the over excited guy up on the hill.. lol What a blast..

[@liberty_and_justice67]

Stunning scenery! The “pagans” seemed to have had a great time🎉

[@SunriseToSunsetwithStefDawson]

great video mate and glad to see you again this year , keep up the good work

[@philcollinson328]

I absolutely adored watching this video Mr Tweedy Outdoors, thank you for creating it. I'm an Englishman born and bred. I was born and grew up in England until aged 41. I emigrated to Tasmania 15 years ago. To this day it feels strange that Summer solstice UK is Winter solstice here. Christmas is in mid summer here and the moon is upside down. Given I've witnessed both hemisphere's solstice's, it has made me wonder whether Stonehenge was constructed to celebrate winter or summer solstice in the UK. I expect Stonehenge was built to celebrate the winter solstice, but given us modern types are less hardy than our ancestors, celebrating the summer solstice (given the UK's inclement weather in December) is easier. Maybe we set Mr WC21 UK onto that subject and we'll enjoy the wine ...

[@hedleythorne]

Man in suit sleeps in a field; splendid entertainment. That looked busy there! I love Avebury before sunrise.

[@Micktyb]

Excellent thanks it looked a nice evening and am impressed with the new bivouac you slept in , ideal for the summer 👍😎keep up the interesting videos 👏👏👏

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thank you! I've had that bivvy bag for a while actually - about 18 months - but I don't use it as much as I'd like to. If I'm expecting rain (which seems to be almost always the case when I go camping!) the tent is a bit easier and provides better protection from the elements. With the bivvy I'd need to use a tarp to cover my head as it has a mesh lining at that end so I can breathe. A tarp of course means either sleeping under a tree or taking some kind of trekking pole so you have something to string it up from. I knew this was going to be a dry night though - and I was only going to be lying down for an hour or two - so the bivvy made more sense this time.

[@Micktyb]

@@tweedyoutdoors thanks hopefully few dry nights ahead haha I know from from experience sleeping under the stars was sometimes not as nice as it looks or sounds 😁😁

[@pootlingalong8928]

Thank you for sharing this event with us Tweedy. I understand the feeling of melancholy too now that such a brief moment is over for another year and I can’t help pondering how many solstices I have left. Yikes! Less of such pondering - there’s plenty of life left yet 🤗

[@barryconway]

Thanks for taking us there. Gosh, what a lot of people. A lot of people doing what one imagines people might have always done there, back in the day. Except today, sooner or later (hope not), someone will deem this National Treasure to be “at risk” from people enjoying it for what it is. Sorry: Donny Downer. Carry on.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Barry! I think the thing with Avebury that makes it different from, say, Stonehenge, is that it has a village in the middle of it - even a pub! Oh and roads going through it. I believe many of the stones we see standing today have also been perturbed one way or another, a number of them perhaps re-erected. In a way, the fact the site was so maltreated a few centuries ago contributes to the fact there's a lot more freedom of access today. It would be hard to put a fence round it and charge an admission fee without also making daily life for the people of the village difficult... and as we've seen at Stonehenge this week, even fencing something off doesn't stop vandalism for those determined to do so, sadly.

[@user-nl2nk7vw2z]

Already happening. See my reply. Or google 'road closures, solstice'.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Ah brings out the Neo Pagan and Panentheist in me!The Red Lion is reported to be haunted although I have never, sadly, stayed there.For a quieter Solstice ale there's the Wagon and Horses in Beckhampton a 25 minute mainly traffic free walk from Avebury .

[@leemorris1360]

Good evening, Tweedy. I am impressed you brought your own supply of Harvey's Sussex Best with you !!!! Looks like you had a great evening What a lovely sunny, quiet morning walk out of Avebury, too. 😁 👍

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Lee! I had a friend with me (he didn't want to be on camera) and he brought the Harvey's along. At least partly because I told him I was taking cider, and he hates cider. We shared them with lots of other attendees over the course of the evening. There were actually far more takers for the cider!

[@davidneal6920]

Thanks Tweedy. We don’t have that sort of thing in the antipodes. Interesting tradition. Beautiful summers evening 🇬🇧 🇳🇿

[@philcollinson328]

Yeah we do..Dark Mofo is held in Hobart every June.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Dave - yes we were really lucky with the weather this year - especially as the past couple of months have been mostly pretty awful!

[@davidneal6920]

@@philcollinson328 we also have ‘dark and wet AF’ in Palmerston North New Zealand every June

[@thekentishpilgrim]

Great footage Tweedy. I didn't realise THAT many people turn up for the Summer Solstice in Avebury. It looked like quite the party. I was half expecting Phish to start playing at any moment and an impromptu drum circle to begin. The big question of course is what did you do with all that cider? Cheers!

[@sim0n17]

I used to live out that way many years ago in that Hampshire/Dorset/Wiltshire intersection of the world. Avebury is always a nice visit and usually add West Kennet Long Barrows and a hike up to the Oldbury Castle hillfort & Cherhill Horse. There used to be an interesting little pub at the bottom there named the Black Horse (I believe it is still there and open) with a painting of the Cherhill Gang (late 18th century I think - the gang, not the painting): For bands of bizarre criminals, the Black Horse at Cherhill takes some beating. The Cherhill Gang was a group of highwaymen who stripped naked before waylaying unsuspecting travelers. Not only did this lend an added element of surprise to their activities, it also made subsequent identification difficult, possibly because their victims were not looking at their faces! A painting of the gang still hangs in the pub. It might be a fun "mash up" with the content for your Tweedy Pubs channel.

[@Jubilo1]

Beautiful scenery. The drumming and fire antics remind me of the film "The Wicker Man." Good to see you were not burned !

[@thewaythingsare8158]

You could have got the Trowbridge bus to Swindon from Avebury - its much more scenic

[@user-nl2nk7vw2z]

It was a shock to find so many of the roads closed and usual parking places suspended. This meant that, when the National Trust car park was full, there was nowhere to else for people arriving by vehicle. Having done some research, it seems that Wiltshire Council and the National Trust are working with the police to limit the number of people who can gather. It was a small and very peaceful gathering - there is no justification for this.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Sorry to hear that - it did feel like there were perhaps slightly fewer people here than the year before, which was a surprise as the weather was really good. I usually get there and back by public transport, so I didn't really notice the changes to car parking etc. It does sometimes feel a bit too good to be true that there is an event like this which is free and so "hands off" in terms of the way it is managed. I agree it's small and peaceful - I didn't see any trouble at all.

[@feelthewyrd]

yes i can confirm that. I was involved at the avebury pagan rituals from 2004 onwards and systematically drip by drip the police, council, NT and english heritage have almost succeeded in stopping us from gathering here. Unfortunately a group of 'official pagans' have rubber stamped every step of restriction. I know because i left that so called 'forum' in 2010, which was meant to be a negotiation forum between pagans, druids, witches, new age etc with the authorities.....but alas it turned into a bunch of 'official pagan' status seekers who sold out for an official title and tea and biscuits. this year they even fenced off knoll down to stop people walking a couple of miles to the henge. The result was that many local people parked up on the verges because the space has been limited so much for miles around because of a 'towing zone'. Hundreds were given penalty notice fines and some towed away. The spirit of avebury was always different to stonehenge, but its quiet peacefulness became a weakness.... and now it is a mere shadow of what it was 15 years ago and more. people are completely oblivious now to the ability to gather. They have been trained by the system that the 'right to gather' is the right to buy an official ticket. If the tickets are restricted like at evebury to ridiculously low levels, and you turn up anyway...... they will give you a ticket anyway. ie a fine. free gathering without it being a 'right' has been lost in britain. Health and safety, conformity, corporate events, police harassment and surveillance have taken their toll. Most people who go to avebury now have no idea as to why they are drawn there. They have no memory of the free gatherings that used to happen and that inspired the whole return to celebrating natural events in the english landscape without buying a ticket or asking for permission. All done so peacefully. the peacefullness of avebury is now a testament to its weakness. Peacefulness is easily crushed and avebury has lost its spontaneous energy. It has become a minor place to perform ......rather than an epic place to freely arrive. And that includes locals like me. It is a human museum and the solstice gatherers are officially now a part of it as colourful oddities. It wont be long before the NT and english heritage and wilts council will fence it off just like stonehenge. Even weak gatherings like this year will become a thing of the past. The british people are sleepwalking into a blind peaceful state of conformity. Words like mine will seem peculiar and out of step.... and these words will indeed carry no meaning in the near future because people will have no memory of otherwise.

[@phill2383]

Excellent Idea to go to Avebury for the Solstice. I know what you mean about the Melancholy feel. Still 10 Kg of Cider and a Bivvy, I may have to give it a go next year.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

It was definitely a bit too much cider! I was sharing it with everyone I met during the evening, and got through a fair bit myself, but still ended up carrying half of it back home. It is a great event though, I think it's nicely managed with a fairly light touch, and by and large most of the attendees are good natured.

[@AnyoneForToast]

That Tweed Bloke went solstice And that's the end of the rhyme. Cheers, chap.

[@AnyoneForToast]

I did not mean this in a derogatory way, my dumb.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Almost a haiku? Another four syllables?

[@AnyoneForToast]

@@tweedyoutdoors I wish I had thought of that! I started writing but it all turned to nonsense so a gave up. I then made the mistake of posting anyway...

[@JustcallmeKathi]

This is so interesting to see for me as solstice celebrations are not really a thing around here (Germany). Thank you for capturing the atmosphere in that lovely landscape, especially at sunrise with those subtle colours!

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thank you! Interesting to here it's not really celebrated much in Germany. I know Scandinavian countries have some festivities around the solstice, but I've never really heard much about the rest of Europe.

[@JustcallmeKathi]

@@tweedyoutdoors I think in some countries it's St. John's Day on the 24th of June that is celebrated. For example in Spain, La Noche de San Juan (23th of June) is important. Surely pre-Christian traditions were merged into these celebrations.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​​​@@JustcallmeKathi St John's Eve (night of 23/24th June) was also known as Midsummer Eve/Midsummer Night - European tradition reckoned 24th June (the feast of St John the Baptist) as Midsummer Day. In England there were celebratory bonfires, processions and love divination rituals.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Happy summer solstice 2024 Tweedy. Thank you for the beautiful video. The gods blessed you with lovely weather. It does indeed feel melancholy at the end, all down hill now as we hurtle towards winter. 🥴😩

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Andrew! The melancholy for me isn't about the changing of the seasons, just the end of the event. Still many weeks ahead of us of late summer nights! To be honest I think at this latitude it's a bit over the top really - I don't particularly need it to be light at 4am!

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

@@tweedyoutdoors As you get older the months begin to disappear at an alarming rate. Perhaps that’s why my own feelings are tainted. I agree, who wants sunrise at 4am. We need double summer time. Sunrise at 5am and sunset at 11pm. 👍😎

[@4seasonbackpacking]

Big thank you for the round of drinks at The Red Lion. I missed the sunset looked like a good one. Saw the sunrise I was on the back behind from the sunrise. Great video mate. Hope you had a good one.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

You're welcome Richard! It was good to see you again and I really appreciated the warm welcome the moment I got off the bus!

[@richardraven9047]

Good to see you again Tweedy ... Steve & Sue

[@openmindedwonderer]

Brilliant, I did wonder if you would go this year. I had to work but next year I am hoping to go. Always a fun event.

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Cara! We were lucky with the weather but it seemed a bit quieter than last year - I hear from another commenter that the local authorities might have been trying to reduce the availability of parking in an attempt to thin the numbers down a bit? I always go by public transport so I wouldn't know from personal experience, and if I really had to I would just walk!

[@MegaMurmer]

Top content as always 😊

[@davidberlanny3308]

Hi John, that looked a lot of fun. I do enjoy seeing a good sunset, to get one on the solstice would be amazing, one day you'll get one. I wonder how, or if, this was celebrated in times gone by? I don't think it's celebrated down here, at least not as far as I know, maybe in the north perhaps. The weatherman was insisting that summer has started though. We are, though, preparing for one of the largest and perhaps most widespread fiestas, San Juan (St John) on the night of the 23rd June. Tradition has it that bonfires are lit on the beach and people jump over the smaller ones (yes, this does go horribly wrong) and you burn three secret wishes on a piece of paper and at midnight jump over three waves. It's the main fiesta in Alicante and enormous wooden (Papier mache) effigies are burnt on the night of the 24th in all the squares. It's where I met my wife, some 28 years ago now ....... Ahem, cough, cough .... er ... Terrible fiesta!! The bivvy looked much more comfortable than the big orange bin bags that we used. I've just worked out the melancholy.... no food and no Gevrey ..... Thanks for taking us along with you. All the best!!

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks David! I think I've heard of that festival - bonfires on the beach sound fantastic! Although not sure about leaping over them - especially if any cider has been involved!

[@squinkque]

Is this over night activity taking place on the 19th of June or is it the 20th of June? The day after Summer Solstice is always a bit of a let-down because now the days start to get shorter once more.

[@kevinhouse7143]

Okay Tweedy, you need to now combine both channels into one called "Bivvies & Bevvies"!

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Hahaha thanks Kevin I'll give it some thought!

[@ysgolgerlan]

Thanks for the video, After the Summer Solstice I always tell my friends 'It is downhill all the way now' which sounds a bit negative, but I prefer the Autumn rather than the heat of the Summer and sort of enjoy it when it gets dark around 8.00pm. 👍

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Thanks Ysgolgerlan! My wife says the same. I prefer to think of it more as a plateau from here for a bit!

[@gordonmculloch4904]

5:06 reminds me of Zulu Dawn. 😂 👍

[@Oscartherescuedog]

A year ago already?!!!

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Yes it goes quickly doesn't it!

[@deborahevans189]

Quite impressed by sleeping in the bin bag, does it let little creepy crawlies in

[@tweedyoutdoors]

I seemed to stay remarkably bug free, although perhaps helped by the fact I was only in the bivvy bag for about an hour and a half! There's a panel of fine mesh at the head end (so I can breathe) and I suspect tiny biting insects would be able to bite through that if my face was pressed up against it. It has cords so you can suspend the mesh panel and keep it off your face, perhaps if you already have a ridge line overhead for a tarp... but once you go down that road you're practically going to all the effort of setting up a tent and defeating the object a bit!

[@williamsmith306]

carpe diem

[@theshamanarchist5441]

Shame about the hippies....

[@tweedyoutdoors]

Not sure I understand - do you mean it's a shame there weren't enough? Like many of those subculture labels it can be hard to pin down. There was definitely a broad group of people there for different reasons with different interests. As always I probably stuck out like a sore thumb. Weird though my attire may be in that environment I was just me being myself and hopefully most people there couldn't care either way.