The Vale

My friend and I decided to go for a walk up to the Vale today.  The Vale is where our Grove meets to perform ritual.  It was a really strange feeling seeing as I had already decided to step away from the Grove for a while.  We set up an altar and started an impromptu ritual.  It didn't quite go to plan though as we were two women on our own and my friend thought she saw somebody watching us through the trees.  It turned out to be a Ranger but he moved on when he realised we weren't going to set fire to the trees...we're always very careful and carry water with us just in case we do have a mishap with a candle.  The Rangers know us up there and rely on us to inform them of any vandalism.  Then two guys walked into the Grove and started talking to us while we were in the middle of the ritual.  It was quite amusing when they realised... one of them wanted to join us and the other got a bit scared and said he had no problems with Druids but he was atheist.  His friend looked really disappointed when he wasn't allowed to join us :-).

After a rather hasty ritual we decided to take a shortcut to a field at the back where you can sometimes find antlers.  We followed a path taken by deer which more often than not led nowhere so we had to clamber over tree branches and through brambles.  It was quite the unexpected adventure.  And as it happens, we didn't find any antlers.  Maybe we'll have more luck next time.  On a warmer day...with no mud!  At least the threatened snow didn't come!  You've got to be grateful for small mercies ;-)