Ancient Stone Steps …

Can I make it? (I’m not as young as I used to be).
Worn green steps turn sharp right and stumble, smooth and slippy, into a tight cleft in ancient rock.

Sod it! I step forward with care, inching my way down where a damp, mossy wall offers secure support. Stepping cautious as a tightrope artist crossing the Grand Canyon, I inch from exposed-step to exposed-step. At last my hands make secure contact with a prehistoric outcrop … phew. My confidence grows.
The crack in the reef accepts me, closing in with every downward pace. Must I turn sideways?
In moments, my eyes are locked on a carving. A sense of antiquity and mystery grips my imagination.  I study a tattoo cut in living stone.
Am I heading towards a mysterious misty place or the very gates of hell? A chill breeze ruffles my hair with icy fingers.

And Rosslyn?

Passing the church, the old graveyard, headstones with skull and crossbones carving, an almost too neat and present-time point of reference, strode down the path towards the mysterious … what? I can’t help remembering a visit to Rosslyn Chapel on a dank day. This ancient place is reminiscent, perhaps thousands of years older.
He said I should go one day and here I am. I followed a winding path to a plinth of stone and a mysterious, some would say, “holy” well. Next mossy stairs to another world some call the Grove.
My knowledgable friend, a wise man, spoke of mysterious carvings and ancient, ISIS-like, Christian attempts at obliterating the work of eldritch chisels.
You might wonder why I picked a  dank misty day to explore an atavistic place. I can only say it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Into the grove

A sense of growing fascination and discovery has me moving past carvings and offerings.
I attend to my footing and barely grasp the thoughts flitting past the barrier of my concentration. Offerings? Symbols? Where is this going?
Read the next part as I explore the grove. How old is ancient? How recent? Who is using it now?

© Mac Logan