Afterwards, I headed to Bodmin Moor, two miles south of Bolventor in Cornwall, to visit Dozmary Pool. A mile in circumference, Dozmary Pool is a place of changing mood and beauty, a place of mystery and magic. Standing on its rim as the early morning mist began to rise, I could imagine Sir Bedivere throwing Excalibur into the lake, from which a hand rose and caught the magical sword, as King Arthur lay dying.

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The story of Excalibur being thrown to the Lady of the Lake probably originated in Celtic practises. Archaeologists have found many swords that have long ago been thrown into sacred lakes as votive offerings to the water goddess, the goddess of healing.

Like these sites traditionally linked to Arthur’s death, his reputed birthplace at Tintagel Castle also lies in Cornwall, along its northern coast. The ruins of the castle stand just outside the village, on what’s virtually an island surrounded by foaming seas, once linked to the mainland by a narrow ridge of rock.

Visitors to the ruins must cross a footbridge and ascend a long flight of steps. The sound of waves crashing against the rocky shore 250 feet below, combined with the wind, full of the scent of salt air, make for an exhilerating crossing. The ruins only hint at the castle’s former grandeur. All that remains is a dramatic archway and several sections of walls pocked with holes that once support building timbers.

Merlin’s cave supposedly lies directly below the ruins, piercing the great cliff, cutting through to a rocky beach on the other side of the headland. Here, under grey skies, the roar of the Atlantic can be as loud as the wind on a stormy day. At Tintagel the line dividing fact and legend is often thin and blurred.

The earliest mention of Tintagel in association with King Arthur appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia, in which Uther Pendragon falls in love with Ygerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. To keep her away from Uther’s grasp, her husband sends her to Tintagel. Infuriated, Uther goes to Cornwall, persuading Merlin to prescribe a magic brew enabling him to look like Gorlois. Thus disguised, he has no difficulty in entering the castle to sleep with Ygerna, whereby Arthur is conceived.

The thousands of Arthurian pilgrims who come to Tintagel seem unaffected by the fact that the present castle dates only from the early 12th century, and thus couldn’t possibly have been Arthur’s birthplace. Archaeologists have also found the remains of a 6th century Celtic monastery founded by St. Juliot on the site, but there’s no evidence to associate it with the legendary king.

Not far from Tintagel stands Slaughter Bridge, near Camelford. This, too has been cited as the true battlefield of Camlann, Arthur’s last battle, in which he kills Mordred with a spear, but recieves a mortal wound in return. Upstream in a nook lies a stone covered with moss and strange lettering, which the Cornish call Arthur’s grave. More likely, it’s that of a Celtic chieftain. Local lore says that Arthur didn’t die at Slaughter Bridge, but was instead incarnated into the soul of a chough, so that he may someday return.

The legends say Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan Le Fay, carried the wounded Arthur off on a barge to the Isle of Avalon, a Celtic word meaning ‘the island of apples.’ Many believe his final resting place to be in the West Country market town of Glastonbury. Nestled amidst a small cluster of hills, Glastonbury was almost an island in early Christian times when much of the surrounding countryside was a swamp. The town’s highest hill, Glastonbury Tor (an old West Country word meaning hill) with a solitary tower at its summit, can be seen for miles around. Tradition has it that the Tor, often surrounded by mist, was the Isle of Avalon.

It’s difficult to imagine Glastonbury Tor without its distinctive tower, but until Norman times, when the monks built a chapel to St. Michael, the hill remained bare. An earthquake destroyed the chapel in 1275, and it lay in ruins for 50 years until the Abbot of Glastonbury, Adam Sodbury, rebuilt it. The monks added a tower, now all that remains, in the 15th century.

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