Leap Day 2008 - Glastonbury Tor

Leap Day 2008 - Glastonbury Tor

This page includes Leap Day 2008 photographs of the rising morning moon at home and the rising sun viewed from Glastonbury Tor. On Leap Day ladies wearing a red petticoat are allowed to propose to gentlemen. Any gentleman refusing such an offer is obliged to buy the lady a silk dress or a pair of gloves. Alas there were no women at all on Glastonbury Tor on this morning! Only occurring approximately every 1461 days, the Leap Day soaks up the hours accumulated after four years of 365.25 days. It’s actually more complicated than that because a year is slightly less than 365.25 days. Years evenly divisible by 100 are only leap years if they are also evenly divisible by 400. This means that 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, but 1600 and 2000 were. 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be leap years but 2400 will be if you’re interested! So this sunrise only happens at four yearly intervals with occasional eight yearly intervals. The day was important enough for Google to change its logo to show a frog leaping over it! And a friend of mine who is 29 on this day is really only 7.25 years old! Whilst in Glastonbury I collected 225 litres of water from the red and white springs following the sunrise, which should keep me going until the Spring Equinox.

Setting Out On Leap Day Morning

The rising morning moon was bright in the sky as I was preparing to leave for Glastonbury.

The rising morning Leap Day moon viewed from my garden

The rising morning Leap Day moon hiding behind my fir tree

The rising morning Leap Day moon at the edge of my fir tree

Sunrise on Glastonbury Tor

I had the Tor to myself on this special day, apart from a couple of brief appearances from dog walkers. The prospects were good for a spectacular sunrise and the sun was visible exactly at the predicted point. This changing image was visible for about 15 minutes before thick cloud took over the Somerset Level skies.