Brown Willy. The highest point of Cornwall is called Brown Willy. The original Cornish name of the hill is Bronn Wennili, meaning the slightly more family-friendly ‘Hill of Swallows’. This was the first high-point ascent of the Shire Checklist. Once I parked up at the rocky deserted area of Bodmin Moor where Brown Willy resides, […]
Oak Tree Island
Late Summer in Exmoor: Part Two of Two – After Dusk in the Mysterious Moors
“We should turn back now; I can’t see anything, and you’ve left the phones in the car!” Half-way up the slope of Dunkery Beacon, the highest point of Exmoor at 520 metres, and it had appeared that my timings had been optimistic and preparations poor. Dunkery Beacon clearly isn’t Everest; but with no source of […]
Late Summer in Exmoor: Part One of Two – England’s Corner of Clifftop Poets and Quaint Ruggedness
I believe that the West Country really is very different to the rest of England. Greener, slower, healthier; the pace of life shifts down a couple of gears when you cross into the boot-shaped corner of Britain. This region of England is unspoilt, far less industrial and brings you a snippet of simpler times. For […]
Introduction – The Inspiration For This Website
On a snowy February morning two years ago, I woke up on a train in Siberia. Slowly opening my bleary eyes, I peered behind the curtain just above my head to be greeted by the bleak and beautiful plains of Russia. I looked out across an ocean of snow and spruce trees, with little wooden […]