Pilgrimage to Steep Holm

On Sunday I went with gair and gerald for a walk along Brean Down, the promontory that sticks out from Somerset into the Bristol Channel, pointing longingly at Steep Holm. This is the hill which I notionally used for the very first scene in Calypso Dreaming, though in my book I helpfully supplied it with a road. In reality there are steep, steep steps, but that’s appropriate, because (as gerald pointed out) hikers are like pilgrims, and pilgrims ought not to have it too easy. I’ve often thought the same – ever since I walked Tennyson Down on the Isle of Wight, in fact, not long after first reading Bunyan. It makes the journey more significant if one remembers that it's a pilgrimage...

( Open the Wicket Gate (and don't forget your scroll!) )

Pilgrimage to Steep Holm

On Sunday I went with gair and gerald for a walk along Brean Down, the promontory that sticks out from Somerset into the Bristol Channel, pointing longingly at Steep Holm. This is the hill which I notionally used for the very first scene in Calypso Dreaming, though in my book I helpfully supplied it with a road. In reality there are steep, steep steps, but that’s appropriate, because (as gerald pointed out) hikers are like pilgrims, and pilgrims ought not to have it too easy. I’ve often thought the same – ever since I walked Tennyson Down on the Isle of Wight, in fact, not long after first reading Bunyan. It makes the journey more significant if one remembers that it's a pilgrimage...

( Open the Wicket Gate (and don't forget your scroll!) )