![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Pilgrimage to Steep Holm
On Sunday I went with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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...
The Hill Difficulty
"... On a huge hill,
Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
Reach her, about must and about must go,
And what the hill's suddenness resists, win so."
The Valley of Apollyon (Apollyon was away for our visit)
Facing-Both-Ways
On the Strait Path, set on either side with quags and dashed bones
We catch our first glimpse of the Celestial City (thanks tolady_schrapnell for the gloves!)
View from the castle of Giant Despair
The end is in sight! But there is a river to cross...
In other news, apparently Brean Down is a notorious suicide spot for dogs. At least one a month throws itself off the edge. Who knew? Of course, most of the dogs were chasing rabbits at the time. But aren't we all?
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...The Hill Difficulty
"... On a huge hill,
Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
Reach her, about must and about must go,
And what the hill's suddenness resists, win so."
The Valley of Apollyon (Apollyon was away for our visit)
Facing-Both-Ways
On the Strait Path, set on either side with quags and dashed bones
We catch our first glimpse of the Celestial City (thanks to
lady_schrapnell for the gloves!) View from the castle of Giant Despair
The end is in sight! But there is a river to cross...
In other news, apparently Brean Down is a notorious suicide spot for dogs. At least one a month throws itself off the edge. Who knew? Of course, most of the dogs were chasing rabbits at the time. But aren't we all?
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Nine