'George: A Magpie Memoir' by Frieda Hughes

As I write this, I can hear a wood pigeon, a couple of sparrows and a blackbird. To be fair, everything's a bit quiet out there at the moment. When there's food and fresh water to be had, it's the bird equivalent of central Paris at rush hour, only instead of cars and tourists it's feathery fliers zooming about all over the place. The enormous corvids sit at the top of the pecking order - jackdaws, crows, rooks and, of course, magpies. Familiar yet enigmatic, I already wanted to know more about these intriguing birds when I heard about 'George: A Magpie Memoir' by Frieda Hughes.

Walk this Way

'Tales from the Big Trails' by Martyn Howe

Hello again!  Sorry for the delay, but, y'know, life...

My latest read was 'Tales from the Big Trails' by Martyn Howe, a personal story of one man's attempt to walk 19 of the most famous - and challenging - long-distance walking routes in England, Scotland and Wales.

Reaching New Heights

'Ring the Hill' by Tom Cox (Unbound, 2019)

One of my absolute favourite books last year was the audio version of '21st Century Yokel' by Tom Cox, so when I heard he was writing a follow up on the themes of walking, landscape and hills, I couldn't wait.

In 'Ring the Hill', Cox explores the lumps and bumps of the landscape, from tors and mumps, to cliffs and knolls.  Starting with the iconic Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, his exploration of these landmarks leads to musings on wildlife, history, language and folklore, as well as an insight into the background to his collection of folk-horror stories 'Help the Witch'.  There's even a bit of social commentary and the odd ghost story thrown in.  As with its thematically-linked predecessor, this book is a wander through countryside and culture, wide-ranging, all-embracing and rarely dull.

A Walk in the Dark

'Help the Witch' by Tom Cox (Unbound, 2018)

As some of you may remember, I really enjoyed Tom Cox's '21st Century Yokel' about this time last year.  His next adventure was in short fiction, so, as a short story fan, I couldn't wait to try his folk horror collection 'Help the Witch'.

'Help the Witch' is a collection of ten tense tales which put the nature back into the supernatural.  A village's dark past haunts a new resident in the story 'Help the Witch', while a covertly sinister waterway permeates 'The Pool'.  Spirits walk in unlikely places in 'Speed Awareness' and 'Just Good Friends' and morality tales are modernised and subverted for comic effect in 'Folk Tales for the Twenty-Third Century'.  This is a collection that draws readers' attentions to the murky shadows that are inevitably cast even on bright, sunny days in the countryside.  You can't have one without the other, after all.  You may not notice them as you picnic and play, but they're always there.  And they may be out to get you...

Simply Wander-Full!

Ah, the glorious days of summer are upon us!  Which is why I've been hiding indoors, listening to the audiobook version of '21st Century Yokel' by music journalist and writer Tom Cox.  Well, you don't want me getting sunburnt, do you?

Released by the innovative, crowd-fund publisher Unbound, '21st Century Yokel' is as genre-defying as it is lovely.  Part-memoir, part-travel book and part ode to the British landscape, it meanders through tales of creatures and countryside, family and folklore to weave a charming narrative that you just want to wrap yourself up in.  Cox uses gorgeous, lyrical language to capture the important places, pets and people in his life with humour and optimism.  From his native Nottinghamshire, via Devon, Derbyshire and Norfolk, '21st Century Yokel' takes the reader on journey that is both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply thoughtful, but never, ever dull - especially if his Mr Cox Senior is around.

In Search of Wuthering Heights

It started with Tony Robinson.  Well, in truth it started with Emily Bronte, but it was Tony Robinson that made me spring into action!

Looking for literary ideas for a trip to Yorkshire, I watched an episode of Robinson's 'Walking through Britain' filmed in and around Haworth, home of the remarkable Brontë family.  Exercise and culture, the perfect combination!

Much to my surprise, I discovered that there was a ruined farm house sometimes linked to the fictional manor house and that it was possible to walk up to it.  Time to pack the walking boots!

Wuthering Heights

Now, you may be surprised (or not!) to learn that I have only read one Brontë novel; Emily's 'Wuthering Heights'.  It simply blew me away (on a moorland wind I suppose!).  It was chosen by the book group I was then part of and I was a bit worried about it when I started to read.  So much of what I'd heard about the novel hinged on the romance of the story that I was immediately dubious.  I'm a bit suspicious of romantic fiction.  After all, what one person finds terribly romantic another person can find cheesy and twee, so I always worry it will bring out my cynical side.  Fortunately, 'Wuthering Heights' is not about romance.  It's about passion.  Mad, blinkered, obsessive passion that ruins lives and twists morals.  Hard to believe it was written by the daughter of a country parson!

Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' in
the landscape that inspired it.

I was soon wrapped up in the story told by Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean.  I was intrigued by the driven and single-minded Cathy, shocked by Heathcliff's acts of vengeance for childhood wrongs, on the edge of my seat as the Earnshaws and the Lintons got caught up in the emotional tempests stirred around them - and had no idea what Joseph was talking about most of the time.  Fortunately, I eventually worked out that if I read his dialogue out loud in a Yorkshire-ish accent, it started making sense. Although maybe not for the other passengers on my bus...

But above all, the thing that made the most impression on me was the landscape.  The wild, haunting, isolated moors, where nature triumphant ruled and class, manners and civility were useless in the face of roaring gales over barren peaks and the hidden dangers of obscured bogs.  Never mind Heathcliff as a romantic hero, this was a real character to fall in love with.

At Home with the Brontës

My trip to Haworth had to begin with the parsonage, where the Brontë family lived from 1821.  It was here that the famous sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and their unfortunate brother, Branwell, grew up in the care of their father, Rev. Patrick Brontë and, following the death of their mother, aunt Elizabeth Branwell.  Their imaginations ran riot and storytelling was a key part of their lives from a very young age.  It was here that the foundations were laid for the writers they were to become.

The Brontë Parsonage is an excellent, informative and well laid out museum.  It doesn't overwhelm

The front of the Brontë Parsonage

the visitor with too much information and doesn't feel exploitative or commercialised, which is just as well given the sad ends met by Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell.  In 1848, Branwell, aged 31, and Emily, aged 30, both died of tuberculosis.  Anne was diagnosed with the same disease within weeks and passed away in Scarborough the following year, aged just 29.  This does, however, lead to some rather macabre exhibits.  In the dining room, where the Brontës wrote and discussed their work, is the sofa on which Emily died.  Upstairs in the exhibition room is her scorched comb, damaged when she dropped it in the final days of her illness and was too weak to pick it up.  In the same cabinet is a blood-stained handkerchief belonging to Anne.

But understanding the sad elements of the family's story just makes what they achieved all the more precious.  If the legions of fans are anything to go by, the Brontës' work is really special and has touched many people around the world.

Over the Hills and Far Away

My walk started at the Brontë Parsonage, passing along a very narrow stretch of pathway before returning to the main road into the village.  This was a bit disconcerting.  There are a number of paths criss-crossing this area and we nearly took the wrong one.  Fortunately, with the help of a leaflet bought from the Tourist Information Centre for a very reasonable 50p, we managed to re-orientate ourselves and get back on course.  The literature said that all walkers needed was to be reasonably fit, have strong footwear and suitable clothes.  Much to my surprise, this is true!  I'd expected a full on, mountainous hike, but the vast majority of the route is paved and relatively flat, just a bit uneven at times.  It's pretty impressive that the authorities managed to lay slabs all the way up to our destination, however, and I'm very grateful to them!

A nice sit down?

The first Brontë landmark on our walk was the Brontë Chair, which I walked past.  Twice.  Then I mistook another huge rock for it.  Just as well someone had taken the time to label it for idiots like me.  Legend has it that Emily herself used to sit on this oddly angular rock and muse upon 'Wuthering Heights'.  Sounds like absolute nonsense to me, but that doesn't stop it being a nice place to have a sit down, some water and an energy bar.

The Brontë Waterfalls

A few metres further down are the Brontë Waterfalls.  It's a charming spot, bubbling with energy thanks to the tumbling river.  This can be crossed via a stone bridge, but it still felt like we were just getting started.

Our guiding leaflet described the next part of our walk as a scramble up and it wasn't wrong.  The marked pathway temporarily disappears and walkers need to make their own way up to the hill top.  Fortunately, once you get to the top, the part-paved walkway reappears and it's easy to find your way from there.

Wuthering Heights?

Loosely translated, you've wasted
your time I'm afraid!

Our destination was the ruined Top, Middle and Lower Withins farm houses.  Top Withins has long been the rumoured inspiration for Wuthering Heights itself.  While a number of commentators think it probable that Emily knew the building and the surrounding area, the farmhouse was far from the building described in the book.  However, according to 'Walking through History', an early illustration for the novel seems to show the area as it appeared at the time, but with Top Withins redrawn to look more like the fictional home of Catherine and Heathcliff.  We'll probably never know for sure. but I have no doubt that this is the countryside Emily's words conjured when I read 'Wuthering Heights'.

  

 

 

 

 

These photos can't possibly do the area justice.  It's absolutely stunning, full of colour and life (not just the disgruntled sheep) and empty of both clumsy human noise and the harsh sounds of modern living.  The awe inspired by the place forces you to hold your breath and still your feet so not even the lightest footfall or slightest gasp can break the spell.  All I could hear was nature in its majesty; the birds that swooped and turned in the air, the creaking branches of the single tree neighbouring Top Withins and, of course, the unstoppable wind that swept constantly across the epic landscape, firm and authoritative, as though its sole purpose was to push interloping humans out of nature's kingdom.  There are some places that feel eternal, as though they could outlive whatever mighty apocalypse the human race may bring upon itself.  Top Withins is one of them.  I feel privileged to have experienced it and longed to return almost as soon as I left.

Back to Reality

Once the sense of anticipation was gone, the journey back seemed to take much longer.  The route remained well paved/gravelled, however, and was mostly down hill.  There was nearly a detour along the Penine Way (which would've been a long diversion!), but with the help of our trusty map and the friendly locals, who are probably used to people getting lost, we kept on track and eventually found where we needed to be.  After the peace of Top Withins, it felt strange meeting local cyclists and walkers and encountering cars again.  I had to look twice when I saw a local pub called Wuthering Heights.  To think we could've saved a lot of walking!

A walk through Stanbury and over the Lower Laithe Reservoir dam, along the road and past the cemetery and we were back where we started.  The whole walk had taken about three to four hours at normal pace and had been well worth it.  Visiting the Parsonage is just one part of the story.  Seeing the landscape is another.  Now I just have to complete the circle by reading the books!

Related Links

Walking through History - Brontë Country
The Brontë Parsonage Museum
Wuthering Heights
Top Withens
The Guardian's walking guide