Category: England
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At The Hound Tor
This is the place of legends. Arthur Conan Doyle saw these rocks and promptly went home to write The Hound of the Baskervilles. Our walk was five miles, beginning in the car park on the north side of Hound Tor. We were to end our day climbing up and over and between the rock outcrops,…
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The Child and the Sea
Children are attracted to the sea. Perhaps it’s the thundering waves, or the endless ways that sand can be used. The waves are constant, soothing and steady, like a lullaby. The castles that can be built in the sand can be as humble or regal as the wildest imagination. Perhaps, the attraction is in the…
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Passports 15: Good-bye England [I Want You]
We sat in an Irish Pub, O’Neills, in the west end of London. It is my last night in England. I can see Bushmills Irish Whiskey etched into the glass of the large window. The letters are backwards. Two singers–one on an acoustic and the other on an electric guitar. They are playing a Beatles tune…
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Passports 14: The Sad Life & Lonely Death of Kitty Gray
The Tors and heathland of Dartmoor is a landscape that breeds legends. Legends, myths, mysteries and ghosts. The guidebooks tell you not to go out onto the moors when the weather is foul. When the fog descends, as it often does, and when the misty rain falls on the gorse, and on the matted shag…
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Passports 13: Getting a Leg Up–An Introduction to the Footpath Stiles of England
Footpaths are as common in England as salt grains on a Big Mac. (I’m not sure that metaphor works here, but I’ve been wanting to use it for decades.) Unlike the States, the lines between private property and the pubic right-of-way are a bit foggy, like the desolate and lonely landscapes of Dartmoor and the…
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Passports 12: The Legendary Hedges of Devonshire
Hedges. In most standard dictionaries, “hedge” will be defined as a row of shrubs to separate lawns, fields or pastures. In Devon, they can also separate your sense of self-confidence and driving skill from your very soul. If you drive seven miles along a “two-lane” road with these hedges, the fear you will feel is…
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Passports 11: Morris Dancing: Another Way for the English to be Silly or an Ancient Cultural Tradition?
I had my hand on the door handle of the Antiquarian Book Store in Moretonhampstead village. In a moment, I would be lost among my dear friends, the arcane tomes and dusty volumes of local history and regional literature. My thumb was on the latch. I pressed down. It gave way under my pressure. The…
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Passports 9: Guests and Ghosts in an English Hotel
We chose to be guests at the George & Pilgrim Hotel in Glastonbury, England. What we did not choose was that a few other guests were quite dead. Yes, there were a fair number of living travelers that night but occupying the same space and the same time, were the resident ghosts. What else would…
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Passports 10: A Letter to My Son Regarding Advertising
From: Moorcote House, Moretonhampstead, Devon, England To: Brian, Astoria, Queens, New York My Dear Boy, I hope this post finds you well and in good stead. Has your golf game improved somewhat? I do hope so, because remember the reward I promised last Christmas? In case you have forgotten: if your game improves to within…
patrickjegan 