At the moment I’m reading Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck’s account of travelling ‘in search of America’ in 1960 when he was 58 (he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962). Charley is the writer’s French poodle who is his travel companion and mentioned frequently. Steinbeck has introduced me to a Spanish word thatContinue reading “The Monarch’s Way – Winyard’s Gap January 19th”
Author Archives: James Rogerson
SWCP – Gwithian to Godrevy Point October 7th 2023
I get my early call from the sea, its cool air stroking my face and in the first seconds of waking I get the tingles from knowing I’m in the wild. It is a reminder of my earliest camping trips with dad down on the moors in Somerset with his orange tent and his lethalContinue reading “SWCP – Gwithian to Godrevy Point October 7th 2023”
SWCP St Ives September 25th
It’s only fifteen minutes since I said goodbye to Robert and I am walking towards Porthmeor Beach passing the world and their dogs on the way in. I find it funny how many people get nervous about their dogs approaching strangers on a walk but I guess that’s because I like dogs and I guessContinue reading “SWCP St Ives September 25th”
SWCP – Gwithian to Godrevy Point October 7th 2023
I am at Godrevy staring back along St Ives Bay enjoying the feeling of late summer sunlight on my face. On the rocks a group of 30 oystercatchers are also all facing west like a military parade, their black and white uniforms pristine and the bright orange of the beaks pointing downwards in diagonal linesContinue reading “SWCP – Gwithian to Godrevy Point October 7th 2023”
SWCP: Carn Naun Point to Higher Burthallan September 25th
I’m having my lunch and watching a solitary magpie fuss about in the heather before it appears with a silvery squiggle in its mouth. The magpie flicks its head vigorously from side to side in a little blur of energy while the shining squiggle contorts into different shapes. Surely that strategy doesn’t work to tryContinue reading “SWCP: Carn Naun Point to Higher Burthallan September 25th”
SWCP – Carbis Bay to Lelant September 26th 2023
I wake at 7 to the sound of excited shouts. It’s those first few seconds of waking – rising to the surface of consciousness- that I always find intriguing: the not knowing where I am and then the feel of cold air on my face and the sudden reminder that I am enshrouded in myContinue reading “SWCP – Carbis Bay to Lelant September 26th 2023”
SWCP St Ives to Carbis Bay September 25th
I’ve been thinking a lot about walking slowly over the summer. I was walking the Monarch’s way. I was walking in the Pindos mountains in Northern Greece (to the bottom of the Vikos Gorge, the steepest gorge in the world) and just walking daily around Dorset, Somerset, Bristol or Suffolk. On one of these walksContinue reading “SWCP St Ives to Carbis Bay September 25th”
The Monarch’s Way, Chideock May 31st 2023
Strictly speaking, I’m not on The Monarch’s Way but have come off it to return to my car and to spend some time in the company of a gem of a place hidden off a lane in south Dorset. In my mind I still have images of giant wild boar, hidden cathedrals and coffin bearersContinue reading “The Monarch’s Way, Chideock May 31st 2023”
The Monarch’s Way Axen Farm to North Chideock May 31st 2023
I’ve climbed the hill the other side of Bilshay Farm. I can just about see the place where I got lost in the sound of the beech leaves, the place with the figure floating through the field. I am walking west in a big loop as Charles II did after his attempt to get onContinue reading “The Monarch’s Way Axen Farm to North Chideock May 31st 2023”
Monarch’s Way Pilsdon to Broadwindsor July 16th
Today is a Sunday and I am at Pilsdon Church just a few miles north of the Marshwood Vale and Chideock where I stopped in May. Since then I did a tramp at the end of June and slept out in a hollow under some trees overlooking Ryall while it rained as the last lightContinue reading “Monarch’s Way Pilsdon to Broadwindsor July 16th”
Monarch’s Way Bridport to North Chideock May 31st 2023
I’m two hours outside Bridport making my way around Dottery. It’s hard going. It’s overcast and there’s been a cold northerly blowing since I started yesterday. I did well to shelter from it last night although sometimes it found me out and felt its way into my sleeping bag and around my neck. I wokeContinue reading “Monarch’s Way Bridport to North Chideock May 31st 2023”
Curry Rivel June 27th
Back down to Home Farm to see Henry, Richard and Harry celebrate being awarded the Regional Barn Owl Award for the south west of England for ‘farmland conservation and positive environmental practices.’ There are probably thirty or forty of us, a mixture of farmers and conservationists (in the past you might not have put thoseContinue reading “Curry Rivel June 27th”
Monarch’s Way Bridport May 31st
It’s just after 6 in the morning. I left my bed next to the A35 ten minutes ago, just a bit of flattened grass the only reminder of my brief sojourn. The Monarch’s Way hugs the river Brit as it meets Bridport. The first building in Bridport I come across is Palmer’s Brewery on theContinue reading “Monarch’s Way Bridport May 31st”
Curry Rivel June 13th
The warmth has descended. Hover flies hang in the air like drones, their wings a blur beside their tiny bodies. They fly sideways in sudden bursts appearing and disappearing from the pools of light. Already there is a litter of crisp dead leaves across the path. The smell of the fir trees in the gardenContinue reading “Curry Rivel June 13th”
Monarch’s Way Bridport to Chideock May 31st 2023
I wake up thinking I’m in bed but feel a dull ache in my shoulder which can only be from lying on the ground. Then I hear the cacophony of birdsong: jackdaws, pigeons, blue tits and blackbirds. A great enthusiastic greeting to the morning. And then the roar of a lorry. I’m next to aContinue reading “Monarch’s Way Bridport to Chideock May 31st 2023”
The Monarch’s Way – Broom Cliff to Golden Cap May 23rd 2023
This would be the first time I would have been on the Monarch’s Way since September the 18th last year. It was the day before the Queen’s funeral. I can still remember the sense of a nation in mourning: flags at half mast; everyone talking about ‘she’ or ‘her’. Here I am three weeks afterContinue reading “The Monarch’s Way – Broom Cliff to Golden Cap May 23rd 2023”
Curry Rivel May 16th.
There has been a rush of colour in the garden outside the cottage: it’s as if I can almost sense the urgency of the flowers as they unfurl themselves in the sun. There is a spray of forget-me-nots along the border. And in just the last few days the irises have appeared near the frontContinue reading “Curry Rivel May 16th.”
SWCP. Zennor to Carn Naun Point February 14th 2023
Jackdaws, my only consistent company around the Western tip of Cornwall, fly fast and straight over the cliffs from some crag, their glossy black bodies perfectly still as they disappear over the edge. I’m facing north into the wind at Zennor Head. It’s morning and I am alone on the path. Turning east I disturbContinue reading “SWCP. Zennor to Carn Naun Point February 14th 2023”
Curry Rivel March 21st
A sudden return to Winter today. Rain all morning and the cottage gloomy within. Strips of water can be seen down on the moors and I’m never without my woolly hat and snood. In the early afternoon lashing winds arrive that whip the trees and telephone wires along the road sending the rooks up intoContinue reading “Curry Rivel March 21st”
Curry Rivel March 14th
Today at last there is a hint of Spring. The wind is up. It still has its chill but the sun is warm. Clouds are everywhere: great hulks, thin streaks and little puffs like that look like they’ve appeared from a cartoon steam engine stream across the sky. They all come and then go inContinue reading “Curry Rivel March 14th”
The Slow Walker 