Only Misplaced

INTRODUCTION In 2019, my wife, Hazel, and I walked the Camino de Santiago, the ancient 800 km pilgrimage trail across Northern Spain. It was a wonderful experience that has left me with many happy memories. Most people who come back from the Camino and write about it focus on the positives. I have no idea why the following (entirely fictional) dark tale occurred to me but, as I seem to have hit a block on its further development (I had intended to do further research on the ground), I thought I would share it with those with 20 minutes to spare. THE STORY I am an independent producer of documentaries for television. What follows is an edited transcript of a programme screened on RTE, a major Spanish television channel, and, in adapted form, the UK’s Channel 4. It is followed by a curious reaction to the programme that has turned our thinking upside-down and led to further, very frustrating, enquiries.  Part One  The sensational reporting of the recent deaths on the Camino Fr...

This walk allows for a range of different starting points and thus a range of distances. The longest version assumes a start at the Lansdowne Arms and is approximately 7 miles, there and back. The shortest option, starting from the Dumb Post at Bremhill, offers a walk only 4 miles long. The furthest point is the monument to Maud Heath beyond Bremhill and the ideal timing aims for a picnic beneath the monument. There is some road walking and some footpaths can be muddy. Dog walkers and others may wish to note that some of the walk passes through fields where you may encounter cows. 1.       From the Lansdowne Arms, turn left down Church Road until reaching the footpath on the left just before the Derry Hill school gates. The school was built in 1872 to replace an existing building deemed inadequate though that ‘inadequate’ building had been erected only 30 years earlier – perhaps the Victorians’ frugality has been exaggerated as one cannot imagine waiting such...