The Pepperstock Hills National Park stretched from the bare, and often barren crags of Oxley Ridge in the North to the dense wooded southern slopes on the fringe of the Finchbottom Vale and from Quarry Hill, and the Pits in the West to Pepperstock Bay in the East.
It is an
area of stark contrasts and attracted a variety of visitors.
The quarry hill side of the park To the west, as the name suggests, was
heavily Quarried over several hundred years, though more extensively during the
industrial revolution, the Quarries had been un-worked for over fifty years and
nature had reclaimed them and former pits had become lakes and were very
popular with anglers and the sparse shrubbery and woodland made it popular spot
with courting couples whereas the
northern crags and fells were popular with climbers and more hardy folk.
To the south
and east was an extensive tract of magnificent mixed forestry and was rivalled
only by the ancient woodland of the Dancingdean
Forest.
Renowned
Downshire Poet, James Willard and his older brother John were staying at the White Hart pub in the village of Springwater for a
few days, it was his brother’s idea, a short break in the Pepperstock Hills, a
change of pace and some R&R, but it was John who needed it most as he was a
TV News Reader and needed to go somewhere where he might be able to take a walk
without being pestered by people want to take a selfie.
James
wasn’t particularly sympathetic and paraphrased Oscar Wilde and said
“The only thing worse than being asked to take a selfie
is not being asked to take a selfie”
They
were both from the
quaint country village of Applesford, with adjoining Cottages which backed on
to a quiet stretch of the Downshire Navigation, part of the canal network which
ran between Nettlefield in the north, down through Millmoor and the Oakhams to
Northchapel, Abbeyvale and then to its most southerly point, Abbottsford, where
it again headed north, this time to Childean, Purplemere and Finchbottom where
it joined the River Finch.
James did sugest that a barge trip would have been eqally relaxing but
thankfully he didn’t listen, and that was something that would later on prove
to be a very significance decision in their lives.
Because on their first night at the White Hart they met sisters Eugenia and Maria Marquez, who it turned out were also
from Applesford, and irony of that first meeting was that they asked John if
they could have a selfie.
The
four of them hit it off right from the start and decided as they were all there
to enjoy the wonderful scenery they might just as well do it together.
So after
breakfast the next day they set off and got their first proper look of the
delights of the village and its environs and they climbed up into the foot
hills, and everything was proceeding nicely until the weather closed in and
they were forced back down to the safety of the White Hart where they remained
for the rest of the day and the day after.
Perhaps because they were all around the thirty mark the four of them got
on well and as a result they had enjoyed their confinement at the White Hart where
James fell in love with Maria.
James and
Eugenia also liked each other but for the them the path to romance was more of
a slow burn, in fact it hadn’t ignited beyond an ember by the time their short
holiday was over, but unlike most holiday flirtations it didn’t end with the
holiday because they all lived in the same village, and because James and Maria
were a couple John and Eugenia continued to come in to each other’s orbits over
and over again in the two weeks following James and Maria’s courtship.
Eugenia
and Maria lived together in what was once the family home but on Saturday night
they were in James’ cottage for a curry and wine evening and after the curry
was long gone, as were three bottles of wine, the conversation got onto birthdays or to be more precise Eugenia’s
birthday.
“It’s Gen’s
birthday next week” Maria said “A significant birthday”
“Thanks sis”
she rebuked
“Oh really?”
John said “And if it’s not indelicate to ask, which one”
“The big
three zero” she confessed
“Well I would never have guessed” he said gallantly
“Flatterer” she retorted
“Well don’t look at it in terms that you’re going to be 30, think of it
more as turning 20 – 10” John said kindly and touched her hand
“I myself am 20 – 11”
Maria was
watching her sister throughout the exchange and when Eugenia smiled at him.
Another wine
bottle bit the dust but rather than open another one they thought it more
prudent to call it a night.
John helped Eugenia
to her feet and Maria said
“Wait for me
while I find my bag”
“No rush” John
said “I can walk Gen home, if you want to stay a bit longer”
“Oh ok” Maria
said “Thank you”
The next
morning, at first light Maria crept up the stair to her room and just reached
her bedroom in time to see Eugenia’s door open and John tiptoe out.
“Well that’s
taking “National Hug a News Person Day” to the extreme” she thought and then slipped
into her bed and slept a guilt free sleep.
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