FRINGED WITH MUD AND PEARLS
BY IAN CROFTON BIRLINN, £20 (HB)
Encouraged by a neuropsychologist to write as therapy, following a near-fatal climbing accident the author resurrects a mothballed project focusing on some of England’s more arresting islands. Written in the order he visited them, this is his narrative of “an odyssey, a journey of recovery, a difficult return to the place I was before I fell”. Only later does it become evident that he is not young but in his mid-60s (and still climbing: he takes on Lundy Island’s Devil’s Slide – graded ‘hard severe’ – during his research).
Though Crofton’s descriptions of the early islands – and particularly their flora – are elegant, his conversations with locals are largely perfunctory and unenlightening. Indeed, he doesn’t really seem to be enjoying himself much as he trails around Essex (Canvey and Wallasea), Kent (Sheppey) and London (Eel Pie, Isle of Dogs).
However, the author warms to his task as he heads further afield. His historical research picks up, too – fascinating and occasionally terrifying tales emerge of bravery, skulduggery and cunning (there’s a lot of smuggling and salvaging).
While Scillonians will roll their eyes at his perpetual misnaming of their archipelago, the final chapters – particularly those on Scilly, Hilbre and the Isle of Wight – make for a really engaging, warts and all, armchair-travel read. The therapy, it appears, has worked a treat.
Dixe Wills, travel writer and author