Dr Tony Fincham of The Thomas Hardy Society will be leading two circular walks that mix the high drama of landscape with literature; one around the southern part of the Isle of Portland on Friday 21st September, and the second on Friday 19th October over the northern sector of Portland around the Verne Citadel and Fortune’s Well. Both will start at Portland Museum (Hardy’s Avice’s Cottage) at 10:00 am and finish around 2:00pm. There is a charge of £5 for each walk which goes to Portland Museum, this includes entry to the museum.
Friday 21st September
The southern circuit of Hardy’s Portland progresses down to the Bill, and back along the west coast, the distance is roughly 6.5 miles, and covers part of the walk undertaken by Anne Garland, the afflicted heroine of Hardy’s The Trumpet Major. This novel has the reputation of being one of his happier novels – even though John Loveday, the eponymous Trumpet Major is despatched to a military death in Spain in the last sentence. Events take place in Weymouth and Portland at a time when an invasion by Napoleon’s army seemed inevitable. John loves Anne Garland, but she prefers his sailor brother Bob, who is a two-timing womaniser. It is the Dorset setting rather than the complex plot though, that is the strength of this book.