Posted by Duncan on November 26, 2013 at 15:15:33 user Duncan.
In Reply to: Re: The REAL location of Swallowdale posted by Peter Ceresole on November 26, 2013 at 08:36:55:
You're right about Peel Island of course. But when I was a nipper I firmly believed Wild Cat Island to be Ramp Holme (because it was there on the map - and it was all real to me so it should be where it was meant to be!!) and I sailed there and landed. There was a perfect landing place (better than Peel Island's which only feels right because of its familiarity from the film), a perfect camping place, right by the landing place, like in the book. And a higher area behind the camping place with a great big pine on it (all be it caught up by some tall other trees...) It was very noticeably lacking in a harbour (the end where you'd expect to find it is the rocky bit - you couldn't land a boat there) and generally lacking in cliffs. Indeed the middle and southern ends of both lakes are generally lacking in cliffs (except for Peel Island to a certain extent) compared with AR's descriptions.
I had, by the time I had sailed to Ramp Holme, become acquainted with Peel Island, via Roger and Christina's books. I was happy at that point to accept the secret harbour had come from Coniston... I was always baffled by the Blakeholme case, although of course AR identified it himself (while also apparently identifying the other two and an island on Derwent Water!)...