Posted by Claire on May 02, 2004 at 04:10:16 from 216.145.183.52 user Claire_Morgan.
In Reply to: Re: Thorstein of the Mere posted by andy bolger on May 01, 2004 at 11:15:01:
Andy, you are right that Wildcat Island in the books doesn't include the prominent Peel Island interior features. But I think that Christina Hardyment had it right. I read Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's trunk just before my 1988 trip to Britain. I had done some research before then with maps, and saw the sense of what she said about the lake in the books being Windermere in shape, but with features from Coniston added. I did wade out to Blakeholme and thought it had a lot of Wildcat Island - in the right place though too close to shore. But it had the landing place which Peel Island doesn't have, no matter how much people try to exagerrate the strip of beach.
I thought Peel Island was one of the most magical places I have ever been - part of Wildcat Island, but wonderful in its own right. Ransome uses only one of its harbors, so it isn't unusual that he would not use the ridges in the interior. Yet the view up the lake is there like the books, better than the view from Blakeholme.
The possible origin for its name though, has intrigued me since I read Thorstein, way before Christina's book or TARS itself.
Claire