Summary
Clare Balding meets the writer Tom Cox for a walk on Dartmoor, the setting for many of his musings on walking and nature that are a humorous sometimes spooky take on the countryside and the creatures that inhabit it. His book 21st Century Yokel is full of Devon folklore, haunted landscapes and humorous observations about the people and animals he encounters. Their walk takes them from Manaton Church near Bovey Tracey up to Bowerman's Nose and Hound Tor, stopping off to pay their respects at the grave of Kitty Jay a 17th century farm girl along the way.
Producer: Maggie Ayre
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. |
| 0:04.7 | Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, and I make podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. |
| 0:11.4 | But when I started commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. |
| 0:15.4 | I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right mixture of sounds could take you into |
| 0:19.2 | a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to |
| 0:25.2 | give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole |
| 0:30.0 | new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories |
| 0:34.2 | that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.8 | BBC Sounds Music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:46.1 | The leaves are blowing across the floor of this car park in the breeze and we're just outside |
| 0:50.7 | the church in Maniton in Devon, on the east side of Dartmoor, |
| 0:54.8 | and I've come here to meet Tom Cox, author, former music journalist, social media sensation, |
| 1:01.7 | creator of my sad cat. Tom, I could describe you in so many ways, but actually, |
| 1:07.0 | 21st century Yoko, which was the title of one of your books, kind of does it too. |
| 1:12.7 | When I did finally write a nature book, it became more than a nature book. It was about folklore |
| 1:17.7 | and social history and lots of other things. It's rambling. I mean, it was all about walking, |
| 1:23.5 | but it has a sort of rambling style as well, I suppose. If you want to join us on the map, we're on OS Explorer, OL28, which is Dartmoor. |
| 1:32.5 | And we're on the east side of Dartmoor, starting in the village of Maniton, |
| 1:36.4 | and we'll be walking in a big loop back to this car park by the church. |
| 1:41.6 | I feel as if we're walking south from the car park. |
| 1:46.0 | And on one of those narrow lanes that Devon is renowned for, |
... |
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