LITERARY LANDSCAPE Continuing our occasional series, Victor Osborne explores the wilds of Exmoor, setting of R D Blackmore's Lorna Doone

From: The Sunday Telegraph London | Date: September 8, 2002| Author: | Copyright information

I see the adder just in time. Camouflaged in the dappled light beneath the bracken, it lies as still and straight as a twig on the stony Exmoor path. In another second my right foot would have trodden on its tail and the snake would have struck like lightning. But, to my immense relief, I manage to stop mid-stride and step back.

As the snake and I stare at each other with mutual fear and dislike, the symbolism of the incident makes me smile. For I have climbed to the very threshold of the hidden Doone Valley and it was here, at the narrowest part of the entrance, that the outlaw Doones liked ...

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