Putting the boots on

Stepping outside for a walk today, I choose Wellies as the footwear of choice. These are not normal wellies – they are the tallest pair I have ever owned! Bought especially for night-time birding, when darkness makes it impossible to judge the depth of puddles. I know presently that the main track is full of deep puddles. I have no wish to end up in a Dr Gloucester or Vicar of Dibley–sized surprise. If it’s not a puddle, it’s a bog that sucks you in.

Walking to the West

The destination for my two hour walk, is the rock formation on the West Coast, known as ‘The Cheeses‘. Rocky outcrops that have similarities to the Tors on Dartmoor.

To get to the Lundy Cheeses, I follow the main track. crossing the middle of the island and passing the remains of the Heinkel. Then I reach ‘The Elbow‘. just north of Pondsbury.

As I walk I splash in puddles, jump over mounds, sometimes I put a skip in my step. This impact with the ground is beneficial for my physical body. Whilst traveling like a child, bringing a sense of play to the walk, is good for mental health too.

Here is a Vlog of the first part of my journey to ‘The Cheeses’.

The Cheeses, Lundy

The Cheeses’ sit on Lundy’s west coast, located south of ‘Halfway Wall‘ and north of the ‘Earthquake‘. They are part of a dramatic stretch of granite. I have written about Jenny’s cove from sea level in an earlier blog post. Today, though, I am definitely 100 m above sea level.

‘The Cheeses’ wrap around Jenny’s Cove, exposed to the full force of the Atlantic. Today the light is grey, and the rocks look grey too. On other days, under different light, they can appear almost white. The colour of ‘The Cheeses’ shifts with the sky.

Dark clouds hang over the island, and rain was forecast . As I near ‘The Cheeses’ the forecast was not wrong, a fine drizzle begins. The Cheeses’ are a name that often confuses people. This isn’t cheese in wedge form. It’s not like the cheeses in a game of Trivial Pursuit. Instead, these are granite slabs stacked and squashed on top of each other.

The Dogs have it!

The ‘cheeses’ resemble not wedges but truckles of cheese. They remind me that once we bought a cheese truckle in Cheddar Gorge. It was mature cheddar, aged for years in a cave. Upon taking home it was left it in a cold porch. It was never seen again! The culprits – two dogs, one a Springer Spaniel and a Boxer named Roo. These dogs somehow managed to leave no trace of packaging. I am sure it was very mature and tasty but I will never know!

These granite rocks that form the ‘The Cheeses’ were shaped by glacial processes. I don’t claim to fully understand these processes. These rounded slabs are stacked one on top of another. Each slab is compressed by the weight above. This formation creates cracks, corridors, ledges, and unexpected pathways.

Moving around the rocks

You can explore them, walk around them, climb on them, and move through them. Tracks zigzag between the stones. They are often assumed to be animal paths. Still, many are made by humans. Walkers search for that elusive letterbox – Lundy’s own geocaching, which is now featured in a board game. If you are searching for the letterbox hidden here, you will need to stand at the top of ‘The Cheeses’. From there, you can see ‘Tibbetts Chimney’, ‘a stile’ and ‘Needle Rock’.

On Lundy, with its right to roam, there are no instructions on how to move through this rocky landscape. I considered Lundy as an ‘emptied rather than empty’ place. This reflection feels newly relevant when revisited now.

Embodied walking

As an older adult, I no longer approach rocks like a mountain goat. But I still enjoy them — just differently. Exploration now happens through hands rather than feet, through slowness rather than strength. I crouch beside the rocks, lie across them, feel their roughness against my skin. Today they are like dripping like a nose on a face. Raindrops rather than bodily fluid. I balance, step curiously through the grassy corridors, and I listen. They are solid. They endure. They weather, just like our own bodies. Today it is quiet here, but in the coming months this will change, As Lundy’s amazing seabird colony will arrive. The raucous noise of the Razorbills, guillemots, fulmars, kittiwakes will fill the air. As will, the ever growing puffin population and the large numbers of people who come by boat to see them.

The second part of the Vlog as I walk around ‘The Cheeses’…..

I decided to take a different route back from the cheeses. This route forms part of my previously written Pilgrimage that runs around the circumference of Lundy.

Here is the third and final Vlog of my Journey back from ‘The Cheeses’……

Drawing from the Landscape

We live in a very ocular society, sometimes I visit here just to look. To enhance this experience, I pick up a sketch pad. Today is not a day for drawing, but I have sat here before with pencil and paper. I’m no artist, but I like to sketch sometimes. For me drawing brings stillness and observation. It slows time. You have the chance to observe the rock formation, how each rock sits on each other, where cracks open. You notice how space exists between the rocks. Pick up a pad and pencil from the Lundy shop on your next walk and try it.

Next time you visit here, take your time. Let your body find its own pace among the rocks. Take your time, play, sketch, use your five senses plus the kinaesthetic sense of your body’s movement. I would love you to share your own visit to the cheeses with me in the comments.

Reading.

Allen, R. (2025) Weathering: how the earth’s deep wisdom can help us endure life’s storms. London: Ebury Press.