In the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode "The Adventure of the Clapham Cook," Hercule Poirot and his friend Captain Hastings journey by train to Keswick, a town in the Lake District of England. From the train station in Keswick, they trek across the land, and up and down the gently rolling fells (or hills), until they reach the remote cottage where Eliza Dunn now lives.
Many see Poirot as someone who would prefer to sit in his apartment all day, and relax rather than take exercise. But Hercule Poirot's not afraid of walking several miles up and down hills and through fields to uncover the mystery surrounding the missing cook. It's also noteworthy to point out that he travels from London to Keswick, and by the time he talks with Miss Dunn, and returns to the station, night has fallen. So he journeys back to London well into the night.
My wife and I visited the Lake District on our visit to England in 2012. We stayed just south of the Lake District, outside the city of Landcaster. Our drive to Ambleside, a village in the south of the Lake District, took us an hour or more.
There we enjoyed beautiful Rothay Park, saw a museum, the local church, and visited the home of writer Beatrix Potter, where all our questions about Peter Rabbit were answered.
Had we driven up to Keswick, it would have taken us an additional forty-five minutes each way. As you can imagine, four hours of driving would have limited what we could see and do on our day in the Lake District.
Without a hundred-year-old copy of an ABC Railway Guide, I can only imagine how long it would have taken Poirot and Hastings to travel roundtrip from London to Keswick via an old steam-driven train, and then walk to and from Eliza Dunn's remote cottage. And all to unravel the mystery of a disappearing cook.
Dragon Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment