Author: Tim Dracup
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. In October 2019 four of the six bereaved friends who had, six months earlier, ventured on a 4-day HF guided walking holiday in Northern Snowdonia, repeated the experience, this time in the Western Yorkshire Dales. On this occasion the booking went without a hitch. We successfully reserved four separate rooms at Thorns Hall in…
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. I have amended this post to reflect a more recent and much more likely hypothesis about Arthur Herbert’s parentage. This is the colourful story of Arthur Herbert Dracup, also known as Herbert Dracup, who acquired an intimate and extended knowledge of prisons and penal servitude during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras. His…
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. I went downstairs in a bungalow I went upstairs in a flat I went outside my prison I trod upon a cat. . The cat climbed up a tree The tree grew tall from roots The roots thrust in the earth The earth gave up its ghosts. . The ghosts were spooking me The…
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. As our partners trace their graceful arabesques above They pause; stoop down to guide our own more rustic figure And thus we weave the skeins of new-found love. . Emerging from our past lives’ wreckage, our fondest dreams stove In; what should we do but grow love from grief? How else endure As our…
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This is the story of Abraham Dracup (1805-72), an ordinary working man whose otherwise very ordinary life was marked by three life-changing experiences. It describes the rise and fall of a small dynasty of Bradford cloggers, headed by Abraham and encompassing his brothers, sons and nephews. Abraham was a contemporary of his slightly older…
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This post tells the desperately sad story of father Amos Dracup (1818-1869) and son Richard Dracup (1854-1871) who both lived in Great Horton, Bradford and whose untimely deaths – within two years of each other – were causally connected. Amos was born in 1818, the fourth child and first son of Richard Dracup senior (1788-1853)…
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. We have decided to walk the 184 miles of the Thames Path, alongside our parallel and much longer project: the South-West Coast Path. Our journey began on a cloudy August morning, travelling by train and tube into Paddington to catch the 12:45 GWR departure for Swansea – and alighting at Swindon less than an hour…
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We returned to the Coast Path towards the end of June 2019, intending to walk from Barnstaple to Westward Ho! – and potentially beyond. We had also returned to our customary pattern with a four-night Monday to Friday, schedule. On the way down on Monday – departing out of Paddington and arriving via the Tarka…
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. In March 2019, some six months after the last foreshortened leg, I judged myself healthy enough to resume our journey round the South-West Coast Path. This expedition spanned Friday to Tuesday rather than our more customary Monday to Friday routine. We took the usual route down, though this time arriving at Exeter St Davids…
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This ill-fated expedition took place in September 2018. Our original plan had been to walk through to Woolacombe, but the programme was curtailed following the sudden death of my father. My own poor physical condition also prevented progress beyond Ilfracombe: I was struggling with depression-induced fatigue. A GP appointment was completed in time for…
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. We undertook the third stage of the South-West Coast Path during the heatwave conditions of late June 2018. On completing this strenuous walk of some 13.3 miles, we were told that the afternoon temperature in Combe Martin had reached 32 degrees in the shade. I find very hot, sunny conditions difficult and had also…
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. In Autumn 2017 I began a long-term project to walk the South-West Coast Path end-to-end, starting from Minehead. I plan to take my time, fitting in the different stages as and when other priorities permit. I have already recounted the story of the first stage, from Minehead to Porlock Weir. This short post describes…
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I was one of six friends, all recently bereaved, who in May 2019 shared a four-day walking holiday in Northern Snowdonia. The holiday was organised by HF Holidays. HF (Holiday Fellowship) has an honourable history dating back to 1913, advertising itself as ‘the UK’s only co-operative holiday provider’. Booking the holiday was problematic. An initial…
Eponymous 