"There's a feeling I get when I look to the west" is how Led Zeppelin once put it. In an idle moment I took out the Ordinance Survey map and a compass to take a bearing from the attic window. There is a woodland on the distant horizon. Visually I reckoned it to be on the brow of the hill beyond which lies Knocking Hoe and the Pegsdon Hills.

 Sure enough the bearing confirmed it; they lie due west give or take a degree. Interesting to note my position on the flat plane of a map. My sense of direction is generally pretty good based on my perception of being "here" in relation to looking "over there". Map and compass add another perspective to one's concept of space and surroundings. 

 I have always had a particular fondness for the West Country. Perhaps that is the feeling I get when I look to the west.