Journey of Unintended Consequences
The reason Felix Walks is here is because of Hugh Cornwell, former guitarist and singer in The Stranglers and solo artist since 1990.
It sounds like a strange place to start a walking blog, but bear with me.
I bought a ticket for Hugh Cornwell's August 2026 gig at Bedford Esquires because I'm a big fan of Nosferatu, the 1979 album Hugh made with Robert Williams. Hugh, along with Windsor McGivray and Pat Hughes, would be performing the entire album on the 'Come and Get Some Tour'.
Then I discovered that a few days later they would be playing again, but this time in a cave in the Peak District.
A gig in a cave?
Well, I obviously had to go.
And that was where things started to get slightly out of hand.
I began looking into the Peak District and, the deeper I dug, the more I couldn't believe that I had lived in England all these years and had never properly discovered this part of the country.
One thing led to another.
In July 2026, I visited Leek, Buxton and Ashbourne and discovered Thor's Cave and the beautiful Manifold Valley. I also took a wonderful walk to the mysterious Lud's Church, hidden away in the Staffordshire countryside. The more I explored, the more places I found that I wanted to see.
Before the gig in the cave - at the Devil's Arse in Castleton - I stayed in Matlock, went up the Heights of Abraham and explored the area. On the day of the gig I took a tour of Peak Cavern and saw the Devil's Arse with my very own eyes!
I also took a hike up Mam Tor.
But something else was happening too.
I started walking more locally, discovering the countryside that had been sitting right on my doorstep all along. I joined the National Trust and the Beds, Cambs & Northants Wildlife Trust, and began looking at the places around me in a completely different way.
And all of this started because I wanted to hear an album made nearly fifty years ago by a former Strangler.
And that, in a roundabout way, is how Felix Walks came to be.
So perhaps the best way of putting it is this:
I thought I was going to see Hugh Cornwell.
Instead, Hugh Cornwell sent me walking and walking and...
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