As "Water Always Wins" week continues here in super-soggy central Pennsylvania, it seems appropriate to post this unused vintage postcard showcasing Land's End, the westernmost point in mainland England and Cornwall. It's also a general area, with nearby Penzance and Sennen Cove, that was a deep part of the fabric of author Ruth Manning-Sanders' life.
Here is a bit from Wikipedia about the area:
"Land's End has a particular resonance because it is often used to suggest distance. Land's End to John o' Groats in Scotland is a distance of 838 miles (1,349 km) by road and this Land's End to John o' Groats distance is often used to define charitable events such as end-to-end walks and races in the UK. Land's End to the northernmost point of England is a distance of 556 miles (895 km) by road. The cliffs are made of Granite that is an Igneous rock, which means that the cliffs will be more resistant to weathering, and will have steeper cliff faces."There is plenty of folklore regarding Land's End and this region of Cornwall. One piece involves speculation that the "Lost City" of Atlantis is located about 100 miles from Land's End; Russian explorers dove headlong into this theory in the late 1990s. Of course that's just one of many, many rumored locations of a sunken city that probably doesn't exist.
Speaking of Russians and Cornwall, there is also a bizarre story that is well-described by this CornwallLive headline: "The strange tale of the mad Russian hermit who lived in Cornish caves and survived on blackberries."
The back of this Frith's Series postcard features a triangular purple stamp with LANDS END printed inside. On both the front and back, it's clear that the British didn't see a need for including an apostrophe in Land's End.
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