More Than Words

Gary Wilson
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Places & Travel
  • Updated Weekly

Exploring Britain’s furthest flung places — and the limits of one man’s knees. “More Than Words” chronicles a virtual expedition across Britain’s extremes — from the northernmost village to the southernmost settlement, with stops at the highest peak, the lowest fen, and several places that sound made up. It’s part fitness challenge, part cultural exploration, and mostly an excuse to write about obscure trivia, failed resolutions, and the joys of conditional formatting. Expect puns, ghosts, and reflections on the slow collapse of my joints.

  1. 3d ago

    Episode 36 - Coast of Living Crisis

    🐳 More Than Words – Stage 36: Coast of Living Crisis 🐳From whale-powered bone mills to a medieval pedlar who dreamed his way to a pot of gold, because Norfolk’s tourism strategy is apparently “flat horizons, Viking place names, and a surprising amount of whale fat.”Featuring:🌊 Sutton Bridge: three attempts at crossing the same river🦅 A man who shot wildfowl for sport, then had a change of heart so dramatic it needed a seatbelt🐳 Whale carcasses hauled upriver to become fertiliser — remote location chosen specifically so the smell was someone else’s problem ✈️ RAF Narborough: once Britain’s largest airfield, later a barn💀 King’s Lynn: Hanseatic powerhouse, medieval port, and the town that produced two men who signed a king’s death warrant🏺 The man who found Tutankhamun 🍺 A village that: lost its last pub, formed a committee, and got it back — rural Norfolk draws the line at not being able to walk for a pintIt’s travel with dyed pigeons, medieval barns, RAF ghosts, whale mills, and landscapes so flat they could double as spirit levels. Equal parts scenic, surreal, and agriculturally stern.

    41 min

  2. Jun 8

    Episode 35 - Only Fens

    🌾 More Than Words – Episode 35: Only Fens 🌾From Pennine reservoir punishment to Fenland flatness so extreme it questions the Earth’s curvature, Episode 35 is what happens when geography gives up halfway through.Featuring:🐕 Dexter: convinced all dogs are beatable (situationally incorrect)💈 Barber trips: now classified as endurance sport🥧 Tebay Services: farm shop or organised financial ambush🌧️ Keswick: outdoor shops with a town attached🌾 The Fens: land on loan from the sea🐑 Ropsley: sheep-washing infrastructure, peak innovation👑 Threekingham: three kings, or just one bloke called Tric⚓ Matthew Flinders: mapped Australia, missed all the credit💣 Holbeach: dog walking, but with live bombing practice📏 A17: straight, bleak, and morally opposed to cornersIt’s travel with windburn, medieval admin, lost treasure, aggressive flatness, and a landscape held together by pumps and optimism.

    41 min

  3. Jun 1

    Episode 34 - Angels and Demons

    🌗 More Than Words – Episode 34: Angels and Demons 🌗From haunted halls to cold medieval service stations, episode 34 is what happens when English history quietly loses the plot.Featuring:🏚️ Clifton Hall: ghosts, stains, and a man who repossessed himself⚰️ Wilford gazebo: scenic views, optional corpses🍖 Captain Deane: butcher → cannibal → Russian navy → retiree📬 Gamston: cc’d into a 12th-century papal email chain📏 Fosse Way: Roman road, still aggressively straight🔥 Bingham: surgeon arsonist, then 30 years in a shed🧙 Bottesford: witchcraft, sorcery, and England’s bleakest bake-off🎭 Laurel & Hardy: Christmas in a Vale pub, obviously🐝 Grantham: Newton, Thatcher, and a pub that can sting you🥶 Cold Harbour: medieval Travelodge, but worseIt’s travel with ghosts, cannibals, witch trials, economic policy, and a final stop that legally counts as shelter. Equal parts historic, unhinged, and mildly frostbitten.

    42 min

  4. May 25

    Episode 33 - The Goat and The Bat

    🦇 More Than Words – Stage 33: The Goat and The Bat 🐐From antique museums that open less often than Halley’s Comet to a village that inspired Batman by pretending to be mad — welcome to the Midlands, where the history is deep, the yew trees are older than most religions, and Derby casually invented the factory and the jet engine like it was nothing.Featuring:🕰️ Beamhurst Museum: open less days than a Leap Year February ☔️Samuel Johnson and the world’s most intense apology🌲 A 1,400‑year‑old yew with added Robin Hood💃 Mr Darcy’s brooding corridor, and aristocrats quietly combusting over the children’s mirror ball👻 A ghost that acts live a livestock alarm clock🛠️ Derby: essentially showing off🦆 A canal jacuzzi for ducks🦇 Gotham: the original one — no skyscrapers, no Bat‑Signal, just medieval villagers gaslighting a kingIt’s travel with antique hoards, biscuit‑scented market squares, stately homes having identity crises, canals that burble ominously, and a finale in the village that accidentally birthed Gotham City. Equal parts historic, heroic, and mildly unhinged.

    47 min

  5. May 18

    Episode 32 - Staff and Nonsense

    🛶 More Than Words – Episode 32: Staff and Nonsense 🛶From Cheshire hamlets with population‑of‑a‑pub‑quiz energy to canals that hold 200‑year grudges, Episode 32 is where the walk leaves leafy respectability behind and dives head‑first into industrial heritage, cosmic eavesdropping, escaped Tudor bears, and Stoke‑on‑Trent’s six‑town identity crisis. It’s England at its most gloriously peculiar.Featuring: 
 ✈️ Manchester Airport Mile: fitness, but with the ambience of a long‑haul layover and the glamour of a short‑stay car park👑 King of Tonga at Yeoman Hey: the royal visit Greater Manchester didn’t expect and still can’t explain📡 A 25‑metre radio telescope casually parked in a field like it wandered off from Jodrell Bank🪵 Beating the Bounds: medieval admin that involved walking in circles and hitting things with sticks
 🚪 The Wardle Canal: Britain’s shortest canal, built purely out of spite and paperwork
 💦 A waterway breach that left narrowboats looking like confused herons
 🔥 Nantwich’s Great Fire: 150 buildings lost, four bears escaped, Tudor chaos achieved🏡 Shavington: where every field is either a housing estate or a planning application in waiting 
🏭 Stoke‑on‑Trent: six towns in a trench coat 
It’s travel with cosmic telescopes, petty waterways, escaped bears, industrial swagger, and a city that built the world’s tableware and now sells the nostalgia back to you with pride.

    42 min

  6. May 11

    Episode 31 - The Long and Winding Road

    🌿 More Than Words – Episode 31: The Long And Winding Road 🌿From Alpine sporting delusions to quiet Cheshire villages casually hiding Vikings, ghosts, and one extremely questionable medieval wedding — Stage 31 confirms that England’s countryside has been weird for a very long time.Featuring:🎿 Skiing: the traditional British activity of falling over abroad🥌 Curling: sweeping ice while pretending this is normal behaviour🎸 Liverpool: ships, songs, and a modest global cultural footprint🧼 Port Sunlight: Victorian soap money accidentally inventing urban planning⚔️ Brunanburh: the battle that may have created England (location still TBD)✈️ Hooton: aristocrats, RAF pilots, and eventually Vauxhall Astras📜 Backford: chained Bibles and a three-year-old groom bribed with fruit⛪ Tilstone Fearnall: rotating a church so one admiral liked the view👻 Duddon: headless housekeeper still haunting the customer service desk🐎 Calveley: medieval knight, massive horses, minimal follow-up questionsIt’s travel with Viking admin, soap-baron philanthropy, Civil War ghosts, battlefield guesswork, and several centuries of Britain quietly making very odd decisions.

    45 min

  7. May 4

    Episode 30 - Keepin' It Rhyl

    🌊 More Than Words – Episode 30: Keepin’ It Rhyl 🌊From Victorian seaside optimism to modern coastal existentialism, Episode 30 drifts down the North Wales coast before sidling into England like the ferry timetable absolutely meant to do that.Featuring:🐐 Llandudno goats: lockdown hedge-eating anarchists with global fame🚋 Great Orme Tramway: Victorian engineering that refuses to die🐅 Welsh Mountain Zoo: exotic animals reconsidering life choices in North Wales weather🏰 Gwrych Castle: built for ghosts, got Ant & Dec instead🌊 Towyn: when the Irish Sea popped round unannounced🎢 Rhyl: Britain’s seaside Time Lord🧱 Offa’s Dyke: history’s longest passive-aggressive garden fence🐿️ Formby red squirrels: Britain’s fluffiest Cold WarIt’s travel with Victorian resorts, celebrity castles, catastrophic seaside economics, and wildlife that absolutely did not consent to the North Wales microclimate.

    40 min

  8. Apr 27

    Episode 29 - In Deep Water

    🌊 More Than Words – Episode 29: In Deep Water 🌊From Proclaimers promises to full maritime delusion, Episode 29 hits 1,000 miles — then spends an entire week floating about pretending squinting at coastlines counts as visiting them.Featuring:🎶 1,000 mile Proclaimer Promise: completed it mate🚢 Irish Sea: geography as optimism🚂 Sodor: fictional island, talking trains, Beatle narrator⛏️ Millom: mining under the sea because Victorians🛳️ Barrow: “Sorry, can’t chat, building nuclear deterrents.”🐟 Fleetwood: Cod Wars, Iceland 1 – Britain 0🎡 Blackpool: “What if we put the elephants UNDER the tower?”🌉 Anglesey: Druids, bridges, and cows relieved to avoid swimming🐀 Puffin Island: Formerly.It’s travel with milestone maths, nuclear submarines, fictional railways, Viking aftercare, and aggressive binocular optimism. Over halfway. Mildly unhinged. Entirely afloat.

    36 min
See All (37)

About

Exploring Britain’s furthest flung places — and the limits of one man’s knees. “More Than Words” chronicles a virtual expedition across Britain’s extremes — from the northernmost village to the southernmost settlement, with stops at the highest peak, the lowest fen, and several places that sound made up. It’s part fitness challenge, part cultural exploration, and mostly an excuse to write about obscure trivia, failed resolutions, and the joys of conditional formatting. Expect puns, ghosts, and reflections on the slow collapse of my joints.

Information

  • Creator
    Gary Wilson
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Gary Wilson
  • Show Website
    More Than Words