Wuthering Hikes

27/08/2026

A couple of updates for the Brontë neural network — a Supernatural mind, and The Twelve Adventurers and Other Stories ❦ ❦ ❦ by Charlotte Brontë.

The neural network is free to use and experiment with on my website here: www.WutheringHikes.co.uk

You build a mind by adding 'attentions' — words or phrases — and associating them through the weighting of four valences: physical, emotional, information and pattern (a little like the four elements). This shapes how the attention nodes resonate with each other.

Top left, under Mind file, you can load minds made from texts. Available right now: Locations around the moors, the full text of Wuthering Heights, and Supernatural connections to the Brontës. I've also included some of my own social media posts as a mind — an example of what you can make from your own words.

I've added chapters 1–3 of Wuthering Heights, and the final chapter, as separate minds too. A warning: loading the entire novel as one mind can be overwhelming, so I'd recommend practising with single chapters first.

You can alter any of the valences between nodes to find your own ways of seeing and associating.

Bottom right allows you to select and deselct associations - the second image here. (BTW, the Netlify logo does cover a couple of these controls so you'll have to click on that to hide it first - i'll sort that with the next update)

Loading a new mind replaces the current one — but there's also a feature to merge minds, and that's where it gets interesting. ;-)

There are also a couple of text libraries you can load once a mind is open, for the mind to reference and search through: at the moment, Wuthering Heights and The Twelve Adventurers and Other Stories by Charlotte Brontë.

This is still a work in progress, so expect the unexpected — and I'd really appreciate any feedback on how it could develop further.

Have fun, stay sane!

16/08/2026

On this day -

Historical records from Brussels show that August 15th was the traditional date for the annual prize-giving ceremony (distribution des prix) at the Athénée Royal. According to archival research, Charlotte Brontë attended this exact ceremony on 15 August 1843 to hear her mentor, Professor Constantin Heger, deliver a powerful address on emulation. Charlotte highly valued his educational insights, bringing copies of both this address and his celebrated 1834 speech back with her to Haworth.

More info here https://thebrusselsbrontegroup.org/the-brontes-in-brussels/heger/

07/08/2026

Happy Lammas, first harvest and the mid point between the summer solstice and autumn equinox - this year Aug 6th falls on that division

Had a search around for Brontë associations with the first cut, this was the closest i could find - so a couple of tenuous links here :-)

In her 1834 tale, "Corner Dishes: A Day
Abroad," Charlotte Brontë writes, "Inspiring bold John Barleycorn! What dangers thou canst make us scorn! Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil; Wi' usquabae, we'll face the devil!", which is a direct quote from Robert Burns' "Tam o' Shanter".

Here is Robert Burns poem - John Barleycorn

There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and plough'd him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.

The sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong;
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober Autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.

His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turned him o'er and o'er.

They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They toss'd him to and fro.

They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.

And they hae taen his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.

'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!

04/08/2026

181 years ago today, Branwell Brontë sat down and wrote a letter.

He'd just got back from a week away — Liverpool, North Wales — trying to clear his head. Six weeks earlier he'd been dismissed from his job at Thorp Green under circumstances nobody has ever quite explained, and whatever had happened there had broken something that wasn't going to mend.

He wrote to his friend Joseph Bentley Leyland, a sculptor from Halifax — passing on a message from John Brown, Haworth's sexton, the man who'd sponsored him into the Freemasons. Could Leyland come and visit?

Haworth
August 4th
1845
Dear Sir,
John Brown wishes to know whether, or not, you can make your intended visit to Haworth this week.
Of course he awaits, and will be ready for your own convenience, in naming your week or your day.
I need hardly add that I shall myself be most delighted to see you, as God knows I have a tolerably heavy load on my mind just now, and would look to an hour spent with one like yourself as a means of, at least, temporarily, lightening it.
I returned yesterday from a week's journey to Liverpool and North Wales, but I found during my absence that wherever I went a certain woman robed in black, and calling herself "MISERY" walked by my side, and leant on my arm as affectionately as if she were my legal wife.
Like some other husbands, I could have spared her presence.
Yours most sincerely,
P.B.Brontë

01/08/2026

My other job 🌼🌞

28/07/2026

Top Withens

11/07/2026

25/06/2026

We were up on the moor for the solstice, talking about the sound of the wind and how the wind turbines will effect the acoustic experience.

Shhhhhhh
now we are conscripting the sky
raw wind into machined pieces
one slice after another
every three seconds
shh...
shh...
shh...
to feed this

20/06/2026

Black Horse fairy (Archie and F***y) being Cathy and Heathcliff at Top Withens

This just came up on my memories from 2014 - We were doing a project called 'leave a light on' where we added ghost light to places associated with the Brontë