Pixie Lead

[Fanari_Lloyd]

I looked for a thread about this but couldn’t find one (Maybe the mods can move it or delete if there is, please?)

I was just reading a post by the author Tom Cox whose books I really like and he related about having walked Dartmoor many times but never experienced being Pixie lead until today.

This reminded me of when my mother and I experienced something very similar in Wales.

My partner, mum and a friend had booked a lovely house in Nevern in Pembrokeshire in ‘14.
We arrived, the boys were unpacking and so mum said she and I would drive into Newport, which is only about a mile away, to look at pubs/eateries and to get some fresh milk.

It was June, nice weather, no mist or rain or anything.

We arrived from the east on the A487 (as show on pic) and drove from Nevern back onto that road and into Newport. After a bit we came back. I had the road Atlas, which was as well (except not) as we could get no phone signal and Mum didn’t have a GPS.

As you can see there are two roads leading to Nevern from the A road, both on our left returning from Newport.

We could not find them.

We drove up and down that road from Newport to Velindre and back again for about 45 minutes and we could not find those damn turnings. At all. Mum drove as slowly as she could, and I had the map, and we’d already got to the holiday cottage once, and yet...

We weren’t tired as we cane from Wiltshire and had a leisurely drive, stopping for tea from a flask and to eat; it had been a really nice run.

But I was really hungry and started to giggle hysterically saying we were trapped and in years to come other drivers would see this ghost car with two panicked looking women in it just going up and down that road forever. We howled with laughter, but it really did feel, despite the traffic on the road, that we we’re stuck in some kind of ‘bubble’. I kept trying to ring the boys to see if they could come and find us and guide us back, but there was no signal. (Nothing mysterious about that; there never was one on that stretch of road)

Eventually I said, out loud, ‘Please, please, PLEASE, Elves, Pixies, Faeries whatever, please let us get back!’ and tossed a coin out of the car window, and the next time we turned and came back down the road, we found the turning. We must have passed it multiple times!

In fact Nevern has a very ‘liminal’ feeling to it. The church, the footpath from the cottage.

So, I wondered if anyone else had ever experienced anything like this?

Map of road attached. Exits from A road to Nevern shown. Where we stayed a yellow X.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Pixie lead or pixie-led?

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

I don’t know, which is the correct term?

 

[Mythopoeika]

I don’t know, which is the correct term?

Pixie-led, as far as I know.
Sorry! When I saw the title, I thought of a type of lead (i.e. the metal).

 

[Mythopoeika]

I looked for a thread about this but couldn’t find one (Maybe the mods can move it or delete if there is, please?)

I was just reading a post by the author Tom Cox whose books I really like and he related about having walked Dartmoor many times but never experienced being Pixie lead until today.

This reminded me of when my mother and I experienced something very similar in Wales.

My partner, mum and a friend had booked a lovely house in Nevern in Pembrokeshire in ‘14.
We arrived, the boys were unpacking and so mum said she and I would drive into Newport, which is only about a mile away, to look at pubs/eateries and to get some fresh milk.

It was June, nice weather, no mist or rain or anything.

We arrived from the east on the A487 (as show on pic) and drove from Nevern back onto that road and into Newport. After a bit we came back. I had the road Atlas, which was as well (except not) as we could get no phone signal and Mum didn’t have a GPS.

As you can see there are two roads leading to Nevern from the A road, both on our left returning from Newport.

We could not find them.

We drove up and down that road from Newport to Velindre and back again for about 45 minutes and we could not find those damn turnings. At all. Mum drove as slowly as she could, and I had the map, and we’d already got to the holiday cottage once, and yet...

We weren’t tired as we cane from Wiltshire and had a leisurely drive, stopping for tea from a flask and to eat; it had been a really nice run.

But I was really hungry and started to giggle hysterically saying we were trapped and in years to come other drivers would see this ghost car with two panicked looking women in it just going up and down that road forever. We howled with laughter, but it really did feel, despite the traffic on the road, that we we’re stuck in some kind of ‘bubble’. I kept trying to ring the boys to see if they could come and find us and guide us back, but there was no signal. (Nothing mysterious about that; there never was one on that stretch of road)

Eventually I said, out loud, ‘Please, please, PLEASE, Elves, Pixies, Faeries whatever, please let us get back!’ and tossed a coin out of the car window, and the next time we turned and came back down the road, we found the turning. We must have passed it multiple times!

In fact Nevern has a very ‘liminal’ feeling to it. The church, the footpath from the cottage.

So, I wondered if anyone else had ever experienced anything like this?

Map of road attached. Exits from A road to Nevern shown. Where we stayed a yellow X.

Yeah, one of those exits looks like a farm road, not a proper road. No wonder you didn't notice it.

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

I looked for a thread about this but couldn’t find one (Maybe the mods can move it or delete if there is, please?)

I was just reading a post by the author Tom Cox whose books I really like and he related about having walked Dartmoor many times but never experienced being Pixie lead until today.

This reminded me of when my mother and I experienced something very similar in Wales.

My partner, mum and a friend had booked a lovely house in Nevern in Pembrokeshire in ‘14.
We arrived, the boys were unpacking and so mum said she and I would drive into Newport, which is only about a mile away, to look at pubs/eateries and to get some fresh milk.

It was June, nice weather, no mist or rain or anything.

We arrived from the east on the A487 (as show on pic) and drove from Nevern back onto that road and into Newport. After a bit we came back. I had the road Atlas, which was as well (except not) as we could get no phone signal and Mum didn’t have a GPS.

As you can see there are two roads leading to Nevern from the A road, both on our left returning from Newport.

We could not find them.

We drove up and down that road from Newport to Velindre and back again for about 45 minutes and we could not find those damn turnings. At all. Mum drove as slowly as she could, and I had the map, and we’d already got to the holiday cottage once, and yet...

We weren’t tired as we cane from Wiltshire and had a leisurely drive, stopping for tea from a flask and to eat; it had been a really nice run.

But I was really hungry and started to giggle hysterically saying we were trapped and in years to come other drivers would see this ghost car with two panicked looking women in it just going up and down that road forever. We howled with laughter, but it really did feel, despite the traffic on the road, that we we’re stuck in some kind of ‘bubble’. I kept trying to ring the boys to see if they could come and find us and guide us back, but there was no signal. (Nothing mysterious about that; there never was one on that stretch of road)

Eventually I said, out loud, ‘Please, please, PLEASE, Elves, Pixies, Faeries whatever, please let us get back!’ and tossed a coin out of the car window, and the next time we turned and came back down the road, we found the turning. We must have passed it multiple times!

In fact Nevern has a very ‘liminal’ feeling to it. The church, the footpath from the cottage.

So, I wondered if anyone else had ever experienced anything like this?

Map of road attached. Exits from A road to Nevern shown. Where we stayed a yellow X.

Hmm, an interesting tale and I can imagine how panicked you'd feel!

Looking at google maps, I can see that the left-most road up to Nevern is decently signposted from the main road:

The other one, as @Mythopoeika says, is just a track and would be easily missed:

Do you remember roughly where were you when you asked for 'help' and which direction you approached the exit from when you finally spotted it? (Both screenshots above are from facing East, away from Newport).

Also, after your request for help, did you notice if anything else changed - did the surroundings now look (or even feel) different, or was it simply that the road was now there? If that makes sense.


I'm sure Mr Zebra and I have had one or two occasions, over the years, where there's been slight oddness when driving about; but alas I can't think of specific examples right now. Well other than the missing car park near Rendlesham Forest, that is.

But I do know that it does happen to people; I've read countless examples on places like Glitch in the Matrix Reddit for example.

 

[Mikefule]

I don’t know, which is the correct term?

Lead (pronounced "leed") and "led" (pronounced "led").
I will lead you up the garden path. I have been led by the nose. I will lead from the front. Our brave soldiers are lions led by donkeys. Who knows where this will lead? One thing led to another.
The pixie leads you then you are pixie led.
Lead (pronounced "led") is a heavy soft grey metal found on church roofs.

I think the confusion between lead and led comes from comparison with "read" (pronounced "reed") and "read" (pronounced "red').

I have never been pixie led. However, although I have an excellent sense of direction and can find my way around most of the east midlands, and much of the rest of the country, by instinct and general geographical knowledge, I have got lost many times in the comparatively small area of the Vale of Belvoir, sometimes on roads I have never found again. Every road seems to fold back on itself.

 

[Krepostnoi]

Lead (pronounced "leed") and "led" (pronounced "led").
I will lead you up the garden path. I have been led by the nose. I will lead from the front. Our brave soldiers are lions led by donkeys. Who knows where this will lead? One thing led to another.
The pixie leads you then you are pixie led.
Lead (pronounced "led") is a heavy soft grey metal found on church roofs.

I think the confusion between lead and led comes from comparison with "read" (pronounced "reed") and "read" (pronounced "red').

On a slight tangent, I still remember being perplexed the first time I encountered the word "misled" in print. It was clear from the context what it meant, and I was - for quite some time - delighted to have found a new-to-me verb: to misle = to confuse, or cause misunderstanding. To be honest, I still think that word should exist.

 

[Mikefule]

I was - for quite some time - delighted to have found a new-to-me verb: to misle = to confuse, or cause misunderstanding. To be honest, I still think that word should exist.

Ah yes, we used to jokingly use the verb, pronounced "mizzled".

When I was a kid, motorways had signs at every junction listing the categories of vehicle that were not allowed.

At that age, I had never heard of a vehicle called a "moped" but my mother often used the expression "moping around" when I was hanging around the house being bored and miserable.

I struggled to understand what a "moped rider" was - naturally reading the word to rhyme with coped, doped, hoped, loped, or roped.


For younger or non-UK readers, a "moped" was a motor-assisted pedal cycle. In those days, in order to qualify as a moped for licensing, tax etc., a moped had to have bicycle style pedals that were at least theoretically capable of being used instead of the engine. Towards the end of this rule, they were designed in such a way that they could be pedalled about 3 pedal strokes before the rider collapsed with exhaustion. The modern equivalent is the 50cc twist and go scooter.

 

[Mythopoeika]

On a slight tangent, I still remember being perplexed the first time I encountered the word "misled" in print. It was clear from the context what it meant, and I was - for quite some time - delighted to have found a new-to-me verb: to misle = to confuse, or cause misunderstanding. To be honest, I still think that word should exist.

Yes! I first encountered that as a teenager and made a stab at pronouncing it as 'my-zeld'. My Dad quickly corrected me!