Jayne Hecate Writer, thinker and story teller
This is my Blog, which is the place where I announce new published works or reflect on current works in progress. It is also the place where I will occasionally write reviews of theatre shows I have seen or gigs I have been too. Less often, I will use this space to write about things in the news that annoy me or even write long essays about just how much I love all of the movies in the Star Wars universe (yes including episode one!).  


If you are feeling particularly brave, you can scroll down to the bottom of this page to read a brief biography about me too. You don't have to do so, but it might be nice to know a little more about the person whose books you are reading. 

Jayne Hecate Writer

Jayne is a writer of fiction and reader of political philosophy. She also has the dirtiest sense of humour of anyone she knows.

Mountains… revisited

As a former climber, mountaineer and maniac for mountain sports, it was a joy to come back to the mountains once again, this time in a completely new way.

My dedication to mountain sports was prematurely stopped by illness and disability and so I sort of came to the conclusion that I would never see the mountains again. However, a strange series of events, the love of my friends and family and a determination to give it a shot, led to my return to the Snowdonia mountain range after a gap of twenty years. Obviously this came with a cost and that was in pain and suffering. My body has taken the hit surprisingly well, with only one minor meltdown and a complete failure to comply with my demands. However, this is why we have pain killers and comfortable beds.

The trip started with strapping my faithful friend, Sylvie my Suzuki SV650 to a trailer on the back of my car.


With some glorious company in the form my wife, her daughter and her daughter’s girlfriend, we set off on an adventure. Well once all of the annoying mechanical problems had been fixed! We won’t go into them here, but let us just say that my patience has been truly tested.

Our adventure took us to North Wales, a place that I loved with a lot of climbing passion back in my twenties and thirties. This year I turn fifty and to be honest I am not sure how I feel about this. I am clearly no spring chicken, but I resent the idea that I am old, I still have toys, albeit big shiny silver ones and I am still very silly with my toys.

Carol rode from our home in Somerset to Wales on her trusty Kawasaki ZRX1100, a true beautiful beast of a bike and Alice rode her Kawasaki GTR1400, a machine that is a mix of sports bike and comfy sofa. The ride up was fun, but the wind on the bridge across the Severn was terrifying. The poor little car felt like it was going to be thrown off at any time.

We arrived safely at a beautiful little farm and set up base camp in a converted grain store. The roof was hilariously low and sloping, but inside it had a basic luxury that was joyous. We unloaded Sylvie and prepared for the week ahead. Our first ride out was a gentle local ride, taking in my old play ground of Tremadog. I spent many happy (and some terrifying) moments on the climbs at Tremadog and enjoyed camping in the field behind Eric’s Café. To my utter horror Eric’s has gone, replaced by some modern, electronic self service, anti-climber hipster shit hole. With security cameras, huge warning signs and strict private property notices, it has become a hugely unwelcoming place and with a heavy heart we quickly left.

The following day was the big ride out, the trip to Snowdon itself. More correctly known as Yr Wyddfa, the mountain is the second highest in the UK, being around 1030 metres above sea level. I have spent many happy hours playing in this region, climbing some of the classic lines and basically living in the moment. To return on my motorbike with my beautiful family wiped away those frivolous memories and gave me new, happier and more peaceful ones.

The ride was glorious, the roads were hard work, but I loved every second of it, even when I got beyond exhausted and moved into migraine territory. The last ten miles was the hardest, most demanding motorcycle riding I have ever done due to how poorly I was feeling and there were moments when I simply had to grit my teeth and hope for the best as I twisted my throttle and went for an over take. Once back at the house, I boiled over into a grotty, shivering, crying mess and after swallowing incredibly strong painkillers, retired to bed.

I have no regrets, the riding was amazing, even though it caused me a lot of pain. Sylvie was faultless and my little family were beautiful. So despite the pain, I could not be happier. I no longer have this chasm of grief in my heart for the mountains. Instead, I have softer, kinder and happier memories of being truly at peace with myself in an environment that I truly love.





All photo’s have been provided by my partner Carol, for which I am very grateful. A feature length Youtube video will no doubt follow soon given that both Carol and Alice are film makers of some talent. Until then, just know this. No matter what happens from now, in this moment, I am truly happy.

July 6th 2023

So who is Jayne Hecate?

Jayne Hecate is a collective of evil thoughts 

coalesced into one very wicked person!

Jayne Hecate just happens to be a published author, who lives in the nice bit of the South West of England,where the sea is brown and the beach is mainly mud. 

She is a keen movie buff, loves a good book and will eat pizza for every meal if allowed. If that were not enough, Jayne also spends far too much time playing Scrabble and eating cakes cooked by her wife. Oh yeah, Jayne is an advocate of gay rights.

Jayne has few hobbies, most recently she discovered that she enjoys making replica props. When there is nothing else to do, she will sit at her desk and build Lego trucks until her fingers give out. Yet, when her ancient rotten bones allow, she likes to ride her motorbike as fast as possible, for as long as possible. She uses many of these influences in her writing and bases many of her stories on the experiences that she has had. 

 

Jayne on her Suzuki SV650
When not writing, Jayne is an advocate of human rights for all, with ideals that state that all people should have access to clean drinking water and a safe roof over their heads. Jayne is a proponent of the ideas of anti-war and anti-fascism, but then it is hard not to be when you consider all people to be equal and worthy of respect. Jayne believes that mental health is just as important as physical health and has a great deal of respect for those individuals who work in mental health. Having been a user of these services, Jayne is thankful every day for the strength and courage given to her by these medical professionals. Due to this belief Jayne is a strong advocate of the British NHS and strongly believes that it needs saving from the greedy eyes of the capitalist Governments who want to place it in private hands. 
Jayne holds an Honours degree in Environmental Science, is a qualified teacher of Outdoor Education and likes to read almost as much as she likes to write. Although since discovering the Kindle, she has rarely been seen above a duvet with out one clutched in her bony arthritic hands. Often known to be self critical to the point of combustion, she is peculiar in more ways than can be listed on a single website and is utterly devoted to her partner and her cat. 

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