Within the hour they were close to the small village, their hired car–much humbler than the Westwind that Streak had left to be collected in Taunton and returned to the rental firm–negotiating the narrow roads with no little difficulty. The rockiness of the hilly terrain was stark, even with the green coat of spring on the hillsides. The land looked, somehow, as if reluctant to allow the new growths of the season. There was something unforgiving about the hills and mountains, the ragged treeline, the harshness of the light here.