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Pytheas of Massilia was a Greek geographer
and in about 330BC he sailed around the whole of Great Britain. He wrote about what he found but, sadly, no record of his account has survived. We do know that
he said the inhabitants were skilled wheat farmers, normally peaceful but great fighters in war when they used horse-drawn chariots.
Pytheas did claim that he had visited all accessible parts of Great
Britain but, having gone round the coast 3 times on land, I can tell you that there were many places where he could not have landed from his boat. As with all
things that were written, the writer may often make their achievement seem far better than it was.
Later Pytheas went on to sail as far as the Arctic circle.
For those of you that haven't read the background part of our website, as I said earlier, I have been round the coast of England three times. These
two photographs come from my first trip, in 1985-86 as a family adventure, and my second journey, in 1994-95 when it was part of an educational project.
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