When you’re reading TGO magazine it’s easy to ignore Jim Perrin’s work basically because you can’t really skim through, or speed read, his pieces. Jim’s articles need to be devoured slowly, contemplated at leisure and properly considered.

Over the years Jim has written extensively about the landscape and people of North Wales and he’s not only delighted readers of TGO but also those who follow the Country Diary in the Guardian. I know these hills reasonably well although nowhere near as intimately as Jim, but his writing seems to capture exactly the spirit of the place – or at least the feel of the area as I experience it.

Jim’s work can also be very personal and over the last few years we’ve walked with Jim as he’s fought to overcome the early loss of first his son and then his wife. Now Jim writes that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer and he’s off to find peace – and hopefully health – in the Pyrenees.

The Pyrenees is another walking and trekking area that I love and I hope we can look forward to reading Jim’s reflections on the place over coming months.

As I write I’m preparing to leave, tomorrow, for a week in Snowdonia. Knowing that Jim has now left is going to somehow make the place seem strangely empty.

I hope Jim’s move goes well and that he is able to restore his health. Few writers have given me such pleasure, stimulated such thoughts and given me so much inspiration as Jim has. Thanks Jim and all the best.