Dollar Bank Lions

So what could be more magical than lions, right? I don't want to give away any secrets but lions play a key role in Aching for Always, these lions in particular.

These are the Dollar Bank lions. They guard the downtown branch of Dollar Bank in Pittburgh. Not only are they adorable, but they are historic. They were cast when Dollar Bank was built in 1871 (look at the detailed facade.) They each weigh 13,000 pounds. How do we know? Because a year ago, Dollar Bank began a big restoration project on them and had them both lifted and taken to a specialty restoration place in Ohio, where they'll be repaired, a mold will be made of them and a new set of lions, carved to match them exactly, will be made from material that can better withstand the elements. The original lions will return to Pittburgh and take a place of honor inside Dollar Bank's current headquarters.

You can read an article about it here.

Tarr Steps

Hugh and Joss get thrust back to the past unexpectedly at one point and find themselves smack dab in the middle of raging rapids. Believe it or not, it wasn't that easy to find raging rapids in merry old England. Apparently, most of its rivers are calm--like its inhabitants. But one place seemed to suit my needs--the River Barle in Exmoor National Park in Somerset, England, the only naturally occuring rapids in England (who knew?)

Unfortunately for Joss and Hugh, their journey in the river is further imperiled by Tarr Steps, an ancient clapper bridge (from claperius, which in Latin means "pile of stones") that sits in the middle of the River Barle, fabled to have been built by the Devil himself. It's made only of slabs of stone sitting on other slabs of stone, with only their weight to hold everthing together. No mortar was used. It's the largest clapper bridge in the world.

Thetford Warreners Lodge

This is the tower that Nathaniel remembers from his youth and ends up serving as an important plot twist. It's actually a place where the man who took care of the rabbits on a wealthy man's estate in Thetford, Norfolk, England, stayed and possibly also occasional hunting parties.

Rockall

Aching for Always begins with a bit of a scary adventure involving a deserted islet in the middle of the North Atlantic, 200 miles from the closest inhabitable place, which in this case would be an island off of Scotland's northwest shore. In Aching for Aching, this island, which--ta da!--really exists, is one of the passageways for time travel.

The island, which is called Rockall, is very steep, has no plants or animal life and the only fresh water it offers is rainwater that settles in depressions in the rock. However, it is technically habitable, which means it can be claimed. As such, it became the final territorial expansion of the British Empire when it was scaled, inhabited and claimed in 1955.

I love rocks, and this is a weird and interesting one, which is why I knew I had to put it in the book.