The Chetwood

East of Bree is a pleasant area known as The Chetwood. It is a peaceful and wholesome woodland with the Great East Road running through it and small paths made by Rangers or animals meandering off in diverse directions.

The Chetwood is well known for its wild boar, hunted throughout the year by men and Hobbits alike, and the autumnal acorns of which both the boar and their more domestic cousins are most fond. Occasional rumours of more fearsome beasts sighted deep in the far reaches of the woods are discounted as tall ale-house tales of poor hunters; after all, where is the trophy to prove it?

Forsaken Inn

East of Bree and far along the great East Road is still found the Forsaken Inn, the last opportunity for food and drink for many leagues. It is very old and very rustic. Due to its remoteness there are rarely a large number of customers, but the fare is adequate, if not sumptuous, and is satisfying to those wandering far along the East Road.

Midgewater Marshes

Beyond Chetwood the ground becomes damp and boggy and filled with pools and quagmires. Though the warbling of little hidden birds is pleasant, footing is treacherous and there are no permanent trails. Camping is damp, cold, and uncomfortable. Even worse are the flies and the clouds of tiny midges.

This is the area where the famed Hobbits of the Fellowship were eaten alive by midges and driven nearly frantic by the Neekerbreekers (as Sam called them), evil relatives of the cricket that squeaked neekbreek, breek-neek unceasingly all the night. Few travellers feel the need to follow in their intrepid footsteps.

Weathertop

Beyond Midgewater Marshes the Great Road continues eastward. Away in the distance a line of hills can be seen. Weathertop is the highest of them at the right of the line and a little separated from the others. It has a conical shape, slightly flattened at the summit. A wide ring of ancient stone-work, broken and crumbling, is found on the top of Weathertop.

Strider told the Hobbits something of the history of Weathertop and the broken circle of stones, and we repeat his words here. “There is no barrow in Weathertop, nor on any of these hills. The Men of the West did not live here; though in their latter days they defended the hills for a while against the evil that came out of Angmar. This path was made to serve the forts along the walls. But long before, in the first days of the North Kingdom, they built a great watch-tower on Weathertop, Amon Sûl they called it. It was burned and broken, and nothing remains of it now but a tumbled ring, like a rough crown on the old hill’s head. Yet once it was tall and fair. It is told that Elendil stood there watching for the coming of Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance.”

In recent times there has been talk of the lord of Fornost Erain re-establishing a watch-tower on the ancient site; already a few modest buildings have been erected near the summit for the convenience of guards, passing companies of troops and travellers.

"“‘What do they live on when they can’t get hobbit?’ asked Sam, slapping at the midges."

- Fellowship of the Ring