Simon Varwell's Blog, page 15

A second referendum

The Scottish Government and Yes Scotland have made great efforts during the independence referendum debate to stress that this referendum is a “once in a generation” opportunity.

They’re wrong.

I can see their point, of course. They want to allay fears ofa “neverendum”, and want to impress a sense of urgency over moderates or switherers to tempt them to vote Yes this time, rather than wait to see what happens in the future. When I’ve heard the likes of Alex Salmond, his deputy Nicola Sturgeon o...

A quick trip to Shetland

For some reason, I always tune into SIBC when my hire car hits the road from Sumburgh airport.

Descending out of the clouds to arrive in Shetland is always a slightly odd experience – the airport is at the very southern tip of the spindly peninsula that is South Mainland, the runway barely fitting in and even overlapping the main road. It meansthere are no glimpses of land, no low sweeps across surrounding areas as you come in; instead just a rapid, turbulentswitchfrom cloud to sea to runway.

T...

Book event in Nairn

I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be doing another event next month – my first since doing a Night of Adventure in September.

I’ve been invited by Nairn Bookshop to do a presentation about my travels and books as part of Independent Booksellers’ Week. It will take place on Tuesday 1 July at 7pm in Nairn Community and Arts Centre.

It will beappropriate in a way that I as an independent author will be able to support an independent bookshop. I’d not heard of Independent Booksellers’ Week, nor h...

Some huge news

A few weeks ago, Nicole and I became parents for the first time. Everyone’s doing well, and we’re thoroughly delighted as you might imagine.

And that’s as much as you’ll be hearing about it, either here or on social media.

It’s a fascinating and challenging time to grow up, or indeed to bring up children. When I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, the internet wasn’t really a thing, and even computers were something of a novelty. The idea that, through the web, we could share our lives (and...

Wanderlust article

I’m rather delighted to report that I had a wee article printed on Wanderlust magazine’s website yesterday.

It’s all about some of the lesser-known rail stops in the Highlands. My interests are nothing if not niche.

The photo on the right is Dunrobin Castle, which has its very own station and is one of the stops I mention in the article. There are a great many more stops I could have included, and many of course I’ve not even been to.

So there’s plenty scope for more rail adventures even just in...

The Next Stop coverage

An article was published today in the Courier about The Next Stop.

(And when I say “Courier”, I mean the newspaper no longer called the Dundee Courier, and not the paper that is still called the Inverness Courier.)

It was based on only a short interview with me, so I’m chuffed they’ve bulked it out to be an entire page. Which means I can forgive them the slight error of saying that I did the visits to the stations over several trips, rather than one long one as was the case.

The article is not o...

Errors

Self-publishing, I’m quickly realising, is a pretty good balance between freedom and responsibility.

You have the freedom to do certain things, such as write what you like and publish it the way you like, when you like and for whom you like, as well as market it in any way you see fit.

But you have corresponding responsibilities – to do everything well, to properly learn the tools of the trade, and to pick up the pieces when you make mistakes. In short, there’s no-one else to blame or do the di...

Walking out of Inverness

It’s been a busy time lately, with a lot on. Having published two books in the last few months (cough, cough) and having had various other things going on that I’ll not mention here, there simply hasn’t been the opportunity to get out and about as much as I would like.

So a rare free weekend presented a chance, this past Saturday, to go for my first proper walk of the year. Being carless for the day, I decided to head up Craig Dunain.

Now while Inverness is perhaps the best (big – ish) place to...

Applecross

The weekend before last involved a day trip to Applecross, one of my many favourite spots on the west coast of Scotland.

That meant a chance for a bit of a road trip westwards…

…an ascent of the infamous Bealach na Bà…

And lunch at the legendary Applecross Inn – which you absolutely must visit if you’re ever in the area for its ridiculously reasonable prices and extraordinarily good local food.

It was one of the first trips of the year. It feels like summer is coming at last.

More photos from the...

I still don’t like flying

It’s only April, and I’ve already taken eight flights this year. That’s eight more than last year, and six more than 2012.

And I still don’t like flying.

Four of the flights were to Toulouse and back in February, and then the other four were a (very) long day trip to Belfast for work the other week.

The last of those, Manchester to Inverness with Flybe, was something of a poignant occasion because it turned out to be the last flight of the Inverness-based Flybe staff. I knew from the news that F...