Simon Varwell's Blog, page 3

Leave No Trace: a film review

I saw a compelling film at the cinema a few weeks back, an American film released just this year called Leave No Trace. It tells the story of an man and his teenage daughter who live off-grid in dense woods on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon.

It’s a beautifully shot film, and superbly acted by the two leads who, despite being relatively quiet and mild-mannered characters, masterfully dominate and steer the story. Moreover the pair, while not defined by extensive dialogue or overly expressiv...

A walk from Inverness to Drumnadrochit

It’s been a long ambition of mine to walk from Inverness to Drumnadrochit, the first twenty or so miles of the Great Glen Way that snakes its way southwards to Fort William. It’s a walk I’ve looked at often on the map, walked the first few miles of many times, and which has even formed part of the basis of one of my imagined travelogues.

For me, one attraction of a walk from Inverness to Drumnadrochit its simplicity. Walking is the most straightforward mode of transport: you just put one foot...

Underground Worlds

I don’t sell many photos – it’s something I’d love to have more time to try to do if travel writing ever becomes something more than a side interest – but it does happen occasionally.

Some months back I was delighted to be asked for permission to use one of my photos for an extraordinary new book called Underground Worlds: A Guide to Spectacular Subterranean Places by David Farley.

It’s obvious how humanity has spread across and conquered the surface of the earth. But as the title suggests,...

A year of Reading Female Travel Writers

This post is the conclusion of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Throughout 2017, I read only female-authored travel writing. Specifically, I read twelve books, one a month, which were all travelogues written by women. The full list of the books, along with an overview of the project, is here.

It was a fascinating experience – my reasons for undertaking it are outlined here – and this post is an attempt...

Review: The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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La Fortuna Semajno

This the second article I have had published in Esperanto en Skotlando, the magazine of the Scottish Esperanto Association. It came out in the autumn 2017 issue. It’s called The Lucky Week, and is about my trip to Madrid in December 2016, and in particular my encounters with the local Esperanto community.

As with my first article in EeS, I’m grateful to fellow association member and EeS assistant editor Hugh Reid for significant help in editing the piece and dealing with several errors in my...

Preview: The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

[image error]Well, here we are. Or here I am, to be precise. Nearly at the end of my mission to read only female travel writers over the course of 2017.

I’ve been looking forward to the last month of the mission, because there was quite a gem awaiting me. Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain, a book about the Cairngorm mountain range just down the road from me her...

Review: Looking for Transwonderland by Noo Saro-Wiwa

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Preview: Looking for Transwonderland by Noo Saro-Wiwa

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Review: Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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