Simon Varwell's Blog, page 7

January 30, 2017

Review: The Virago Book of Women Travellers

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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Published on January 30, 2017 11:52

January 2, 2017

Preview: The Virago Book Of Women Travellers

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.

The Virago Book Of Women Travellers My first purchases for my “reading female travel writers” project were at my local Waterstone’s. I don’t go there very often as I normally read ebooks. However Christmas brought me physical book vouchers rather than anything I could use to buy ebooks, so I thought I’d apply them to this mission.

So I hit the shelves to see what I could find. And it’...

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Published on January 02, 2017 11:41

December 30, 2016

A new reading project for 2017

You may recall a while back my writing about the fact that I’d never read any books of travel writing by women. Well, I’m finally doing something about it, by committing to reading only female-authored travel writing throughout 2017.

I’ve created a page to track the project, and you’re welcome to join in if you fancy! Previews and reviews of the books on my reading list will also appear on my blog, so if you’ve subscribed to my website by RSS or other means then you’ll get those through the u...

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Published on December 30, 2016 01:59

December 21, 2016

Knoydart, 2016

Summit panoramaIn May 2016 I spent a week on Knoydart, one of the most inaccessible parts of the Scottish mainland, a small community in a huge region accessed either by boat or a long walk through the hills; a place with a torrid history and a landscape riddled with mysteries.

I hiked, cycled, explored and took photos. These posts give a flavour of what I got up to and my reflections on this very special part of the world.

Inverie city centre | Luinne Bheinn & Meall Bhuidhe | A cycle to Airor | Plastic Mar...

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Published on December 21, 2016 12:40

Plastic Mary and the Nazi sympathiser

Statue of Mary - panorama

This is one of a handful of posts written after a week-long trip to Knoydart, in the West Highlands, in May 2016. See all the other posts on the main Knoydart page, and see the photo set on Flickr.

Heading into Inverie for the first time on the boat from Mallaig, two objects stood out for me against the lush green hills and rugged mountains.

The first, and more obvious one, was a striking statue on our left as we travelled, the north shore of Loch Nevis, that appeared to be a figure with arm...

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Published on December 21, 2016 12:34

A cycle to Airor

Panorama

This is one of a handful of posts written after a week-long trip to Knoydart, in the West Highlands, in May 2016. See all the other posts on the main Knoydart page, and see the photo set on Flickr.

If Inverie can unhelpfully be described as the capital of Knoydart, then surely Airor ought to be its second city – at least by virtue of being the only place I was aware of where there is anything more than a single dwelling in close proximity.

Airor is a lovely enough place in itself, but it’s a...

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Published on December 21, 2016 12:34

Luinne Bheinn & Meall Bhuidhe

Summit panorama

This is one of a handful of posts written after a week-long trip to Knoydart, in the West Highlands, in May 2016. See all the other posts on the main Knoydart page, and see the photo set on Flickr.

The centrepiece of my week in Knoydart was a day’s climb of two Munros in the area, Luinne Bheinn and Meall Bhuidhe, two impressive mountains that make for a fantastic long circular walk – albeit a gruelling trudge from the “city centre“.

What made the day extra special was the phenomenal weather,...

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Published on December 21, 2016 12:34

Inverie city centre

Inverie village

This is one of a handful of posts written after a week-long trip to Knoydart, in the West Highlands, in May 2016. See all the other posts on the main Knoydart page, and see the photo set on Flickr.

Inverie must be one of the UK’s most compelling villages.

I’ll get the obvious and the cliched out of the way immediately: Inverieis regularly touted as one of Britain’s remotest villages. That’s an accurate claim but an unhelpful one, because the baggage that comes with the term “remote” implies...

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Published on December 21, 2016 12:33

November 21, 2016

Todmorden

Aliens!

The small West Yorkshire town of Todmorden is a curious place. Even the name is curious. Todmorden. Todmorden… it’s a staccatic word, and one that I like to think is evocative of the strong Anglo-Saxon and Vikiing heritage that Yorkshire of course is famous for (albeit that in German it rather sinisterly translates as “death to murder“).

Mind you, it’s also a bit of an enigmatic name, at least to me. When I first saw it, I was unsure how to pronounce it, deciding to go with “todMORden”, befo...

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Published on November 21, 2016 13:10

November 9, 2016

Pordo al Miraklo

Levon's Devine Underground

This is an article I had recently published in Esperanto en Skotlando, which is – as you might guess from the name – the magazine of the Scottish Esperanto Association. I thought I’d put it on my website for posterity and in case you wanted to read it. It’s titled “Door to a Miracle” and is an story from my time in Armenia. It’s similar in subject matter to this piece I wrote about Levon’s Devine Underground, but it is not just a translation. It’s a retelling that, among other things, emphas...

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Published on November 09, 2016 12:29