There is nothing in the writings of Shakespeare that does not argue the long and early training of the schoolman, the traveller, and the associate of the great and learned. Yet there is nothing in the known life of Shakespeare that shows he had any one of these qualities. “James Corton Cowell (1805)” James Shapiro … Continue reading James Shapiro: Contested Will
ˈɡræmpɪən If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude … Continue reading Grampian
Cook’s Cairn (NJ 302278, 755m) 17 kilometres740 metres of ascent The guidebooks usually send you in to Cook’s Cairn from the south—from Tomnavoulin up Glen Livet and Glen Suie. But I wanted to walk in from the east, along part of the old drove road called The Steplar. There was enough room to run the … Continue reading Steplar Path: Cook’s Cairn
“The Apollo Moon programme is cancelled,” the man behind the desk was saying. “But the good news is you two good old boys are gonna get the chance to save the world.” This is a slightly odd one. In 1971 Arthur C. Clarke wrote a novella entitled “A Meeting With Medusa”, which won the Nebula … Continue reading Stephen Baxter & Alastair Reynolds: The Medusa Chronicles
Having recently criticized Tristan Gooley’s explanation of the tides, I felt obliged to try to do better myself. It’s a tricky job, and there are many partial and misleading explanations out there. So here goes. Tides happen to anything that is orbiting in a gravitational field. I’m going to hone down on the Earth in … Continue reading Tides
April sipped her drink. “You really want to know? I don’t see how anyone could have built the yacht.” Max listened to the fire and watched April struggle with her thoughts. “I know how that sounds,” she said. “What exactly do you mean?” asked Max. “It’s beyond our technology. But I knew that before I … Continue reading Jack McDevitt: Ancient Shores & Thunderbird
Craig of Gowal (NO 232809, 927m) Cairn of Gowal (NO 226820, 991m) Creag an Dubh-Loch (NO 233822, 983m) Broad Cairn (NO 240815, 998m) 25 kilometres 1100 metres of ascent Glen Clova. I parked at Braedownie, paid the parking charge (one of many things that has changed in Clova since I started coming here), and set … Continue reading Glen Clova: Bachnagairn Circuit
Getting back to the Hebrides is always a joy. This was a short, two-centre Hebridean sampler—one Outer, one Inner. We drove up and stayed in Portree, Skye, overnight, before heading to the ferry port at Uig for a crossing to Tarbert, in Harris. There are lots of Tarberts in Scotland, and they all have some … Continue reading South Harris & Sleat
Our journey will begin, like so many great explorers before us, in the kitchen. Tristan Gooley is, according to his website, a “natural navigator”—by which he means that he navigates using nature, not that he’s just intrinsically good at navigating. He set out his stall with his first book, appropriately entitled The Natural Navigator, which … Continue reading Tristan Gooley: How To Read Water
Beinn Mheadhonach (NN 880758, 901m) 23 kilometres 950 metres ascent So, a bit of a change from the micro-level route-finding that’s been preoccupying me in the Sidlaws. This one’s a big, striding hill, tucked up the back of Blair Atholl, in that rather nebulous region referred to as “the Grampians”. The name of the hill … Continue reading Glen Tilt: Beinn Mheadhonach