2016 updates to the Norwegian pilgrim trail guide
Around this time last year, Dave and I put together a short PDF guide to the St Olav pilgrim trails in Norway. Since I posted it, a full English-language print…
Hibernation time
This is possibly my least favourite day of the year. It goes against all natural instincts to starve your pet for a fortnight then stick him in a Chinese takeaway…
Biblical times in the north
It’s been a dramatic few weeks in meteorological terms. Only last Monday evening, we had such a downpour in Whitby that all routes into town were cut off, and the…
Brewing wild hop beer
I’ve written before about the annual Glebe Cottage hop harvest, and I thought it might be fun to post my latest method for dealing with such a glut of pungent…
The Sherlock Holmes Book
Sometimes the perfect job falls into your lap. As a 13 year-old picking my GCSE options, I quite fancied taking chemistry. Until further consideration revealed that I was abysmal at…
Wild camping in Kielder Forest
IMPORTANT: AS OF JULY 2020 THERE IS NO WILD CAMPING ALLOWED IN KIELDER FOREST. It’s such a shame that it’s come to this, especially since Kielder has always been so…
The big expedition gear review: navigation and miscellaneous kit
Behold, the third and final part of my massive gear review, following this summer’s Green Ribbon. Parts one and two concerned sleeping and eating and clothing, and now I’m finishing…
Zell am See, 1927
One of my most popular posts last year was a ‘guest blog’ from my grandfather’s short collection of travel memoirs. The book was called Continental Kindnesses, and contained anecdotes of…
Maternal matrimonials
It was a rather special wedding on Saturday. We all headed over to the pretty old Norman church down the road, where Christian and I proceeded to walk our mother…
How to make a penknife pouch belt
Last week, while I was flicking through Håkan Ludwigson’s photography book Balls and Bulldust, trying to decide on a favourite picture for my coffee table books blog, I noticed that…
