We step through the doors (modern, efficient, out of place) and into Hexham Abbey…and the world goes silent.
Writing Fantasy: Choose Your Own FAIL
Welcome, adventurer! You’re about to embark on the most difficult challenge known to any creative artist – ACTUALLY STARTING WORK. Millions have tried, and millions have failed! Will you be one of them? BEGIN!
Introducing Hadrian’s Wall: Where Rome Meets Westeros
Watched or read George RR Martin’s Game Of Thrones? Been captivated by that colossal wrought-ice defensive battlement known as The Wall? Here’s some news that may interest you. It exists in our world too.
How To Be Rude To A Latvian
(April, 2000) Well, maybe it’s down aisle 3. I try aisle 3. Bread. Strange jars of cabbagey, pickly things. More bread. Larger pickly things. Even more bread. Dear god, Latvians like their bread. Sadly, I’m not after bread, I’m after what is apparently the rarest of things in Latvia – a jar of curry sauce. And if it’s in this supermarket, … Read More
Hadrian’s Wall: A Birthday Adventure / Cry For Help
Every year I set myself a birthday challenge – something that looks feasible from a distance but turns into a living hell close-up. Last year, I wandered across the North York Moors in an 8-hour October rainstorm (and ended up writing it up for the San Francisco Chronicle). On my birthday this year…well, I was busy. Too much writing, too much … Read More
All It Takes
(2008) The voice coming over the loudspeaker is beginning to struggle. “Uh – on platform 6, the Treno Notte to Roma will be leaving in approximately…” “SHOW ME TH’WAYDA GO-OME…..CAZZ I’M TIREDANA WANNA GOHDA BED…”
Glasgow: There Hasnae Been a Murder
The train is rolling to a stop. I take a deep breath. I’m about to be horribly murdered.
Trans Pennine Trail: The Long, Winding Goodbye
It’s midnight, and I’m looking up at a signpost. The best way to see England is on foot. (The second best way? Ask Sustrans). It’s a country designed to fit your feet, whether via the National Trail network or by those enticing mystery dashed lines you see winding their way into the trees at the fringes of your Ordnance Survey … Read More