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Continue reading →: Weekend at MagheragallanThe place at Magheragallan beach in Gweedore Bay was ideal for the weekend. It was out of the wind, which was above 30 mph at times, and I don’t think it got less than 20. The area is a small peninsula just to the north of Derrybeg town where the…
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Continue reading →: West Donegal Atlantic CoastI finished that last post having just arrived at Portnablagh pier. Some of the beaches around the Donegal coast are not peaceful stopovers. It’s the height of the season and in the evening the families on the beaches give way to partying young adults and teenagers. Portnablagh was not such…
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Continue reading →: Trouble in LetterkennyI left Shap just after 6 am on Sunday morning, preferring the early start to the school holiday traffic of the previous day, and had an uninterrupted journey to Cairnryan of just about 3 hours. Without any immigration procedure check-in is extremely quick, how it used to be at the…
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Continue reading →: I Gave You Eyes And You Looked To The Darkness by Irene Solà
Translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem In the upstairs bedroom of a remote house in the mountains of Catalonia an old woman named Bernadette, lies dying. Years before, an ancestor traded her soul for ‘an heir with a patch of land and roof over his head’. Bernadette hoped…
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Continue reading →: Van Refurbishment
The Lodge closed as a Guest House for six weeks at the end of last week. Throughout the school summer holiday the whole house is booked by groups, which eases the work load to change over days, and means I can have a break. I scheduled the van in for…
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Continue reading →: Movie Catch-up
Here’s a very brief few words on a few decent films I’ve seen in the last few weeks. The Ballad of Wallis Island – thanks to Sue for the recommendation. An easy to watch, refreshing, uplifting and dryly humorous piece about an eccentric lottery winner living alone on a remote…
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Continue reading →: The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien
This is an outstanding achievement of writing by Madeleine Thien, one that challenges the reader though attention is richly rewarded, a wonderful piece of story-telling.It’s an adventurous piece of work also, defying categorisation into genre. In a haven for those displaced from their homelands called the Sea, a girl cares…
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Continue reading →: Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen
Pedersen is the currently the Makar of Edinburgh, the city’s literary ambassador, with a specific role to write poetry about the city. This is his debut novel, a boldly experimental piece set on a remote island and involving just three characters. Muckle Flugga is a few kilometres north west of…
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Continue reading →: Is A River Alive by Robert MacFarlane
Books concerning environmental ethics tend to be depressing; what they tell us is almost all bad news. MacFarlane’s latest therefore, is a breath of fresh air in that he unearths characters that are truly inspirational in their endeavours and their passion for their rivers. Macfarlane travels to, and explores three…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias.
Where is Andy?
I was so much older then…
Quote of the Week
Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, ‘What road do I take?’ The cat asked, ‘Where do you want to go?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it really doesn’t matter, does it?’
Lewis Carroll
Safe Return Doubtful 