Walking Commentary

Thoughts and cycling from Manchester to Rome in 2023

Archives for April 2021

Naturist Caving Fear

by Leave a Comment

‘It was in a cave near there that De Selby encountered St Augustine and surrealistic visions of eternity.’ or so I wrote last October of a cave in a cove where naturists liked to hang out. I’m not contending that De Selby or St Augustine were advocates let alone dedicated to meeting au naturel but far stranger things happened in The Dalkey Archive. By the way, the naturists I often encountered while walking the dog have recently moved around the head to the Vico Bathing place. In case you were curious.

193 seconds from January 2013 – De Selby could have seen this from White Rock.
[Read more…] about Naturist Caving Fear

Serial Killer

by Leave a Comment

There is a serial killer at large in Munster. There have been ‘wanted posters’ and full page ads in the local press that offer a reward. The 19th century-style campaign for justice is seeking information that will stop the murders by conviction. It’s such a big reward (and such a horrible crime) that it made the news.

Buzzard hunting above Hawk Cliff
[Read more…] about Serial Killer

Suez Carrier

by Leave a Comment

We turned on the TV this morning to hear that the Suez Canal backlog was cleared. After paying the normal $500,000 transit fee per ship, the 400 or so delayed vessels are all plying their trade again. And there, to illustrate the news story, was an aircraft carrier. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had also passed through the canal. And typing 400 reminds me that this is journal 400.

WKD backlight on Easter Sunday on Dun Laoghaire Pier
I might have put this in a chapbook on The Muglins.
[Read more…] about Suez Carrier

Walking Ireland

by Leave a Comment

Frank Mitchell was the Professor of Quaternary Studies when I was a geology student in Trinity College, Dublin. When he retired in 1979, I was already overseas, working in Sharjah. A few job changes and a dozen years later, I was back in Ireland so to speak. In fact, I was commuting to work overseas and never found employment in Ireland in the coming thirty years.

Chocolate. I’d walk a long way for good Parisian chocolate.
[Read more…] about Walking Ireland

Contemporary Irish Writing

by Leave a Comment

We attended the virtual launch of a virtual resource from our kitchen last night. This was the official launch of ContemporaryIrishWriting.ie which ‘features books written in both English and Irish, ranging from fiction and poetry to memoir, young adult fiction and children’s literature.’ 

Avignon this day 2009 – seems like a time and place far, far away.
[Read more…] about Contemporary Irish Writing

No Way To Rome (Yet)

by 1 Comment

‘We should have walked to Buxton today. It should have been the first stage of the trip to Rome … We’ll do it same time next year .. it’ll be 18 daily hikes before we can catch the Dover ferry to cross to France. And then, well, then it’ll be a mere 96 daily hikes to get to dinner in Rome’ or so I wrote this day last year.

Flawed envelope design.
[Read more…] about No Way To Rome (Yet)