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Howard Somervell
He sat down to die on Everest in 1924, then came down again and painted it all in oils. If you happen to be in Grasmere, then grab this exhibition at…
59 mins ago
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Ronald Turnbull
1
Gordale Blimey!
At the end of October, putting back the clock by a full 200 years, while walking from the limestone to Lancashire [1600 words 6 mins
Oct 15
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Ronald Turnbull
13
15
Is basalt an ocean bottom rock?
An Auvergne investigation along the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail [1900 words 7 mins
Oct 8
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Ronald Turnbull
14
7
John Milton and me
How hard will it be to maintain this Substack feed after becoming a partially sighted person? Poet John Milton managed it okay. [1400 words, 6 mins
Oct 1
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Ronald Turnbull
19
15
September 2025
Islands in the Stream
Bog problems: continuing the encounter with Rannoch Moor [1500 words, 6 mins
Sep 24
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Ronald Turnbull
9
10
Poems in the MRI Machine
You have to stay very still, while looking at white plastic and listening to loud thumps. One way to do it is to see which poems you’ve managed to…
Sep 22
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Ronald Turnbull
11
35
Crossing bogs
Encounters with quagmires, morasses, bogs, fens, flows, sloughs and other soggy bits. [1600 words 7 mins
Sep 17
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Ronald Turnbull
15
6
Nurikabe, the helper of humanity
I am Nurikabe, helper of humanity. Helper, in particular, by means of my playfully enlarged scrotum. [900 words 5 mins
Sep 10
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Ronald Turnbull
8
2
England's Canyonlands
Nestled between the Chilterns and the chalk downs of Kent, it’s the walking area nobody talks about much [1100 words, 5 mins
Sep 3
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Ronald Turnbull
10
4
August 2025
Is Lakeland a Bourgeois Piano?
WH Auden’s query from 1952 is a tricky one to answer. [1250 words 5 mins
Aug 27
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Ronald Turnbull
16
2
The mistakes of others
It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s even better to learn from other people’s ones. (Warren Buffet) [1500 words, 6 mins
Aug 20
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Ronald Turnbull
76
12
Exit Pursued by Bear
Timon of Athens and Tim of Alaska: different ways of dying in the wilderness [1500 words 6 mins
Aug 13
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Ronald Turnbull
12
6
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