Category: travel writing

  • Meandering Sweet: Out now!

    Meandering Sweet: Out now!

    My first book, Meandering Sweet: Walking up the River Tay is out now – available online and at selected booksellers across Tayside. The book tells the story of my walk to the source of the River Tay back in 2020. It hopes to entertain and inform but also inspire: if one reader goes on their…

  • Meandering Sweet: Walking up the River Tay

    Meandering Sweet: Walking up the River Tay

    My new book, Meandering Sweet: Walking up the River Tay, will be out later this month. The book tells the story of my walk up the River Tay between lockdowns in 2020

  • Tibet is Here

    Tibet is Here

    It was the sort of flight which would crash, I reasoned: a random, once-a-week route to a remote area where Tibetan independence protests often took place. An old aircraft, difficult mountains. It probably wasn’t an economic route for anyone. A crash would be a good reason to cancel it altogether.

  • Chinese Whispers

    Chinese Whispers

    When I leave the hotel early each morning, walking out into still air, there is the crack of a whip.

  • Exploring Dandong: A View into North Korea

    Exploring Dandong: A View into North Korea

    I had come to Dandong in China’s northeast to see the Yalu River, the natural border separating China and North Korea, but had not reckoned on Dandong itself.

  • Shaoshan: The Birthplace of Chairman Mao

    Shaoshan: The Birthplace of Chairman Mao

    The strangeness of visiting Shaoshan had appealed to me. Since his death in 1976 the idea of Mao Zedong has been in flux. All over China he is visible: his face on every bank note, his portrait on the wall of Tiananmen Square near where his embalmed corpse lies, often with a line of weeping…

  • To the Mountains

    To the Mountains

    Did they build this tower block to withstand such a storm? Brilliant flashes lit up the night sky and thunder shook the room’s windows.

  • On My Birthday

    On My Birthday

    My birthday started as I wanted: up early with coffee, reading something new.

  • The Surfing Archives

    The Surfing Archives

    When my dad moved to one of the Scottish islands my first response was: are there waves?