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A blog about writing and travelling. Text and images © Morelle Smith

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The Franciscan Monk & the False Alarm

Fife coast path horse Hume Castle John Duns Scotus park Scottish Borders sea sundown walking

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Tom Bryan, Scottish-Canadian writer

books Canada Diehard fiction interview Scotland Starboy has left our Galaxy Tom Bryan writers

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To the Lighthouse

highlands Isle of Bute Scotland sea travel travel writing walking

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Review of Miha Mazzini's 'Erased'

book reviews European Literature Network Ljubljana Miha Mazzini Slovenia zodiac

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Rook Thoughts on a Rainy Day

January 22, 2026

birds jackdaw rain rooks walking

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Travel articles on Substack, Bourgas to Sofia, Bulgaria

December 12, 2025

Bulgaria Sofia trains travel travel writing

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Occitanie to Brittany

November 12, 2025

autumn Black Cat Brittany France Languedoc rain Saint Antonin Noble Val sea travel travel writing

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Birutė Park, Palanga, Lithuania

October 07, 2025

Baltic States Birute Kaunas Lithuania park sculpture sea snakes travel travel writing trees walking

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Edinburgh Book Festival Authors

August 25, 2025

book reviews Charlotte Philby Edinburgh Edinburgh International Book Festival Laurent Binet Literary Festival Scotland

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Walking on the Isle of Arran, Scotland

August 11, 2025

coastal path isle of Arran Scotland sea walking

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dritanje

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92 Acharnon Street
A C Clark
A Movable Feast
Abdyl Frasheri
absurdist
AC Clarke
acacia tree
Acheron
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Adnan Mahmutovic

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"The travel writer has no choice but to fabricate reality. If the writer is good, the fabrications generally overlap with reality. We should add, that reality itself isn't so stable. It too, travels."
Dubravka Ugresic

"On croit qu'on va faire un voyage mais bientot c'est le voyage qui vous fait ou vous defait"
Nicolas Bouvier

TIRANA PAPERS - Discovering Albania

Comment on Tirana Papers

With the immediacy of a journal, this book is a must have for anyone wanting a snapshot of Albania in the early part of the 21st century.
A Common Reader

EVERY SHADE OF BLUE

From the pale blue skies over San Francisco to the deep blue of the Mediterranean Sea, Every Shade of Blue describes travels with the musician John Renbourn. One of the original members of the innovative folk group Pentangle, John continued touring, composing, recording and teaching right up until March 2015, when he was on tour with the legendary Wizz Jones. His music, both his own compositions and his arrangements of medieval, classical and traditional folk music, has been an influence and inspiration to many.

Contributor to

Prose insane

Maybe by Adam parry - Maybe I don’t love you. Maybe I don’t need you. Maybe I don’t want you. Then again… is the sky green? Maybe, are fish good hill-walkers? or maybe...
6 hours ago
Asymptote Blog

Weekly Dispatches From the Frontlines of World Literature - Ale Quintana Arocho, Editor-at-Large, reporting between New York and Puerto Rico To try to understand what it is to live with an ever-changing relationship...
3 days ago
Autumn Voices

A Thing So Delicate: The Hidden Voices of Scotland’s Mass Concrete Viaducts - Moira McPartlin writes: In May 2021, as lockdown restrictions were lifting, my husband Colin Baird and I drove our campervan to Killin at the edge of Sti...
4 days ago
Sonofabook

Newsletter July 2026: Reznikoff - Quiet days. Not much coming in or going out (the lady at the post office today says she’s missed me, and I’m looking thin). But we had a terrific party f...
2 weeks ago
Sheena Blackhall's Screivins

The Poems The Ancestor - Acknowledgements Title: The Ancestor Cover: This portrait of John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton, Governor of Tangier, was painted between circa 1650 and...
5 weeks ago
Caroline Gill: Poetry and Other Writing

14 May is #dylanday - Tulips in Cwmdonkin Park, Swansea 14 May is #dylanday, a day to remember Dylan Thomas. I am posting this as part of a Facebook celebration initiated by...
2 months ago
New Contemporary Literary Horizon

- *Mihai Cantuniari (1945 – 2026), * *poetul de pe strapontină* de Daniel Dragomirescu Ne pregăteam să ne reluăm activităţile publicistice ob...
2 months ago
travels with persephone

Persephone was a Shaman - Someone who can travel back and forth in between worlds. This describes a Shaman. It also describes Persephone. Most stories that include Persephone ...
2 months ago
Donald Adamson Poetry Blog

To My Granddaughter, Born 25 January -
4 months ago
photographs from a white space

"'dilly dilly,' calls the loft hawk, 'Come and be killed...'" Dylan Thomas - Currently reading Michael Longley's *The Slain Birds*... No state-sanctioned death should be forgotten. No injustice should remain unnamed. Beware...
5 months ago
Faire la Paix avec ses Vies Antérieures - Olivia Favre & Anette Courteille - Éditions Exergue Ce qu’il faut avant tout savoir : Olivia Favre est praticienne en hypnose Sajece. Elle forme aussi des praticiens au Signaling, une méthod...
5 months ago
Vita Brevis

Free flow - When I started writing I felt that the words I produced were meaningful. Had value. Over the years I filled up notebook after notebook and when I opened th...
5 months ago
Talking 37th Dream (rumors of peace)

- I'm currently posting my art work here.
5 months ago
The Robert Moss BLOG

Substack time - Many thanks to all of you who have followed this blog over many years. I have yielded to the times and moved most of my posting of new essays - and som...
7 months ago
Lizok's Bookshelf

New Russian-to-English Translations Published in 2024 - [image: New Russian-to-English Translations Published in 2024] And so, another year, another list of translations! I’m doing something a bit different thi...
1 year ago
Recollections of a Vagabonde

Greetings of the Season - The year 2024 is coming to an end. Many a day since my last post in February I started to write a new blog post, but somehow, every time there was an inte...
1 year ago
the swiss lounge

the well tempered clavier -
1 year ago
Grandy's Landing

The Wager - A gorgeous gibbous moon hangs pearly white, the golden sunset fading over the estuary now. Such is the view from my high window, here on Halkyn Mountain. ...
2 years ago
Sabotage

Say by Sarala Estruch - -Reviewed by Emma Lee- Through the poems in Say, Sarala Estruch explores subjects such as losing a father as a
2 years ago
Wolfe Murray

¡Hola, mundo! - Te damos la bienvenida a WordPress. Esta es tu primera entrada. Edítala o bórrala, ¡luego empieza a escribir!
2 years ago
A Common Reader

Hello world! - Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
3 years ago
In My Own Accent

Poetry Book Boot Camp with Katerina Stoykova - Poetry Book Boot Camp with Katerina Stoykova The goal of this five-month class is to take your project from a pile of poems to an edited manuscript that yo...
4 years ago
chez Nicolas Bokov

Organigramme - Vous êtes dans l'espace francophone pour la vie de Marie Bokov Théâtre Rencontres & News *Imago Spirito* Cagibi Если жe вы читаете по-русски, добро пожалов...
5 years ago
Landscaping the Sacred

The Departed - I “In the mornin’ when you rise Do you think of me, and how you left me cryin’? Are you thinkin’ of telephones, and managers, And where you got to be at no...
5 years ago
Nouvelles Und News

- *organigramme* *сhallenge russe*
6 years ago
George Szirtes

Magda's Boy - Film by Anthony Wilks https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/videos/bookshop-events-films/magda-s-boy-how-george-szirtes-invented-his-mother
6 years ago
Sue Reid Sexton

Showing Off - This week, I had a lovely message from a happy reader which she was kind enough to let me share. It is always good to hear from people who have read you...
6 years ago
LE CHEMIN DES GRANDS JARDINS

- " L'échelle de Jacob " pour Maria-DoloresCano Ce qui donne un sens à notre comportement à l’égard de la vie, est la fidélité à un certain instant et...
6 years ago
CONTEMPORARY LITERARY HORIZON

ORIZONT 2020 - *EDITORIAL TEAM OF* *CONTEMPORARY LITERARY HORIZON* *BIBLIOTHECA UNIVERSALIS*
6 years ago
ein klage-himmel

So disappearing is the destiny of destinies. - Bring me the sunflower, let me plant it in my field parched by the salt sea wind, and let it show the blue reflecting sky the yearning of its yellow fac...
6 years ago
TRANSEÚNTE EN POS DEL NORTE

Charles Darwin en Patagonia y la Tierra del Fuego - El Beagle fondeado en la Tierra del Fuego. Pintura de Conrad Martens, *paisajista británico que formó parte de la tripulación del barco.* (Down House, Ken...
7 years ago
Forest Dream Weaver

Barley Fields - Barley fields last week - East Lothian On the right the road follows a historic estate boundary wall. This road leads to a country pa...
7 years ago
Starry Universe

Cherry and Rose - Wild cherry leaf, prematurely turning to autumnal bronze - wild cherries - green rose hip and seeds ..... Rosa moyesii - maturing rose hips an...
7 years ago
The Shape of Light

WELCOMING A NEW FRIEND - *Barred Owl (Owlet)* *Home * *Upstate South Carolina* These images of a young barred owlet were made about fifteen minutes after it emerged from its nes...
8 years ago
Wordarts

The Posy Ring: Coming Soon. - The Posy Ring, the first novel in a planned series called The Annals of Flowerfield, is due for publication by Saraband on 12th April. Here's what it's a...
8 years ago
Wordpill Blog

Tindaly Tn - Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked By TinDaLy.Tn Hacked B...
8 years ago
le ciel au-dessus de la rue

deux jeunes filles marchent dans la campagne - Sarah Bernat et Armelle Furet dans Rose d’Oradour La matinée claire d’un samedi de juin. Deux jeunes filles marchent dans la campagne. Elles ont dix-sept, ...
8 years ago
The Solitary Walker

Beachscape - I haven't blogged for a while, but here is a new poem. *Beachscape* *Surprising that I never knew before* *the bright curve of this bay,* *the way the wash...
9 years ago
Transit Notes

THROUGH THE EASTATOE VALLEY TO TWIN FALLS - *Like many other days this fall,* *I left early this morning and drove northward* *to the Blue Ridge mountains. Give me a day like this, * *my hiking boo...
9 years ago
Paula Roïd PhotoBlog

Candélabre -
10 years ago
washed stones

Class conflict & reading Henry James and Malcolm X - After 5 1/2 months of no posts, this sudden appearance of a long piece might seem odd. I simply want to post it, and I have no other place that seems appro...
11 years ago
walking in words

The Visionary - He is not like us. He reads strange books Of mystic poetry, mythology. He walks the beach alone, pausing to look Beyond the black horizon of the sea For hid...
11 years ago
Three Sea Horses

- Looking at my drafts I find a post I wrote while still house sitting but had not finished or published. So putting it up now, although it ought to be slot...
11 years ago
istrosbooks

Promoting writing from around the Union and beyond…. - EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR LITERATURE – promoting writing from around the Union and beyond…. The EU Prize for Literature, founded in 2009 and financed by the...
11 years ago
schadenfrieda

Mixtape tune #2 - Congratulations to my fellow Leithers Young Fathers on their Mercury prize win last night, for debut album Dead – well done! YLT4LYFE! Popping this track G...
11 years ago
Dom's photography blog | Thoughts and ideas about photography

new blog address (in case you missed it) - After I started this blog a few months ago I started considering having a self hosted WordPress blog and website. So after some work I published the first ...
12 years ago
TRANSEÜNT QUE ALBIRA EL NORD

Marian Raméntol Serratosa i Cesc Fortuny i Fabré: la passió d’un “tàndem poètic” - El mar. Ámbito exacto: allí acaba, aquí empieza, aquí estoy yo, allí ella. Pedro Salinas No em sembla gaire agosarat considerar que en Avui fosquejo morta ...
12 years ago
Raspberry Read

All the Rage by Kevin Ridgeway - Kevin Ridgeway's new chapbook of poems, All the Rage, is now available from Electric Windmill Press: http://www.storenvy.com/products/2089358-all-the-ra...
12 years ago
Poetry Scotland Reviews

Subject and syntax to fear and enjoy - *Helen Ivory, Waiting for Bluebeard, Bloodaxe* *Ira Lightman, I, Love, Poetry. Knives, Forks and Spoons Press* “I would like to extend my thanks to everyo...
12 years ago
words and silence

A Difference Of Reading - Weighing machine, Luxembourg Gardens, Paris Image: Wikimedia Commons A strange thing happened to me this week. I'd gone for my annual medical check-up at...
13 years ago
Cruising with S/V 'Jolie Brise'

Page Two - Darwin to Kupang – first leg of the Sail Indonesia Rally 2012 As an introduction it’s already early March 2013, Jolie Brise is anchored in Ao Chalon Bay n...
13 years ago
a pint of plain

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception - So, in keeping with the reason why God put me here on Earth, I had to drive a carful of teenage girls to some event. Normally I tune out their conversation...
13 years ago
Walking and Writing

How to write on a camel - Walking with animals Part 2 Camels are a bit different to ponies (see last post). Getting on and off them is more interesting for a start. But they have qu...
13 years ago
cagibi

Culture de vélo -
14 years ago
sparks and mirrors

To deliver oneself up to silence - Photo, *Untitled,* by Thomas Merton "To deliver oneself up, hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods and...
14 years ago
in search of white space

itness (with audio) - sometimes i can't get my mind around it. sometimes it is too big. sometimes it is too fucking small. sometimes i am. understand, understand, i just want ...
14 years ago
A Year with Rilke

With our thanks - *Rainer Maria Rilke * It seems appropriate that we, Ruth and Lorenzo, feel both sadness and joy as we close out this year of Rilke readings, translated by...
14 years ago
The Poetry Society

The Poetry Society Members’ Site - This is an independent Poetry Society site set up by and for Members. Non-members are welcome and encouraged to join. See the About page for a link to the ...
14 years ago
Involutions and Revolutions

The Arrival of Summer - This is my first blog entry in nearly two months. The recent inactivity is mostly due to a new hobby of mine called blipping, which has consumed almost all...
15 years ago
Catapult to Mars

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Sailing Jolie Brise

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El Hombre de Rivera Oveja

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Alison Anderson

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The Gleam of Light on Water

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l'oeil libre

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