Author Archives: East of Elveden

About East of Elveden

Hidden places, secret histories and unsung geography from the east of England and beyond

(Thirty-)Six Views of Bass Rock

Posted on November 12, 2018

‘It is just the one crag of rock, as everybody knows, but great enough to carve a city from.’ Robert Louis Stevenson Catriona Japan’s Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano that looks just like a volcano should. An almost perfectly … Continue reading →

Posted in Islands, Scotland, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Rule of Home

Posted on September 26, 2018

As a few of you may know, I have been working on a much longer project, a book in fact, for quite some time. This work is centred on a walk made coast to coast across England and Wales, from … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Travel, Walking | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

On Stiffkey marshes

Posted on August 30, 2018

On August Bank Holiday Sunday we drove east along the coast road from Cley-next-the-Sea. The coastline was bathed in hazy sunshine; the sky, milky white and unthreatening. Rain and wind had been forecast for later – typical bank holiday weather … Continue reading →

Posted in Norfolk, Walking, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Beside Song-Köl Lake

Posted on August 4, 2018

There are places that stay in the mind long after visiting. Places that haunt the mind’s memory cache to prevail even years after having set foot there. Such places might be mountains, or rivers, or stretches of coastline; or even … Continue reading →

Posted in Central Asia, Travel, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Beneath a Concrete Sky – to Gravelly Hill Interchange by canal

Posted on May 30, 2018

Where’s Birmingham river? Sunk. Which river was it? Two. More or Less.  Birmingham River Roy Fisher The idea was to follow the Birmingham canal system north to Spaghetti Junction. I had already traversed the city by means of the Grand … Continue reading →

Posted in Cities, Human Geography, Midlands, Walking, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Shores of Loch Bee

Posted on May 11, 2018

An island. A loch. An island — South Uist — that forms a link in an archipelago that lies off a much larger island, which in turn lies to the northwest of the world’s largest continental landmass. If the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Islands, Scotland, wildlife | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Tyranny of the Horizon by Laurence Mitchell

Posted on April 23, 2018

Originally posted on BURNING HOUSE PRESS:
“A frontier region… the resort of brigands and bandits” – Sir Clifford Darby, from The Medieval Fenland Two summers ago I walked coast to coast across England and Wales, from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk…

Posted in Human Geography, Norfolk, Walking, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Landfall – absence and dislocation on the Forth shore

Posted on March 9, 2018

It began with a dislocation. A couple of weeks’ residence north of the border in the house of friends who had chosen to trade the Scottish late winter for the Antipodean summer. It was an opportunity for some writing time … Continue reading →

Posted in Scotland, wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Kyrgyzstan railway wagons

Posted on February 13, 2018

Kyrgyzstan does not have much of a railway system. A branch line from Moscow extends down from Kazakhstan to Bishkek, the Kyrgyzstan capital; another offers an excruciatingly slow service to Balykchy on Lake Issyk-Kul. Another line extends from Jalal-Abad in … Continue reading →

Posted in Central Asia, Human Geography, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Shirley Collins and the fall of Eden

Posted on January 12, 2018

In 1969 an album was released entitled Anthems in Eden. Its creators were sisters Shirley and Dolly Collins, folk musicians who hailed from Sussex in southern England. Released on the newly created Harvest label, and much lauded by the likes … Continue reading →

Posted in Folklore, music | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments