The second anniversary of this site passed midway through a busy August. An office move and a new computer have diverted me since, but the milestone seems worth marking all the same.
There hasn’t been much time to write. This isn’t a site for daily updates – the past twelve months at Roads of Stone have seen just 28 posts.
Still, that adds up to around 20,000 words, squeezed into odd moments here and there, so perhaps it’s not surprising that I’ve been busy.
Those words have extended to travel writing on Kenya (seven posts), Scotland, Texas, Bermuda and France.
Conversations have extended to cover geology, music, golf, UK and US politics, the history of horseracing and Shakespearean theatre, petroleum economics, global warming, the urban development of London and French cooking.
These diverse topics have been digested with a steady diet of running, both in my Surrey and Sussex hills at home and across wider horizons abroad.
The most popular new posts from the past twelve months were those on Kenya, attracting over 8,000 readers. High energy prices have defined the year, and my analysis of the oil price shock was read over 1,600 times.
Amongst older posts, my account of the 2007 London to Brighton bike ride found nearly 3,000 readers, with over 300 on the day after this year’s event.
Traffic has grown from 16,000 views in the first year to 140,000 in the second. Clearly the site has established itself as a destination of choice – for all those politically-minded, sporty rockhounds of a certain age who profess an interest in natural and economic history as well as the survival of this planet.
So what lies ahead? We live in fascinating times – witnessing a global economic crash, a new US President and perhaps a change of UK government, too.
Plenty to think about whilst running, and lots more to see along the way. And in the meantime, thanks to all of you for coming with me.
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Related articles:
160. A year of Roads of Stone
183. Kenya 7: new light on a dark continent
174. The hidden history of Texas – on Buffalo Bayou, Houston, USA
167. Paris – Ville de lumière
178. Full fathom five – on Elbow Beach, Bermuda
186. Firth of stone and fire – North Berwick, Scotland
181. The Ophelia of Suburbia – Hogsmill River, Ewell
roads of stone 
Congratulations from Mexico Roads, hope these are the first two of many more!
Keep on running and sharing all the different topics that you regularly surprise us with.
Take care,
Patricia
Thanks very much, Patricia, and how good to hear from you.
With all best wishes to Mexico … saludos de Londres!
Congratulations! Blogging seems to be an organic process, evolving as it will. Obviously, your eclectic mix works for many of us.
Here’s to 200K in the 3rd year!
Thank you, Ella — much appreciated.
Here’s one view of the political and economic whirlwind as we set out into the stormy waters of this US election campaign.
With apologies to my friends in Houston, and thanks to Ella for the link.
This place has become a sure-fire haven for great writing and stirring debate. Congratulations on stepping out of the shadow of RC and making a bigger splash Roads.
I don’t get here as often as I’d like. The joy of that is there’s always so much excellent writing to catch up on when I do.
Thank you, Sweder – it’s great to see you here. We’ve missed your ‘lipstick on a whippet’ brand of wisdom for far too long.
I’ll get my off-road running shoes ready.