Category Archives: history

129. Tenerife – 1: the light at the end of the world

Posted on 8 November, 2006 by | Leave a comment

Seven human lifetimes ago, the mountain behind me was alive.

Smoke, fire and brimstone poured into the blue Atlantic sky, day and night.

129_santa-maria.jpgThe crews of three small sailing boats watched the terrifying spectacle from the safety of the next island, fearful of such a bad omen whilst their epic journey had hardly commenced. The captain of their little fleet had no choice then but to portray it calmly, or maybe not quite so calmly, as a certain sign of heavenly goodwill instead.

129_1492_vangelis.jpgTwo weeks later, in September 1492, the three tiny vessels left the safety of the Canary Islands, slipped their moorings in San Sebastián on La Gomera, and bravely sailed off the edge of the world. The first voyage of Christopher Columbus and the Santa Maria had begun.
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Posted in 2006, divided by an ocean, geology, history, Spain

126. A new England

Posted on 6 October, 2006 by | 2 comments

I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
Are you looking for another girl ?

a-new-england.jpgBilly Bragg, July 1983;
Kirsty MacColl, December 1984

It might seem a stretch to link political activist and singer Billy Bragg with the new leader of the Conservative Party, but both featured in the news this week.

Billy received a write-up in The Observer for his new book on English patriotism – a decidedly risky concept within the social landscape of modern Britain, fitting entirely comfortably neither on the terraces of Upton Park nor on the East London streets of Bragg’s childhood home in nearby Barking.

And David Cameron was everywhere it seemed, following his début at the Tory Party Conference, where he made that speech – a decidedly risky exercise within the political landscape of the right, fitting entirely convincingly neither in the Conservative Party conference hall nor in the white middle-class streets of Bournemouth which surrounded it.
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Posted in 2006, heroes, history, music, politics

123. Bridge on the River Wey

Posted on 12 September, 2006 by | Leave a comment

I’ve run along the Wey towpath a thousand times. The river passes through Guildford not far below my house, and close to where I used to work.

From Guildford, I can head north or south to link with other paths and tracks on routes from 3 miles to 22. Some of my earliest, shortest and most faltering runs played out along the river bank, and some of my longest and hardest pre-marathon tests as well.

new-bridge-on-the-river-wey-shalford-guildford-2006.jpgI’ve run there in lunchtimes, mornings and evenings, from the office and at weekends, in spring, summer and autumn, and in dry winters, too.

And although the riverbank lies almost on my doorstep, it’s still one of the most beautiful places I know to run, just about anywhere.
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Posted in 2006, Guildford, history, summer, Surrey and Sussex

122. Cephallonia dreaming

Posted on 1 September, 2006 by | 1 comment

cephallonia-sami-captain-corellis-mandolin.jpgThe Ionian Sea is shimmering brilliantly beside me as I look across the bay towards Ithaca. Late afternoon in a Greek summer is no time to be running, but it had seemed like a good idea as I lay beside the pool.

Now, half an hour later, the road is rising steeply out of Sámi, climbing up from the harbour through the pine and scattered olive trees. There are no houses here, no villas or hotels, and the landscape presents itself as it always has through history. Since time immemorial.
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Posted in 2006, A1 - the best of roads of stone, geology, Greece, history, summer

114. Mont Blanc morning – Flaine, France

Posted on 19 April, 2006 by | Leave a comment

mont-blanc-from-grandes-platieres-flaine-sixt-glacier-des-bossons.jpgHigh upon the Grandes Platières ski-lift, the French resort of Flaine recedes quickly behind us, the colour of the concrete fading fast into the grey of the rocks, and the outlines of the Bauhaus school buildings blending with the cliff faces just as architect Marcel Breuer had hoped that they would.

It was two Swiss friends who discovered the delights of the Flaine bowl whilst ski-touring in 1954, eventually recounting their find to geophysicist Éric Boissonnas in 1959.

And it was Boissonas who took the bold step of commissioning Breuer to design a ski station in its entirety, that brief encompassing everything from the village layout to the hotels, and even all the furniture within them.

It was a huge undertaking, which had to begin with the blasting of a switchback road out of the mountainside just to reach the site. But by the end of the sixties the resort was essentially complete, and love it or hate it, Flaine is listed as a site of architectural interest today.
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Posted in 2006, France, history, winter

113. The Pilgrim’s Progress – Surrey Hills 2

Posted on 30 March, 2006 by | 5 comments

(… continued)

hackhurst-downs-north-downs-way-surrey.jpgAs I turn left off the main A25, uncharted territory lies ahead. The narrow lane rises in front of me, and I neither walk, nor confidently run, but somehow cobble together an unheroic if effective mix of both until the gradient flattens.

The ancient pasture land of Abinger Roughs lies to my left, that name describing quite well my personal symptoms of oxygen deficit and lingering virus.

It’ll only get harder from here, and so it’s just the ideal time to spy a couple of puzzled walkers standing by the roadside with their map.
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Posted in 2006, history, Surrey and Sussex, the marathon journey