It’s cool up north. Fresh wind. A jacket feels sensible. Bed socks aren’t entirely unreasonable. A week spent in the south was another matter. Restless nights on sweat-dampened sheets. Clammy skin. Hair clinging to the back of my neck. The curious heaviness that arrives after too many hot days in a row, when thoughts seem … Continue reading The Horned Black Beast…
We expect ghosts to arrive after midnight, announced by flickering lights, thunderstorms, creaking stairs and long, echoing corridors. We wait for darkness before giving ourselves permission to feel uneasy, as though fear keeps sensible office hours. But why? I’ve often wondered whether the brightest hours of the day might be just as unsettling. There are … Continue reading Afternoon Ghosts…
Summer has a reputation for brightness, long days, blue skies, holidays and freedom. But there’s another side to summer. A subtler side. The heat that shimmers above roads, blurring the distance, the way empty streets seem to hum in the baking afternoon sun with the suggestion of something about to happen, and the oppressive stillness … Continue reading Emergence: When the Past Refuses to Stay Buried…
To wrap up the month of Haunted Journeys, here’s another personal tale, one that starts with medieval relics and ends with… well, keep reading and you’ll find out. In 2024, my husband and I visited Pisa. A beautiful little city filled with history, culture and gelato that’s worth every single calorie. We did all the touristy … Continue reading Relics in Pisa…
June’s full moon takes its name from a fleeting harvest. Strawberries ripen quickly, and if not gathered at the right moment, they’re lost. Tonight’s Strawberry Moon, therefore, is bound to timing. And with it begins the shift into the Summer of Shadows. Summer is often framed as a season of freedom and light and exploration. But … Continue reading The Strawberry Moon…
Day 5: The morning arrived calm and bright. Our resident songbird was already awake and making certain everyone else was too. After packing up, we headed for Bealach na Bà, the highest road in the UK. It’s a single track with tight hairpin bends, the sort of route that comes with a police warning advising … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Skye…
Day 4: Wind and rain. Rain and wind. After a mostly sleepless night on the cliffs above Durness, everything was damp, everything rattled and our spirits had taken a firm battering. But storms lose their power once you’re on the move again, and by the time we were packed up and back on the road, … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Ullapool…
Day 3: The morning began beneath an impossibly blue sky. Our first stop was Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on mainland Great Britain. Seabirds crowded the cliffs, some of them nesting and others carried effortlessly by the wind. Puffins perched on rocky ledges in the distance, meaning binoculars were a requirement to properly appreciate … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Durness…
Day 2: Our first stop was the Glenmorangie distillery. Which was closed. The first lesson of the trip: never presume. We laughed it off and continued north. The Whaligoe Steps were next. Rather than fight for a space in the tiny car park above them, we left the car in a layby along a quiet … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Scarfskerry…
Day 1: The NC500 route officially starts in Inverness, but we’d been there before and it felt right to begin the journey beside water filled with stories, so we began our camping road trip at Loch Ness. The forecast promised rain, but it never arrived. Instead, something else hung in the air. Something heavy and … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Loch Ness…
R. H. DIXON 