Straw sandals, fold-away boats, a penny-farthing bicycle, camels, yaks, ponies, even a cow: just a few of the means by which my ‘passionate travellers’ made their incredible journeys across vast distances. We are a migratory species. For millennia, our ancestors
As we tuck a packet of nuts and raisins, a chewy bar or a handful of dried fruit into our pocket before a journey, we follow an ancient tradition of travellers. But they had more need of it than most
Leeches are a common hazard for passionate travellers. But would anyone actually want leeches? Well yes, the ancient health remedy of applying leeches to the body is still a recognised medical practice, though now targeted more scientifically and called ‘hirudotherapy’.
The world is happy to celebrate powerful women – as long as they are fictional. From the Greeks’ mythical Amazons and the Valkyries of Icelandic sagas, to Wonder Woman striding heroically across our cinema screens, powerful women are the stuff
Words matter. Conjured into stories, they are powerful. And after writing systems developed some 5000 years ago and words were engraved into stone as a permanent, definitive ‘truth’, their power became mighty. In cultures worldwide, myths claim fertility as a
