Across the bay to our right, the yellow ferry that plies the Magellan Strait was tied up for the night. The tarred road ahead of us led out of tiny Porvenir, the colourful buildings giving way to straw coloured grassland…
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Mar 13 2023
South America #5 - Bolivia
We crossed into Bolivia, following the shore of Lake Titicaca by bus. Reed-yellow landscapes, angular vilages and scrubby hilltops interspersed views of the blue lake.
At Tiquina, the bus pulled up next to the lakeside and we were ushered out…
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Feb 3 2023
South America #4 - South Perú and the Uros Islands
18 days after we left Perú, on 7th December, President Pedro Castillo moved to dissolve Congress in his country, a Congress which was about to take a vote on his removal due to corruption charges. Almost immediately, Congress did vote…
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Dec 18 2022
South America #3 - Mountains and into the Inca Heartland!
Mountain roads carried us through valleys, across streams, then traversed mountainsides; our bus followed the six-metre strip of rubble that separated the sheer cliff face that climbed to the heavens on one side from the plunging drop into oblivion on…
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Nov 2 2022
South America #2 - Journeying through Perú
Wow, Perú!
I’m blown away by the welcome we’ve found in this country; and especially that here in the town of Huaraz, in the neighbourhood just east of Avenida Confraternidad Internacional.
We’ve been staying in this barrio for just four…
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Oct 17 2022
South America #1 - At altitude in Ecuador!
It took over a week to realise that altitude sickness was affecting my state of mind as well as my body.
A sea-level creature by nature, I may occasionally climb to 30 or 40 metres to rig a topgallant…
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Oct 1 2022
Two festivals, and a trial by weather!

May 19 2022
The Springbank Voyage - meeting Jackie Royal and family, descendants of Captain Dennis Royal.
When I began researching #The Springbank Voyage, I knew it as a local tale, as the crew included four sailors from Yell – Nicky Tulloch, Tammie Irvine, James Hardy and Lawrence Tait. (There turned out to be an Arthur Harrison…
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Jan 27 2022
New album announcement!
New Album - 'The Springbank Voyage' - coming in Summer 2022
I'm very excited to announce that I've got a new album underway - and it was a great boost just before Christmas to learn that I'd got funding from…
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Aug 3 2021
Sessions and Sail 2021
Sessions and Sail 2021
The possibility of running a musical sailing trip seemed like a dim hope just a few months ago. But with a hopeful, music-starved group, and a careful regime of testing and preparation to avoid any virus…
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Jul 12 2021
Sailing Lady of Avenel back to Scotland
It's hard to say who had suffered more from the 18 months enforced 'lay up' - me or the sailing ship Lady of Avenel.
While I've been isolating in a Glasgow flat or a Cullivoe croft writing music, gaining…
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Jan 25 2021
Soren Larsen voyage #7 - Galápagos
This January has thrown up a few highlights; the incredible concerts being unveiled every day by Celtic Connections has to be among the best of them. I'm spending much of every day with a world-class concert coming through my speakers…
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