It happens to be the last page of the magazine, and if your flight is a short one, go there first. He writes a memoir of his journey to retrace the route of the First Crusade in 1096, a 5,600kms endeavour on horseback from Belgium to Jerusalem.
He and friends did it over two summers, initially with Severin riding a Belgian Ardennes Heavy Horse as he thought would have Duke Godfrey of Bouillon. It didn’t take long to find out that the Duke would in fact have used the carthorse breed only when he got to war, and probably did the journey on an animal more comfortable.
Severin always writes well, and this account is a gem about which I will say no more in case I spoil the piece for you. Worth the flight in itself to read.
The magazine’s cover story is a profile of ’shooting star’ Bernard Brogan who achieved his life’s ambition when he first played for Dublin. A member of a GAA dynasty, he tells of the respect that Irish people have for players who have won All-Ireland medals, and the special relationship that players who fight and win their national competitions together have with each other ... ’it’s a glint in the eye when you meet up’.I saw a sign in a shop window a couple of weeks ago while in the US, ’Compulsive Shoppers Wanted’, and those are the very people whom Lizzie Gore-Grimes is catering for in her 8-page spread about the shopping options in the Big Apple. “New Yorkers are masters of the perfect accessory,” she writes. “From statement glasses to a quirky hat on a cute dog, they get it just right.” Joanne Murphy’s photographs of people and shops on the trip set off the whole shop till you drop expedition perfectly.
Something completely different is Pol O Conghaille’s exploration of the Big Surf at Fuerteventura. Known to most as a sun holiday hotspot, it is also a surfer’s paradise, he writes. But there are 3,000 hours of sunshine a year there, and you can’t be surfing for all of them, so he offers a wide view of the other attractions for a family on holiday. As he was there with his youngsters and wife, you know it is ’horse’s mouth’ detail.
Copenhagen has recently been rated the best capital city in the world for its quality of life, and anthropologist Roger Norum explores Denmark’s capital with its best design, best metro, best cycling and best restaurant. He takes his own photographs too, and they just might qualify as the recent best of Copenhagen.
Closer to home, Peter Murtagh writes about the 129kms Wicklow Way, in his own county, and it’s interesting to see from my point of view how many parts of it I’m familiar with without ever having done the whole thing. Peter Matthews’ pictures do various sections some real justice.
And as a writer myself, I was particularly intererested to read Brigid Hourican’s interviews with a new guard of Irish writers who are attracting serious attention in our literary world at home and abroad. As she notes, they have moved out of the traditional literary fiction to stake their work in genres such as sport, chick lit, crime, fantasy, horror and children’s fiction.
All the usuals are there. Pete Murphy of EMI is this month’s Smart Traveller, whose favourite business city is London. ’Off The Rails’ presenter Suzie Coen opens her suitcase for inspection and, no surprise, it’s full of big brands. Thriller writer John Connolly tells Shelf Life that big books are best on trips. In the ’Insider’s Guide’ series, Conor Maguire provides pen pictures and real pics of what he considers the best parts of one of his favourite cities in France, Bordeaux. Frances Power spends her ’48 Hours’ in Venice and suggests an early ditching of the map and simply doing walkabout.
Best quote? ’Tumbling head over heels into the Great Atlantic Washing Machine’ as Pol O Conghaile comes off his board during instruction to become a surfer. “It’s simple—until you stand up...,” he adds wryly.
A life’s lesson, that.
