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Schiehallion and the Weight of the World
It’s 250 years ago this year that Mr Charles Hutton did some very difficult sums and also came up with the contour line.
Jan 14
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Ronald Turnbull
11
5
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In Search of the Sublime
200 years ago, there were three different ways for scenery to be scenic. I headed up Base Brown above Borrowdale, after the ultimate landscape…
Jan 7
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Ronald Turnbull
16
7
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Wallace Stevens meets the mountain
The mountain, treecovered and somewhere in New England, meets Wallace Stevens [1000 words, 4 mins
Jan 1
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Ronald Turnbull
21
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Quiz: Hills and Literature
Not all our literary heroes are mountaineers. But some of them are… A quiz to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of this Substack, not to mention Christmas…
Dec 24, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
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I saw Mommy
Plase note: this short story does not display the proper Christmas spirit. [1300 words, 5 mins
Dec 17, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
7
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Most Popular
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The mistakes of others
Aug 20, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
76
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A short history of dying on the Eiger
Jan 31, 2024
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Ronald Turnbull
3
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Jane Austen Walks
Jan 1, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
29
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The Salt Path and author contract 'warranties'
Jul 9, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
25
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Romantic chasms
Coleridge, Kubla Khan, and the Somerset Coast Path [2200 words 15 mins
Dec 10, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
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Enid Blyton hikes
I was going to post about Coleridge again. But then I stopped at my local café for a haggis-and-cheese toastie. [1000 words, 4 mins
Dec 3, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
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Celebrating the Zinalrothorn
Never mind Mont Blanc: here’s a proper Alpine mountain [1800 words, 6 mins
Nov 26, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
15
4
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Down Dunnerdale with William Wordsworth
Walking the full length of a Lakeland river, in 22 miles and 34 sonnets [ 2200 words, 10 mins
Nov 19, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
7
3
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Does dying on high mountains have survival value?
Then again, there’s leaping off high platforms with stretchy vines tied to your ankles. A look at the land divers of Vanuatu and other death-defying…
Nov 12, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
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4
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Bacterial sludge: Stromatolites
A tale of two planet-destroying organisms [1700 words 7 mins
Nov 5, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
12
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1
Scotland's Mountains
Celebrating my 100th Substack post with a words-and-pictures gallery of my home hills
Oct 29, 2025
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Ronald Turnbull
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About Mountains
walking across them, climbing up them, writing about them
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Recommendations
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Out of Office
Kassondra Cloos
The Geologic Column
Richard I Gibson
Home & Place Writing
Yasmin Chopin
Doctoring Unpacked
Mary Braun Bates, MD
The Mountains are Calling
The Mountains are Calling
my site
my website
my 'classic literature' on UKclimbing.com
my Amazon author page
About Mountains
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