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Excursion to the Lakes in Westmoreland and Cumberland, August 1773

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 6 | Listen: 2

In the summer of 1773, lawyer and antiquarian William Hutchinson set out from his home in County Durham on a tour of the English Lake District. Accompanied by his brother, George Allan, he travelled by horseback from Bowes to Penrith and Keswick, down through Grasmere and Ambleside to Kendal, and back via Kirkby Stephen to County Durham. When he returned home he wrote what may be the first guidebook to the Lakes. Written in a pre-Romantic era when English writers were just beginning to discover the delights of the scenic view, Hutchinson’s account vividly describes a district that would soon be the haunt of literary giants such as Wordsworth, Southey, Matthew Arnold and Harriett Martineau. These recordings were made ‘on site’ as I followed in Hutchinson’s footsteps during the cold and wet early spring of 2018. – Summary by Phil Benson [chương_files]

Secret of the Sahara: Kufara

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 16 | Listen: 2

In an age when women were expected to remain at home, entertain, and rear children, Rosita Forbes elected “to boldly go where no one had gone before…” Like her older contemporary, Gertrude Bell (who was focused more in the Persian and Iraqi areas), Forbes held a profound love of the vast desert and the people who lived there. That love shines out in this engaging travelogue of her November 1920 – February 1921 adventure. The expedition took her deep into the Libyan desert to seek a remote location, revered by local peoples, that was protected from outside intrusion. Forbes was the first European woman, and only the second outsider, to reach Kufara, amid trials of difficult travel, complications with camels, differing priorities of personnel, political intrigue, outright betrayal, climate hardships, and near-disastrous wanderings off the route when water was short or gone. Her sharing of the surroundings, situations, and cultural nuances makes the reader feel as if you were right there with her, shading your eyes as you await the capture of the sunrise or sunset mirage that will show the distant features you hope to locate. Join her entourage and travel along through the Libyan sands as she shares this historic journey of more than a thousand miles. ( summary by LCaulkins) [chương_files]

National Geographic Magazine Vol. 08 – 12. December 1897

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 10 | Listen: 2

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, Vol VIII, the December Number. It includes the following articles: A Special Announcement, by F. H. Newell, Secretary The Washington Aqueduct and Cabin John Bridge, by D. D. Gaillard Gardiner Greene Hubbard, by John Hyde Pollution of the Potomac River, by F. H. Newell The Delta of the Mississippi River, by E. L. Corthell The Annexation Fever, by Henry Gannett Sir John Evans and Prof. W. J. McGee, by John Hyde Some Recent Geographic Events, by John Hyde Geographic Literature, by Henry Gannett Geographic Notes [chương_files]

Account of Egypt by Herodotus

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 10 | Listen: 2

HERODOTUS was born at Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor, in the early part of the fifth century, B. C. Of his life we know almost nothing, except that he spent much of it traveling, to collect the material for his writings, and that he finally settled down at Thurii, in southern Italy, where his great work was composed. He died in 424 B. C. The subject of the history of Herodotus is the struggle between the Greeks and the barbarians, which he brings down to the battle of Mycale in 479 B. C. The work, as we have it, is divided into nine books, named after the nine Muses, but this division is probably due to the Alexandrine grammarians. His information he gathered mainly from oral sources, as he traveled through Asia Minor, down into Egypt, round the Black Sea, and into various parts of Greece and the neighboring countries. The chronological narrative halts from time to time to give opportunity for descriptions of the country, the people, and their customs and previous history; and the political account is constantly varied by rare tales and wonders. Among these descriptions of countries the most fascinating to the modern, as it was to the ancient, reader is his account of the marvels of the land of Egypt. From the priests at Memphis, Heliopolis, and the Egyptian Thebes he learned what he reports of the size of the country, the wonders of the Nile, the ceremonies of their religion, the […]

Carpenter’s World Travels: From Tangier to Tripoli

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 28 | Listen: 1

Author’s account of travels through Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli and the Sahara Desert with stories about the people, climate, industry and culture. Summary by BettyB. [chương_files]

Carpenter’s World Travels: France to Scandinavia

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 39 | Listen: 3

A travelogue through the countries of France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden for young and old alike. Interesting big cities and lesser known areas that provide a glimpse of Europe nearly 100 years ago. Summary by BettyB [chương_files]

Wild and romantic: Early guides to the English lake district

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 7 | Listen: 5

A collection of some of the most significant literary work on the English Lake District prior to Thomas West’s A guide to the Lakes (1778). The poet Thomas Gray takes the reader from Brough south to Kendal on his return from a tour in Scotland. An agricultural reformer, Arthur Young, also returning from Scotland, begins his journey in the northern parts of Cumberland with dry descriptions of local farming, but on arriving in Keswick, his account turns to the picturesque scenery around Derwent Water, Ullswater and Windermere. ‘Wild and romantic’ is Young’s phrase, yet the agriculturalist in him comes to the fore as he declares the enclosed landscapes around Kendal and Windermere to be the most picturesque of all. Thomas Pennant’s account of his journey through the district is cursory, and he seems not have noticed the lakes or mountains at all. West’s Guide quotes Gray, Young and Pennant, and its second edition included the full text of Gray’s unpublished letters as an addendum. It also included four short pieces. John Brown’s letter to his former pupil William Gilpin (who would become the foremost exponent of the ‘picturesque’) connects the scenery of the Lakes to European landscape painting. Experimental philosopher Adam Walker provides a note on a local curiosity, the underground passages of Dunald Mill Hole. John Dalton and Richard Cumberland were among the first in a long line of Lakeland poets to be inspired to verse.> – Summary by Phil Benson [chương_files]

National Geographic Magazine Vol. 08 – 11. November 1897

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 3

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, Vol VIII, the November Number. It includes the following articles: Patagonia, by J. B. Hatcher Hatcher’s Work in Patagonia, by W. J. McGee The Sushitna River, Alaska, by W. A. Dickey A Winter Weather Record from the Klondike Region, by E. W. Nelson The Russian Census of 1897, by A. W. Greely [chương_files]

Ride Across the Peloponnese

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 6 | Listen:

In the spring of 1877, a young Oscar Wilde visited Greece with his classics professor, J. P. Mahaffy, and two friends. One of these friends, George Macmillan, wrote a brief account of the party’s ride across the Peloponnese. The account, without mentioning Wilde by name, records the travelers’ first impressions of the newly excavated sites of ancient Olympia, Argos, and Mycenae. It also includes colorful descriptions of the Arcadian mountains and flora, and of Greek customs and dress. This recording was made in the spring of 2019 at the sites visited by Wilde and Macmillan. Listen out for the crash of a falling tree at Olympia, the chorus of frogs at Tegea, and the lapping waves at Nafplio Harbor. – Summary by Rob Marland [chương_files]

Travel Collection: Short Non-fiction

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 15 | Listen: 1

A collection of short, non-fiction travel memoirs or guides written in, or translated into, English. Material covered might be a museum, a village or town, or a particular voyage or train journey, or other travelogues of potential interest to listeners. – Summary by KevinS [chương_files]