Wild Writers Festival 2023 - Preview
The start of January. Eurgh. Back at work, twinkly lights being put away for another year, everyone feeling a bit bloated and demotivated. It’s easy to feel a bit down at this time of year, so it’s good to have something to look forward to – there’s a reason Travel Agents rub their hands in January. For outdoorsy types in The Borders, we have been given something very exciting to look forward to, which won’t involve passport control or filling the petrol tank. A brand-new event will be held in Peebles between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 January called the ‘Wild Writers Festival’. This is clearly right up my street given the strapline of the festival (“Words that explore nature, landscape, people and place”) is basically what I try to achieve in my own amateur way with the Blog. So, the opportunity to hear and meet people who do this sort of thing for a living is exciting and I hope this will be a successful, and returning, event for Peebles and The Tweed Valley. Here is my preview of the weekend, I hope it inspires you to get along to an event or two yourself.
Wee disclaimer before I start! I am not affiliated with the festival, I am doing this in my own private capacity, so as ever words and views are my own.
Image courtesy of Eastgate Theatre website
The festival kicks off on Friday with three events, across three venues. Markus Stitz will promote his new book ‘Great British Gravel Rides’ at Bespoke Cycles, a short wander away from the Eastgate Theatre, on Innerleithen Road. I first heard of Markus when he was on BBCs Adventure Show last year, evangelising over the power of gravel mountain biking. He devised the Capital Trail, a 250km circuit starting and ending in Edinburgh but taking on some of the most diverse and challenging terrain of the Borders and Lothians. Ideas like The Capital Trail have helped grow the popularity of gravel riding, and given we have some of the best examples of it in the Tweed Valley, it feels like an apt way to kick off the festival.
At the same time, across the road in Trespass, Chellie Carroll will talk about her work as an illustrator, with a focus on adventure. Her work is really distinctive, and includes the illustrations for ‘Fantastic Female Adventurers’. I recommend checking her page out on Instagram (@chelliecarroll) and think this session will appeal to anyone with an interest in art and illustration.
Finally on Friday, the headline act in The Eastgate is the hillwalking legend Cameron McNeish. He is well known to all Scottish hikers, a familiar face in print, on screen and now youtube for 40 years. I have heard him speak before, as well as having read many of his books, and what I enjoy about him is not only does he have an outstanding knowledge of Scottish mountains, he also doesn’t shy away from tougher subjects. Land ownership, lack of provision for campervans and even the challenges of dodgy knees and getting auld! He also has a soft spot for The Borders. I know from previous books that a trip to Yetholm and exploring the (relatively!!) modest Cheviots is a spring tradition for him so expect an engaged audience with a towering figure in Scottish outdoor culture.
Moving on to Saturday and there are five sessions to tempt you to the Eastgate. Kicking off early is Cold Comfort with Sara Barnes. Sara is a Cumbrian based swimmer and her tales of diving into the ice cold tarns of the Lake District is bound to draw a big turn out in the Tweed Valley. The number of red cheeked, bobble hatted and extremely cold people knocking about in dry robes seems to grow by the week - this is one trend which shows no sign of stopping. I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t an impromptu dip at the dookits after.
Also on Saturday lunchtime is Passion Projects with Siobhan Daniels and Jo Moseley. Both ladies made changes and found a new focus in their middle age. Siobhan has written ‘Retirement Rebel’ about going on the road at 60 in a campervan. Jo found a new passion for paddleboarding in her 50’s, becoming the first woman to paddle coast to coast in England and has now written a book detailing the best places to SUP in the U.K. I’ve met Jo once, she is a brand ambassador for FINDRA and spoke at their 5th birthday back in 2019. I found her to be a force of nature - and joy! The next day after the FINDRA gig she was litter picking up Caerlee before heading back to Yorkshire, that’s the sort person we are talking about here. I think this could be a real highlight of the weekend.
Saturday afternoon has another two sessions. Rock climber Anna Fleming in conversation with Ross Brannigan and photographer Kevin Morgans discussing his new book on puffins with Susan Davies from Scottish Seabird Centre.
Finishing off Saturday will be Jenny Tough. A Canadian adventurer (with a Scottish surname), she will talk about her latest book ‘Solo’. The book is her story of running solo and unsupported across mountain ranges in six continents. I first heard about Jenny Tough when I picked up a book she edited - ‘Tough Women: Adventure Stories’, featuring Innerleithen’s own Rickie Cotter, our pal and painter! Jenny comes across, unsurprisingly, as a determined and strong woman but ‘Solo’ shows that adventuring is more than Instagram stories - it can be scary and lonely. Sure to be an inspiring night.
The festival will round off on Sunday with three sessions. Ross Brannigan returns, this time in discussion with Ed Shoote, well known figure in the Tweed Valley mountain biking scene. They will discuss their sporting passions (running and cycling), with Go Tweed Valley’s Rich Rowe in the chair.
Iain Cameron is a snow hunter, a niche hobby for sure but totally fascinating. Snow and ice patches remain in the Scottish corries and cleuchs for months at a time and they are studied by dedicated experts like Iain. The talk and his book is named ‘The Vanishing Ice’ which gives a pretty big clue as to the effect of climate change on these venerable descendants of the great glaciers which once scoured Scotland.
Finishing off the festival will be Leonie Charlton and Malachy Tallack. Two very different Scottish writers, it’s a really intriguing combination to end the weekend.
There you have it, the first Wild Writers Festival in Peebles. It’s a high quality line up of speakers which wouldn’t be out of place at Kendal, the UK’s biggest mountain festival. As I said earlier, I have no association with this event, but want to say a huge well done to Rich Rowe and everyone at the Eastgate for putting it together. I hope I have encouraged a few of you to grab a ticket or two, if so you can easily get these from the Eastgate website along with more details on all the talks.
