Some time ago notDavies & I made an attempt to track down real-life von Brünings and Dollmanns – or rather we speculated wildly on who Childers might have been thinking of when he invented these characters. We did the same with Clara Dollmann too. But it isn’t ’til now – on October 23 – whenContinue reading “‘where does Böhme come in?’”
Tag Archives: Germany
‘For two days we travelled slowly up the mighty waterway’
It doesn’t take two days to travel up the Kiel Canal. Most of the ships and yachts we saw on October 3 were motoring along fast enough to get through easily in a day. With his history hat firmly on, notDavies assures me that on the opening day of the canal in 1895, the KaiserContinue reading “‘For two days we travelled slowly up the mighty waterway’”
The 20th Adventure Club Podcast: An Adventure on the Kiel Canal
Finally, after months of talking about having an adventure, Lloyd (notDavies) and Tim (notCarruthers) head off to Germany, using ‘The Riddle of the Sands’ as their guide. It’s October 2 – 4, both in the book and in the real world. The route is Holtenau to Brunsbüttel. But how does the Germany of today matchContinue reading “The 20th Adventure Club Podcast: An Adventure on the Kiel Canal”
We’ll be live-streaming from the Holtenau lock at 18:15 UK time
Ahoy! We’ve made it to Kiel, have visited the post office and done a bit of shopping, and now it’s time to head to the Holtenau Lock. We’ll be live streaming via the Unbound Shed page from about 18:15 UK time (*subject to bandwidth*). Join us! The URL to use is https://unbound.co.uk/books/riddle-of-the-sands/updates/kiel-canal-reconnaissance-live-october-2-5, but you can onlyContinue reading “We’ll be live-streaming from the Holtenau lock at 18:15 UK time”
The 19th Adventure Club Podcast: The Ems, Emden, Sail-Plans & Foghorns
There’s barely a couple of pages covering October 20 in ‘The Riddle of the Sands’, but somehow we’ve managed to create an information-packed podcast out of it. We include a bit of Roman history, obscure house numbering systems, spinnakers, gibs & what-not, a symphony composed for foghorns, a plate of wurst, more pipe-smoking *and* aContinue reading “The 19th Adventure Club Podcast: The Ems, Emden, Sail-Plans & Foghorns”
‘no stinks’
I’ve always assumed that the main reason Davies avoids mooring in harbours is that he doesn’t really like people. Sure, he’s also avoiding awkward questions from officious German harbourmasters. But the mention of ‘stinks’ on October 5 gives us another good reason to stay away from the mainland. Basically, the harbours were all really smelly.Continue reading “‘no stinks’”
‘Commander von Brüning, in command of the torpedo gunboat Blitz’
Where do writers get their characters from? In the case of Childers, we can be pretty sure that Davies is, to a large extent, a portrait of himself. Carruthers, we think, is an almagam of several of his real-life Oxbridge and Civil Service sailing chums. Dollman is a bit harder to work out. Perhaps he’sContinue reading “‘Commander von Brüning, in command of the torpedo gunboat Blitz’”
The 7th Adventure Club Podcast: Books, Handbooks & Punch
This week we’re concentrating on September 28 & 29, in which Davies’s onboard library is discussed, and a dangerous concoction called ‘coffee-punch’ sampled. We also talk at length about how you can support this project by pledging to pay for access to the live web adventure in the autumn, acquiring a beautiful Handbook Edition of ‘TheContinue reading “The 7th Adventure Club Podcast: Books, Handbooks & Punch”
The Curiously Specific Book Club 