Latest news with #RobertLouisStevenson
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- The Irish Sun
Tiny UK village is home to shortest road in the entire WORLD – it's barely length of a person & takes 3 steps to cross
A TINY village in the UK is home to the world's shortest road, which takes just three steps to cross. The road, which is shorter than some people, is officially credited by Guinness World Records as being the shortest street in the world. 2 Ebenezer Place is the world's shortest street Credit: Google 2 The street is home to just one building, Mackay's Hotel Credit: Alamy Scotland , measures just six feet and nine inches, and has just one building on it, a hotel located on the corner of the tarmac. The Explaining the history of the street, Mackays Hotel revealed: "When Alexander Sinclair returned from America in 1883, after making his fortune, he built Mackays Hotel on the corner of Union Street and River Street. "The council instructed him to put a name on the short end of the building, as they deemed it a separate street. Read more motors stories "Ebenezer Place then appeared in the town's records from 1887.' "Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent time in Wick while his father built a new breakwater in the bay, referred to our location in his 1883 book, Treasure Island." said: 'The record for the shortest street is held by Ebenezer Place in Wick, Caithness, Scotland, which measured 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) long, when checked on 28 October 2006.' The tiny street has now become a tourist attraction, with people flocking from all over to marvel at it. Most read in Motors Posting to Tripadvisor, one visitor said: "Well, don't bli n k or you'll miss it. "And don't get run down either whilst looking for it, as it's on a busy junction." UK's 'shortest dual carriageway' and everyone's saying same thing A second person said: "It's worth going to see if you're visiting Wick. "There is a sign, buts it's quite faded and could be done with being replaced." A third person said: "We went looking for this place and walked straight past it into Union Street. "At 2.09m long it's no wonder we missed it. "Not often we get to see a world record." A fourth added: "Didn't even realise we had witnessed a world record until reading these reviews. "I just remember getting frustrated that we couldn't find the place we were looking for. "But there it was, straight in front of us all the time."
The Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Tiny UK village is home to shortest road in the entire WORLD – it's barely length of a person & takes 3 steps to cross
A TINY village in the UK is home to the world's shortest road, which takes just three steps to cross. The road, which is shorter than some people, is officially credited by Guinness World Records as being the shortest street in the world. 2 Ebenezer Place, in Wick, Scotland, measures just six feet and nine inches, and has just one building on it, a hotel located on the corner of the tarmac. The world's tallest man, Sultan Kösen, is eight feet and two inches tall, meaning that if he lay down, he wouldn't be able to fit on the street. Explaining the history of the street, Mackays Hotel revealed: "When Alexander Sinclair returned from America in 1883, after making his fortune, he built Mackays Hotel on the corner of Union Street and River Street. "The council instructed him to put a name on the short end of the building, as they deemed it a separate street. "Ebenezer Place then appeared in the town's records from 1887.' "Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent time in Wick while his father built a new breakwater in the bay, referred to our location in his 1883 book, Treasure Island." Guinness World Records said: 'The record for the shortest street is held by Ebenezer Place in Wick, Caithness, Scotland, which measured 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) long, when checked on 28 October 2006.' The tiny street has now become a tourist attraction, with people flocking from all over to marvel at it. Posting to Tripadvisor, one visitor said: "Well, don't bli n k or you'll miss it. "And don't get run down either whilst looking for it, as it's on a busy junction." UK's 'shortest dual carriageway' and everyone's saying same thing A second person said: "It's worth going to see if you're visiting Wick. "There is a sign, buts it's quite faded and could be done with being replaced." A third person said: "We went looking for this place and walked straight past it into Union Street. "At 2.09m long it's no wonder we missed it. "Not often we get to see a world record." A fourth added: "Didn't even realise we had witnessed a world record until reading these reviews. "I just remember getting frustrated that we couldn't find the place we were looking for. "But there it was, straight in front of us all the time."
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Connecting the south by rail
Passengers prepare to take a return journey to Christchurch on the Southerner earlier this month. Photo: Linda Robertson The rhythmic sway of the train moving through our stunning Otago countryside is a special part of the Southerner experience. As Robert Louis Stevenson famously said, "All of the sights of the hill and the plain; Fly as thick as driving rain". The last time I rode the Southerner was in 2001 — I recall the pleasure of the landscape, the book I was reading (Pig Earth by John Berger) not to mention the coffee and sandwich I enjoyed along the way. Inexplicably, the following year this great train service was put to bed. We look forward to the day when a trip to Christchurch by train is the normal way to travel, a journey that can be as productive as we need or as relaxing as we want. And there is an appetite for it. When Great Journeys recently announced a limited return of the Southerner for several days this year, people were enthusiastic. Tickets were sold out within days of going on sale. Demand for the return of a regular service is strong. On a recent Sunday, I joined other MPs, councillors and members of the public at a "Save Our Trains" forum in Dunedin to discuss steps we will need to take to restore passenger rail in the South, to restore the Southerner. Also that weekend, there was an announcement at the Regional Development Summit of funding for an "inland port" and the reopening of the Hillside Workshops maintenance facilities. The time is ripe for a restoration of passenger rail alongside an increase in freight by rail. A train trip is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel and produces about 80-90% fewer CO₂ emissions compared to the same trip with a flight. With the rising costs and general inconvenience of flying between regional centres, passenger rail stacks up both financially and environmentally. This matters. Recently I attended a presentation by Antarctica New Zealand where we heard about the scientific research under way in Antarctica, including all important climate science. Antarctica's ice plays a crucial role in regulating global climate while its melting ice also raises sea levels. The Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "Doomsday Glacier" is now at risk of catastrophic failure, and when it slides into the sea and melts, it will raise sea-levels by about 80cm and trigger more ice loss, more sea-level rise. We should be urgently taking every action we can to reduce emissions in order to slow global heating (and reduce the risk from the collapse of the Doomsday Glacier). One of the most sensible things to do is to reduce emissions from transport. Clearly passenger rail has a critical role to play here. We already have the tracks, and Hillside Workshops is now back up and running. Let's not forget that Aotearoa was once linked up by passenger rail between regions and main centres — including from Christchurch to Dunedin — and to a myriad of small towns in between. By the turn of the century this once thriving rail network was pared back to a mere skeleton of its former self. The 2025 government Budget revealed some funding for rail, but it is all for the North Island, and much more is being spent on urban highways, again leaving us in the Deep South out in the cold. This could change if our southern voice is heard loudly enough in Wellington and when southern MPs from both government and opposition do the mahi to support a restoration of passenger rail. Already there appears to be a consensus among most southern MPs that the restoration of the Southerner is desirable, and the question then turns to how. The Green Party Budget launched in May sets out a clear budget for the return of several inter-regional rail connections including our Southerner. Save Our Trains has prepared a handy factsheet about the feasibility of this rail link on their website. We can have a transport network that works for everyone, giving people real choice. Travelling by train through ever-changing landscapes is a special pleasure we should all be able to enjoy, "[as] ever again, in the wink of an eye; Painted stations whistle by". Time to leave the station, let the rhythm of rail do its thing, and embrace the journey! Scott Willis is an Ōtepoti-based Green Party MP. Each week in this column writers address issues of sustainability.
Vogue Singapore
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue Singapore
The sea is this year's leading inspiration for jewellers
Something's in the air lately in jewellery design—or in the water, rather. For millennia, we've looked above and below to wonder about our place in the world. Yet for all the discoveries, very little continues to elude, fascinate and inspire like the ocean. The vast seas—they cover significantly more area on our planet than land, mind you—have shaped and defined cultures, trade and history. The siren song of the seas is as hypnotic as it is varied, as we are seeing being played out in several recent collections of jewellery inspired by the sea. Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel Treasure Island was the inspiration and namesake behind Van Cleef & Arpels's newest range of high jewellery. It's perhaps the maison's most playful collection in years, with nods to a pirate adventure and a search for hidden treasure. It gleefully takes on board these childlike symbols and motifs, and turns it on its head with the maison's signature grace and elegance. Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Consider the Coquillage Mystérieux seashell clip, which is arranged with mystery-set buffed top square rubies, round and baguette-cut white diamonds, and pink diamonds. On the reverse, a charming secret that toys with the house's classical ballerina and fairy motifs: a nereid, perched atop a cultured pearl, hoisting an emerald. Courtesy of Wallis Hong Courtesy of Wallis Hong The ocean can certainly play to the emotions of jewellers and designers. Take the designs of China-born, Spain-based jewellery artist Wallis Hong, whose pieces are sculptural, dreamlike and have an aquatic quality even when they aren't inspired by the sea. He describes his first design, the Eternal Butterfly, as a 'waterdrop butterfly' that has burst out of a cave with droplets cascading off its form. When I question him about this consistency in design—which is most pronounced in the way he sculpts blue titanium into organic shapes—he explains that the idea is more universal, to evoke emotions and spark imaginations, not taxonomic literalism. 'Some viewers might feel the inspiration comes from water,' he says, while 'others may sense influences from the sky or the universe'. Hong tells me that recent designs, such as the Thorn Shells earrings, were inspired by his first trips to the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Formentera. 'There, I discovered the natural forms of conches on the beaches and explored the vibrant underwater ecosystems teeming with diverse marine life.' Courtesy of Boucheron The universality and critical nature of water has also fascinated Claire Choisne, the brilliant creative director of Boucheron, in her Or Bleu collection of high jewellery. The range of 26 jewels is dedicated to water in its myriad forms: coursing waterfalls, concentric waves on a surface caused by a drop, sea foam washing up on sand, the crystalline translucency of icebergs, among many more. Courtesy of Boucheron The collection's most modern idea might also be its most direct. The Eau Vive pair of shoulder brooches imagine Icelandic waves crashing against the contours of a body. Boucheron used 3D software to simulate the movements of water. After a beautiful 'crash' was determined, it was then sculpted from a single block of aluminium, chosen for lightness, and mirrored to create a symmetrical pair. Diamonds are set into the aluminium—a feat of craftsmanship as the metal is more challenging to work with in jewellery than traditional gold—and then plated in palladium for an intense shine. What a thought: to wear the waves of the sea on one's shoulders. Courtesy of Massimo Izzo Vast and powerful yet serene and constant; the beauty of endless horizons versus the uncaring danger of the unknown. Varied perspectives from different cultures and peoples can make the sea endlessly fascinating. Take the Sicilian jeweller Massimo Izzo, who crafts his jewels of the sea with an unmistakably Mediterranean lushness and hedonism. The lifelike curves of his octopuses, seahorses and starfishes have an almost juicy, bursting quality to them. Courtesy of Simone Jewels Courtesy of Simone Jewels Courtesy of Simone Jewels Contrast that with how the Japanese might view the sea. For an island nation that we get the term 'tsunami' from, it is an entity of destructive power. Katsushika Hokusai's 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa', one of Japan's most famous artworks, inspired the latest Romance de l'art nouveau collection by Simone Jewels. A combination of art nouveau design and Hokusai's artistry, the line celebrates an interplay of chaos and serenity. Diamonds set onto white gold waves almost seem to crest and rise off a bed of chalcedony as water. And in their forms, you instantly recognise a view of the sea from the East. Courtesy of Tiffany & Co. For proof, though, that this cresting wave of aquatic designs is no passing trend, consider that Tiffany & Co. has selected Sea of Wonder as the theme of its Blue Book high jewellery collection for 2025. The first chapter for spring, which debuted in late April at the brand's Landmark flagship in New York, hinges heavily on the marine designs of Jean Schlumberger interpreted by Nathalie Verdeille, the house's chief artistic officer of jewellery and high jewellery. Each piece, she says, is an invitation to 'embark on a journey through uncharted realms of the deep sea'. Figurative at times, but just as equally bold, ornate and fantastical at others, these underwater jewels are an expression of human curiosity and creativity. Courtesy of Mikimoto Courtesy of Louis Vuitton Courtesy of Cartier The May 2025 'Sonder' issue of Vogue Singapore is available online and on newsstands.
Scotsman
7 days ago
- Scotsman
Travel: How Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Cévennes but missed all the best bits
Robert Louis Stevenson's famous visit to the Cévennes could have been very different if he'd turned right instead of left at a critical moment, writes Roger Cox Sign up to our Scotsman Rural News - A weekly of the Hay's Way tour of Scotland emailed direct to you. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In late September 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson set off on a 12-day hike through south-central France, starting in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille in the Haute-Loire and ending up in Saint-Jean-du-Gard, about 200km to the south. His travelling companion was a donkey called Modestine who, it's fair to say, didn't always make life easy for him. The journal he kept eventually became his 1879 book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes – not his most famous work by any means, but as a piece of writing about the outdoors, many years ahead of its time. For a start, Stevenson's preference for sleeping under the stars in a custom-made 'sleeping sack' marked him out as something of a pioneer. Not only were sleeping bags not yet really a thing in the late 1870s, his penchant for rough sleeping was met with horror by some of the locals he met, who feared he could be attacked by wolves. Of course, Stevenson wasn't the only person writing about getting back to nature in the mid-19th century – the literary push-back against the Industrial Revolution didn't take long to get going – but even some of the most outdoors-obsessed of his contemporaries still enjoyed their home comforts while supposedly roughing it. When Henry David Thoreau spent two-and-a-bit years living a 'simple life' in a cabin in the woods near Concord, Massachusetts, for example – the experience that formed the basis for his 1854 classic Walden – he did at least have a roof over his head, a bed to sleep in and his mum, Cynthia, living nearby and regularly doing his laundry for him. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hiking trail near La Bourgarie | Roger Cox / The Scotsman Stevenson was also surprisingly contemporary in terms of his attitudes to outdoor recreation – in fact, the philosophy underpinning Travels with a Donkey anticipates that of his fellow Scot Nan Shepherd, writing almost a century later which, in turn, has had a major influence on many of today's most successful nature writers. Just as Shepherd wrote of the joys of walking 'into' mountains rather than up them, with the ticking off of summits less of a priority than simply appreciating the mountain environment, so in Travels with a Donkey Stevenson writes 'I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake.' Visiting the Cévennes today, nearly a century-and-a-half after Stevenson and Modestine completed their epic yomp, it's surprising to find that the author is at least as celebrated in this part of France as he is in his homeland. Gift shops at tourist hotspots in the area all seem to have multiple versions of Travels with a Donkey for sale (including a beautiful band dessinée version of the story by Alexandre Cot and Marlène Merveilleux) and a hiking trail following the route Stevenson took, the GR70 or 'Chemin de Stevenson', is a major tourist attraction in its own right. Those wishing to follow in the writer's footsteps can hire donkeys for some or all of the journey, and accommodation providers along the route will often advertise themselves as 'donkey friendly', so 21st century Modestines need never miss a meal. The River Tarn near La Malène | Roger Cox / The Scotsman One thing you can't help noticing, though, as you travel around the Cévennes, is that, while Stevenson The Brand may be everywhere, when the man himself was on his big walk he managed to miss out on a lot of the things that make the region special. In fact, scratch that: Stevenson somehow contrived to miss out almost all of the good stuff. There were some agonizing near-misses, too. For example, while Stevenson and Modestine did indeed visit the achingly beautiful medieval town of Florac beside the River Tarn (now also home to an excellent pizza restaurant called La Dolce, with its own idyllic courtyard) they then tacked south-east and made for their final destination. Had they continued for a few more miles to the west, however, following the Tarn, they would have reached first Castelbouc, an ancient, otherworldly settlement carved into limestone cliffs which is more or less Rivendell minus the elves, and then, a little further on, drop-dead gorgeous Sainte-Énimie, one of the 176 Plus Beaux Villages de France and, if the organisation dishing out these designations were ever to countenance something as divisive as a ranking system, surely a contender for a spot in the top ten. The village of Sainte-Énimie | Roger Cox / The Scotsman A few miles further to the south-west, depending on how sure-footed Modestine was feeling, Stevenson could also have visited the airy hiking trail that runs south from La Bourgarie along spectacular limestone cliffs, with the River Tarn a thin ribbon of blue far below and vultures circling overhead. And, while he would probably have had to leave Modestine tied up for a few hours, he might even have found someone prepared to take him on a boat down the river itself, an experience so popular these days that the Cévennes seems to have almost as many kayak hire businesses as people. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The stalagmite forest in Aven Armand | Roger Cox / The Scotsman Stevenson's biggest miss, however, was Aven Armand, a stadium-sized limestone cave situated 20km south of Sainte-Énimie containing a jaw-dropping forest of more than 400 gigantic stalagmites. The cave wasn't discovered until 1897 though, so the only way Stevenson and Modestine could have found it would have been by accidentally falling in through the tiny hole at the top. Probably best for all concerned, then, that they took that left turn when they got to Florac.
