Category: On The Trevithick Trail
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Back in the UK
The online store and the pre-order link will go live this week. I should’ve done it earlier but fear masquerading as procrastination had got the better of me.
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Laguna de Guatavita (The Home of El Dorado?)
Pre-order ‘Long Road to Nowhere: The Lost Years of Richard Trevithick (Part One)’ now, HERE. Just a few hours north-east of Bogota is where the very myth lies – the ultimate and most intriguing idea that South America is full to the brim with immense treasures. The hills and the deserts are rightfully rich in…
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En route to Bogota (The Secret Mission)
I arrived at the appropriately named El Dorado international airport; all I’d been given was stern warnings about Colombia’s capital city. Don’t go outside after dark; don’t go into this and that neighbourhood; don’t go altogether – change your flight.
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Trevithick 1820-23: The Disappearing Inventor
Pre-order ‘Long Road to Nowhere: The Lost Years of Richard Trevithick (Part One)’ now, HERE. War brought Trevithick back down the hill to Lima by 1820. The same chill that killed off Francisco Uville in August 1818 did the trick for me. Barely a week was more than enough to send me down the hill…
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San Martin: The Sunken Ship
I stood and stared out to sea from a mirador. Somewhere out there submerged in the Pacific Ocean was the San Martin. Towards the end of July 1821, so was Trevithick, with his ludicrous homemade diving bell
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Lima: a city in crisis? (January ’23)
After lunch I strolled past at least 10 riot shields all resting on the outer fence of a faceless but clearly strategic building. The urge to steal one was tantamount; I could easily outrun these distracted policemen. The only problem was the flip-flops.
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Lima, January 2023: una tormenta se viene
Pre-order ‘Long Road to Nowhere: The Lost Years of Richard Trevithick (Part One)’ now, HERE. Firstly I must apologise for the delays; I am extremely far behind with blog posts but I have much to share with you from the last few months in Peru (and Colombia briefly). The world’s worst historian (me) and his…
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The Lone Miner of the Mountains
One lone Cornishman, however, refused to leave Peru let alone the Andes, and stayed up in the clouds as all his compatriots drifted back down the hill to Lima. No one would ever find out why he stayed here, all alone, in the inhospitable reaches of the province of Pasco.
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Potosi: Plunder and Poison
Even after I got back to the hotel and scrubbed myself furiously in the shower, I could still smell the dust. It was in my nose, ears and all over my glasses. I was only down the mine for 3 hours at most. I couldn’t begin to imagine a shortened lifetime of this
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The Ghost Town of Pulacayo and John Penberthy
At least he wasn’t down the mine right now. The shafts that lurk beneath are up to 1000m deep, with temperatures hitting nearly 50 degrees. Hotter than hell, the workers had to drill naked and only for 15 minutes at a time otherwise they would drop dead.
JOEL GRIFFETT 