If I didn’t already have plans for the start of March, I’d be heading to the Words by the Water Festival in the Lake District (March 9-18). There’s a tremendous line-up of writers on travel, place and nature. 

  On Sunday, March 11, a session on the theme of “Exploration” will have contributions from Patrick Barkham on islands (see previous post); the historian Graham Robb, talking about The Debatable Land, a territory that used to exist between Scotland and England; the poet Lavinia Greenlaw on Iceland as it was seen by William Morris; Lois Pryce on her motorbike trip across Iran for Revolutionary Ride; and Nick Hunt, author of Where the Wild Winds Are, on chasing winds from the Pennines to Provence.

  On other days, Horatio Clare will be reporting on his adventures on a Finnish ice-breaker; two experienced foreign correspondents, Angus Roxburgh and Peter Conradi, will be taking the measure of Russia; the conservationist Sir John Lister-Kaye will be recalling his awakening as a boy to the wonders of the natural world; Richard Hamblyn, environmental writer and historian, will be offering a teach-in on reading clouds; Christopher Nicholson will be sharing his passion for summer snow in the Cairngorms; and Mark McCrum, whose books include Happy Sad Land, on southern Africa, and  The Craic: A journey through Ireland, will be holding forth on “the joys and pitfalls of travel writing”.