The Northern Path

The other day I was listening to a replay of a Fresh Air interview with a recently departed televangelist, who was lamenting, as though she lived a life of hardship, that her multiple homes were really very small — in fact the home in Texas was really just a cabin.

I snapped off the radio in disgust, grousing about how there are no Heathen interviews to listen to — and then smacked my forehead in a “coulda had a V8″ gesture, because of course there are! Ravencast is an Asatru podcast site featuring interviews on a wide variety of topics, from the practical to the spiritual. They interview everyone from newcomers to representatives of national organizations. There are also numerous thoughtful essay pieces on subjects ranging from fine points of lore to how to find a compatible group.

I always come away from this site feeling as though I’ve learned something new. Now that’s what I call fresh air!

The reconstructed Viking ship Havhingsten, or Sea Stallion from Glendalough, has reached Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. The ship was towed most of the way across the North Sea from Norway.

The Sea Stallion is a reproduction of a 30 meter long Viking warship from Roskilde, Denmark. A team of 65 men and women is sailing the ship to Dublin. The project has a research goal of understanding how the Vikings accomplished their voyages. So far the project seems to be providing an additional lesson in how difficult sailing the North Sea really was: the weather has not been cooperating, and several crew members have been treated for hypothermia. Going on from Orkney, the Sea Stallion will have only a small support ship, so they will have to be more self reliant.

The voyage can be followed on several websites with journal entries, expert commentary, maps and videos, including the Havhingsten site and the BBC Viking Voyage site.