'My friend’s untimely death galvanised me: I went on an Arvon course, primed by the book she had told me to read, my head stuffed with the English Civil War. '

My friend’s untimely death galvanised me: I went on an Arvon course, primed by the book she had told me to read, my head stuffed with the English Civil War. As I sat at Lumb Bank, I saw a man sailing away from England. He trailed destruction...