The Winding Trail is a project by writer and editor Paul Scraton and photographer Katrin Schönig.
“We are inundated with advice on where to travel to; we hear little of why and how we should go…”
Alain de Botton’s observation captures the reason The Winding Trail exists. In a world full of destination lists and AI-generated guides, we’re more interested in some deeper questions. Why do we feel compelled to wander? How can we travel more thoughtfully? What transforms a simple journey to something more meaningful?
We believe the best travel writing emerges from real places, real experiences and genuine connections. We always try to explore the world around us in a conscious, curious and engaged way, whether we are following a mountain path in Austria, crossing Europe by night train or discovering something new on a familiar walk close to home.
We’ve often celebrated the idea of “adventures beyond the front door”, and while we love exploring distant peaks and foreign cities, we are also excited by what happens when you take the slower route or simply stay put for a while, choosing the hidden valley over the famous viewpoint, or returning to places time and again to try and see them as if there for the very first time.
The Winding Trail reflects our philosophy of travel and spending time outdoors. On these virtual pages you’ll find long-form essays that explore the landscapes, culture and history of the places we experience, as well as shorter field notes from places near to and far from home. Our highly personal and subjective destination guides make no attempt to be comprehensive, and are instead a collection of places we’ve discovered and loved (and think that you might too), with some of our experiences, information and tips we’ve picked up along the way.
Over time we hope to add interviews and other bits and pieces that allow us to share the experiences of others who approach the outdoors and travel in interesting ways, and to make space for them and their stories alongside our own.
In an era of endless content and algorithmic recommendations, we hope to offer something a little different: subjective, experience-based writing that helps you think about not just where to go, but why and how to travel.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you’ll keep following us along the winding trail…
Katrin Schönig & Paul Scraton
About Katrin:
Born in Berlin, Katrin grew up on the Baltic coast of Germany before returning to the city between the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification. A love of travel led her, in a roundabout way, to her day job as the director of the Circus Hotel in Berlin. Her photography has appeared in hidden Europe, Slow Travel Berlin, Elsewhere: A Journal of Place and more.
Katrin on Instagram
About Paul:
Born in Lancashire in the north of England, Paul has lived in Berlin since 2002. As a writer he is the author of a number of books including Ghosts on the Shore: Travels along Germany’s Baltic shore (Influx Press, 2017), the novel Built on Sand (Influx Press, 2019), the novella In the Pines (Influx Press, 2021) and the novel A Dream of White Horses (Bluemoose, 2024). He was the co-founder of Elsewhere: A Journal of Place, and his writing has appeared in The Guardian, The New Statesman, Literary Hub, hidden Europe and more.
Paul is also an Ambassador for Pahar Trust Nepal, a UK-based charity that works with their sister NGO in Pokhara to improve the standards of education, health and sanitation for hard-to-reach communities in Nepal.
Paul on Instagram
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