Adventures beyond the front door
The mountain starts where the city stops. A final semi-detached house before a farmer’s field, at the end of which the slope starts to really rise into the mist. It was a winter morning when we travelled there, to meet Feargal and his friends at the very edge of the city. They were going to… Continue reading Through the mist – Black Mountain, Belfast
On a lazy Sunday morning here in Berlin we've just sent out our latest Postcard from The Winding Trail and this time we are staying close to home as the subject is walking out from our apartment and the joys of exploring familiar places. Our postcards are an irregular email newsletter including original writing as… Continue reading Postcard from The Winding Trail 05: Berlin
The final stretch of Denmark’s longest mediaeval road stretched out along a causeway, the polished stones leading to what had once been an island and home today to the ruins of Kalø Castle. It had been built some seven centuries ago, an impenetrable fortress to protect a King not necessarily from the threat that might… Continue reading The stories in the earth – Walking the Mols Bjerge
We had arrived in Bochum to visit friends, approaching this city in the industrial heartland of Germany known as the Ruhrgebiet in torrential summer rain. Somehow it fit the city that we explored that afternoon on foot – a no-nonsense, postwar urban landscape similar to many of the towns that were heavily bombed during World… Continue reading Riding the rails – the Erzbahntrasse, Bochum
The metal staircase starts at the bottom of the tower, and with each step we were climbing ever closer to the top of the trees. We were in the grounds of the old Beelitz Heilstätten, a sanatorium set among the pine forests south of Berlin. Looking up we could see the walkway stretching out from… Continue reading Above the treetops – the Beelitz Sanatorium
The islands seemed to rise straight up out of the ocean. It appeared through the tiny windows of the propeller plane like a long green dragon resting in the turbulent waters. Conical peaks were strung out along the central ridge and the cliffs seemed to fall vertically down into the Atlantic. We circled one end… Continue reading The Fajãs of São Jorge – Azores
It was Friday evening when we caught the train from Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof. Two dads, two daughters, heading south beyond Dresden and towards the Czech border, climbing down from the train in darkness on the banks of the Elbe. Across the river from the station, the lights of Bad Schandau shone against the dark hills that… Continue reading A place like no other – the Schrammsteine of Saxon Switzerland
There are certain landscapes that seem to belong to a certain place. Even an uncaptioned photograph takes you there. They are filled with memories, filled with stories, both your own and those only heard and read. They are the landscapes that you miss when you are away. They are the place that you remember, along… Continue reading Following the Leadmining Trail – Grassington
From the street, which runs in a straight line through the Jungfernheide forest in the north of Berlin, circling around the old Tegel airfield, it is a short walk through the trees to the lake. The path, which follows the water’s edge from the Greenwich Promenade south towards Saatwinkel and Spandau, passes by sailing and… Continue reading Our lake – Tegel, Berlin
It was a walk planned around train lines and train timetables. There was no real destination in mind, no peak to climb or pass to cross. All we had seen was a photograph. A little red train clinging to the mountainside. Hauled up from one village to the next by a series of cables for… Continue reading Along the Narcissus Path – Les Avants
The Winding Trail 