Travel vignettes, site visits and location observations where landscape, history and atmosphere inform the work and linger after departure.
Days 9 & 10 We left the campsite at 8:30, heading towards our final off-road track of the holiday. Along the way, we noticed something rather strange in the woods. Bags were attached to the trees, collecting sap. They looked like blood donor bags, and once we’d spotted the first few, we began seeing them … Continue reading The Road Beyond the Map: Portugal (Part 2)
Days 7 & 8 We were on the road by nine, heading to Portugal, with an ethereal bank of fog hanging over the valley. I considered it might be tree sweat. Or sleeping clouds that had drifted too low. Or spirits gathered after an all-night celebration. By the time we left Spain behind and entered … Continue reading The Road Beyond the Map: Portugal (Part 1)
Days 5 & 6 We were up at six, aiming to be on the road by eight. It was still middle-of-the-night dark. We dressed, made tea and sat beneath a sky scattered with familiar constellations while the campsite around us slept on. By the time we were ready to leave, other campers began to stir … Continue reading The Road Beyond the Map: Spain (Part 3)
Days 3 & 4 By the following afternoon, we arrived in Santander. It was after three when we finally drove off the ferry and into Spain, heading towards the Picos de Europa. The mountains began to appear on the horizon as we travelled inland, and slowly the journey began to feel very real. Eventually we … Continue reading The Road Beyond the Map: Spain (Part 2)
Days 1 & 2 The adventure began, as these things often do, with a long drive south. We broke up the journey in Somerset, staying on a farm where we were able to do a spot of wild camping. We were the only people in the field, surrounded by hay bales and a small gathering … Continue reading The Road Beyond the Map: Spain (Part 1)
Days 7 & 8 High on Alpine air, we left Santa Maddalena and headed back through Austria, travelling through mountain tunnels until we eventually arrived in Germany. We headed north through the area around Lake Constance, catching glimpses of its turquoise waters twinkling tantalisingly in the distance. For a moment, we thought we’d drifted into … Continue reading The Long Road Home from Dracula: Germany…
Days 5 & 6 Up and on the road early, the highlight of today was the Vršič Pass in Slovenia, which offered exhilarating views of the Julian Alps, as well as many nail-biting hairpin bends. The road threaded its way around the mountains and into the Soča Valley. All of it was breathtakingly stunning. We stopped to … Continue reading The Long Road Home from Dracula: Italy…
Day 4 We made good progress packing up and got on the road for our long drive to Slovenia. However, fate had other plans. Not even twenty minutes into the journey, in the middle of forest with no phone signal, the dreaded engine oil warning light flashed up on the dashboard. Three hours later, we … Continue reading The Long Road Home from Dracula: Slovenia…
Day 3 One final stop-off in Romania to see Corvin Castle, which translates as Raven Castle, and then we were on our way towards Hungary. Along the way, we passed a graveyard unlike anything I’d ever seen. It went on for miles, packed tightly with graves. I joked to my husband that you’d need to … Continue reading The Long Road Home from Dracula: Hungary…
Days 1 & 2 I flew to Bucharest, via Amsterdam, to meet my husband, who was waiting for me with our car and roof tent. From there, we headed towards the Bran area for our first evening. We got caught up in spells of roadwork traffic, but it gave us plenty of time to take … Continue reading The Long Road Home from Dracula: Romania…
