Slow Travel
The case for the slow approach: arriving on foot changes what you see
Walking or cycling the last stretch to a place is not just slower. It changes what registers as remarkable when you get there.
Marta Olesen
Slow travel writer, Earth Worth Exploring
Marta has not boarded a short-haul flight since 2019 and writes about what that actually costs in time.
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19 articles
Gear & Craft
Waterproofs stop working long before they look worn out
A jacket that wets out is not leaking. It is doing something more interesting, and you can usually fix it in an afternoon.
Slow Travel
Night trains are back, and the economics are still difficult
Sleeper services are expanding across Europe for the first time in decades. The operating maths that killed them has not gone away.
Slow Travel
Bothies, refuges and huts run on rules nobody writes down
A mountain shelter works because everyone who uses it behaves in a particular way. The conventions are consistent and almost never…
Gear & Craft
Down versus synthetic, decided by climate rather than preference
One is warmer for its weight and fails when wet. The other is heavier and does not. That is the whole comparison.
Gear & Craft
Headtorches, and the specification that actually matters
Lumens are marketed and runtime is what you use. The gap between them is where the disappointment lives.
Slow Travel
Walking holidays without carrying anything
Baggage transfer services have made long routes accessible to people who cannot carry a full pack, and the trade-offs are worth…
Slow Travel
Hut-to-hut walking is a different discipline from camping
Alpine hut systems let you cross serious terrain with a light pack, on somebody else's timetable.
Gear & Craft
Waterproof boots are the wrong answer more often than people think
A membrane keeps water out until it comes over the top, and then keeps it in for the rest of the day.
Slow Travel
Cold water swimming, and the physiology that makes it risky
The reaction to sudden cold immersion is involuntary and fast, and it is what drowns people rather than hypothermia.
Slow Travel
Travelling to a walk by public transport
Linear routes become possible without a car, and the planning is a different skill from route planning.
Slow Travel
Winter daylight is the planning constraint people forget
Short days compress every decision, and walking out in the dark is a planning outcome rather than an accident.
Gear & Craft
First aid kits that match the trip rather than the shop
Most commercial kits are assembled for retail rather than for what actually happens on a hill.
Slow Travel
Coast paths, tides and the sections that disappear twice a day
Some coastal routes cross ground that is only passable on a falling tide, and the timing is not negotiable.
Slow Travel
Staying in one valley for a week instead of seeing five
The itinerary that visits everything sees each place once, badly. The one that stays put sees a single place at several different…
Slow Travel
Coming home slowly is the half of the journey people cut
Travellers spend weeks planning the outward trip and book the fastest possible return. The asymmetry is worth examining.
Slow Travel
Rural bus timetables are documents about decline
Read a village timetable carefully and it tells you how many children go to school, where people shop and how long the place has…
Slow Travel
Building a trip that is allowed to change its mind
A fixed itinerary in variable country guarantees compromises. Designing for flexibility costs a little more and produces a better…
Slow Travel
Overnight coaches are the least romantic form of slow travel
No dining car, no cabin, no view. For a certain kind of journey the night coach is still the most useful vehicle on the road.