Through the web site’s latest hiatus, I hiked, traveled, dabbled in excessive ironing, and wrote two books. The primary of these titles was Wanderlust Nordics: Exploring Trails in Scandinavia.*
Launched late final 12 months, it’s a 300-page espresso desk guide that showcases 26 of the best hikes from Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Finland, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands. From family-friendly day hikes to difficult multi-week treks, there’s something to curiosity everybody, from newbies to skilled vets. The featured trails embody established classics such because the Kungsleden, Arctic Circle Path, and the Laugavegur, together with lesser-known excursions corresponding to Lengthy Crossing of the Lofoten Islands, Saskun to Tjornuvik Path, and the island-spanning Iceland Traverse.
Cowl photograph by Cody Duncan.
Wanderlust Nordics marked my fifth guide with Gestalten Publications. As with the opposite titles within the collection, it was very a lot a collaborative effort. The guide options photos from an array of fantastic photographers, Florian Bayer offers the illustrations, Bureau Rabensteiner takes care of the map design, and the crack enhancing crew at Gestalten (led by Robert Klanten and Anna Diekmann) places all of it collectively. Yours actually was accountable for the writing, cartographic analysis, and chipped in with an help on the enhancing entrance.
Overview map for Wanderlust Nordics
From a private perspective, Wanderlust Nordics was an ambulatory journey nearly 1 / 4 of a century within the making. In 2000, I made my first go to to the area within the type of a prolonged journey round Iceland. Since that preliminary journey, I’ve traveled again to this magical a part of the world on a number of events, repeatedly drawn by a Viking treasure trove of mountaineering prospects. From sweeping Arctic tundra to iceberg-dotted coastlines and from yawning fjords to lost-in-time villages, it’s an space to which superlatives and photographs can by no means actually do justice, although hopefully, in Wanderlust Nordics, we give it an excellent crack!
Nordic Adventures via the years (clockwise from backside proper): 1. Skaftafell Loop, Iceland, 2000; 2. Kungsleden, Sweden, 2009; 3. Saskun to Tjornuvik, Faroe Islands, 2022, and; 4. Lengthy Crossing of the Lofoten Islands, 2016.
Together with the flight-search-inspiring photos, every Wanderlust Nordics hike options path descriptions, background historical past, logistical info, and sensible suggestions. Like the opposite editions within the Wanderlust collection, the guide isn’t an in depth planning information that hikers will take with them out on the path (Trace: It weighs nearly 2 kg/4.4 lbs). Reasonably it’s an thought generator for many who wish to expertise pure locations on foot, with every part they want on the earth on their backs.
And with that, I’ll depart you with some extra photos from every of the guide’s 5 chapters:
Ponds and meadows dot the geothermal panorama close to Landmannalaugar on the Laugavergur and Iceland Traverse. (Photograph Credit score: p.214 (backside) – Tomáš Zrna/ northernadventures.co, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
Turf-roofed farmhouses close to the start line of the Skafatell Loop, Iceland (p.175 – Paddy Dillon/ paddydillon.co.uk, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
Rapadalen Valley in Sarek Nationwide Park (Photograph Credit score: P. 58-59 – Cody Duncan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)(Be aware: I extremely advocate Cody’s web site. It has among the most superb photos I’ve ever seen from Northern Scandinavia).
The village of Sisimiut, the western terminus of Greenland’s Arctic Circle Path (p.132-133 – Paddy Dillon, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
Ingesting in a crimson dawn with icebergs floating by / Oqaatsut Path, Greenland (P.126 – Cam Honan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
Mykines is the one and solely village on its namesake island. It consists of round 40 homes, of which solely six are occupied year-round (P.98-99 – Cam Honan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
Yours actually gazing out from Cape Enniberg (Faroe Islands), the world’s highest promontory (P.119 – Cam Honan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
Fall foliage on Finnish Lapland’s Bear’s Ring Path (P.293 – Cam Honan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023).
Aurora Borealis over Horseid Seashore in Norway’s Lofoten Islands (P.276 (backside) – Cody Duncan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023
Mountaineering Norway’s Rondane Triangle (P.238 – Cam Honan, Wanderlust Nordics, gestalten 2023)
*The second guide referenced within the opening paragraph is Wanderlust Mediterranean, which has simply come out in Europe and can be launched in all places else on October 1, 2024.
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