In 2018 I travelled thousands of miles in a camper-van to document the countries of the European Union on the eve of Britain’s departure. This is a collection of blog articles chronicling the people and places I encountered on my travels.
NOTE: This blog was migrated to here from a different platform for posterity. Whilst the posts themselves retained their formatting, the navigation sadly did not.
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Heart of Lapland
In Joseph Conrad’s masterpiece (or indeed Apocalypse Now, a film heavily based on it), the protagonist treks for days and days in treacherous conditions towards The Heart of Darkness. He is confronted with increasingly bizarre and disturbing objects, symbols and actions that demonstrate the savagery of the native people.
I’m minded of this I pull into a roadside shop that is selling Sami art…
… Continue readingHeart of Lapland
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A Midsummer Night’s Christmas
I ploughed on up through Finland until I finally reached the Arctic circle. As the so called home of Santa Claus, I’m sure Rovaniemi has its charms in the snow-capped months of midwinter, but in the middle of summer it has an ambience so surreal that it could have come straight out of a Ray Bradbury story.
… Continue readingA Midsummer Night’s Christmas
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Falu Rödfärg
Fifty percent of Swedes are now either overweight or obese. Various shopkeepers and checkout girls along the E4 coast road certainly gave credibility to that report. It seemed the more northerly I progressed, the more kilos the locals carried. Yet one petrol station just outside Umeå bucked the trend.
… Continue readingFalu Rödfärg
