You may remember Jasper Winn from the Podcasts 341 and 342 with him regarding his book Paddle (the long way around Ireland). He’s a writer and adventurer with a style which appreciates time, people and places. Not rushing through from A to B aiming to beat records, but someone wanting to absorb and record the soul of the landscape and those who are part of it.
“I got to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris late yesterday evening. A totally arbitrary finish point. But not as corny, nor quite as far, as the Eiffel Tower. The last day was a 14 hour non-stop forty mile hike. There was frost, wind, sun, rain. My ankle, though complaining, held out. Some eejit tried to mug me on the quais in the last mile to Notre Dame and was most surprised by my spirited response. And having missed the night bus back to London I slept in a patch of brambles in the Bois de Boulogne. And got on the bus to London this morning. I think, all in all, it was a joyful month of walking, but to be honest, at the moment, it feels like it never happened. But then it’s a funny old world out there.”
Is the final paragraph from Jasper’s website The Slow Adventure which draws his mini adventure to a close. In this second podcast you’ll hear all about it.
This interview is part two of a two part discussion relating to his most recent adventure, in the most unlikely of places. Where he follows in the footsteps of Werner Herzog who walked 500 miles from Munich to Paris exactly 40 years ago, as some kind of ritual, with the odd aim of keeping a friend alive.
It’s an odd setting for a book Of Walking In Ice, and Jasper explains the background well and the reasons why it has taken him until now to set off on the same journey, at the same time of year during November and December 2014.
Jasper is easy to talk to and records all the detail we travelers reflect upon, as well as the emotions of walk as well as the practicalities of the experience. Of course you can read considerably more details relating to this particular trip on Jasper’s Website The Slow Adventure.
Wild camping in an unusual off the beaten tourist track location, enables a unique insight into the land and its people. It also enables him to reflect on the original trip by Herzog and the emotions he must have felt during the 1970’s when he headed off into a miserable winter landscape.
Jasper Winn is an independent writer on wilderness activities, slow adventures, traditional horsemanship and odd stuff. He’s the author of Paddle; A long way around Ireland (Sort Of Books), and was the story consultant on the IMAX documentary on cowboy cultures across the globe, Ride Around The Word. The Slow Adventure sends reports back from the front-line of a slow and simple life; horses, kayaks, guitars, long walks, travel, books, simplicity, trains, travel, wildlife and the occasional thrill.