Slow Routes
A border crossing is where an overland route is really decided
The line on the map is the easy part; whether you may cross it, on that day, by that means, is a separate…
Slow Routes
Journeys where the travelling is the point rather than the cost of arriving.
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Slow Routes
Flying compresses distance and overland travel hands it back
A flight removes the gradient between two places, and the gradient is the part that explains how they are related.
Slow Routes
A long-distance path is laid out around a day of walking, not a distance
Waymarked routes are divided into stages by where a walker can sleep and eat, which explains almost every…
Slow Routes
A working ship keeps its own timetable and the passengers fit around it
Travelling on a vessel that exists to move freight means accepting that cargo, tides and port slots outrank…
Slow Routes
Movement is the expensive part of a trip and the arithmetic rewards staying put
A journey has two separate cost structures, one charged per move and one charged per day, and most…
Slow Routes
The off season is really an argument about daylight
Travelling outside the peak is usually described as a question of crowds and price, when the variable that…
Slow Routes
A day on a loaded bicycle is measured in wind and gradient
Distance is the least useful way to plan a cycling day, because load, surface, climbing and headwind change…
Slow Routes
Following a river gives a journey a direction and a reason
Valleys concentrate roads, railways, towns and trade into a single corridor, which makes a river one of the…
Slow Routes
Going back to the same place is a different activity from travelling
A return visit removes the work of orientation and the pressure to see things, which changes what the trip…
Slow Routes
Altitude changes a town before it changes the visitor
Thin air alters cooking, weather, sunlight and building long before anyone notices it in themselves, which…
Slow Routes
A canal is a staircase of water and it moves at the speed of a lock
Artificial waterways were engineered around gradient and water supply rather than around distance, and…
Slow Routes
A pilgrim route works because everybody is travelling the same way
What distinguishes an old pilgrimage road from an ordinary long walk is that it has a direction, a…