Hiking through the middle of nowhere – to come to a place

Drawing and text by Frits Ahlefeldt

Ever tried to walk in a landscape that seemed endless, where nothing, beside the trail, ever seemed to have been touched by humans? Great, lonely and timeless… Then to suddenly arrive at a very different place, maybe a small, old and well-kept dwelling, that welcomed you with very different and intense smells, water and smiles.  Somewhere – instead of nowhere, still out of time, but where careful hands slowly had created an almost magical contrast to the barren landscape you just walked through

They exist in many places, some of them are ancient, others seem to have sprung to life by the work of a single or few souls.   The  connection between these places and the trails between them are one of the magical things about some of the hiking trails, that combine culture with nature, in the way  that make so many pilgrimage trails around the world very special.