It exists!

Den Haag in the snow…

Netherlands. This was not in any plan, but quite taken by Den Haag and surroundings…

Thirty years since the end of the greatest comic strip of all time… and it landed with a message of joy…

It's almost the end of the year and no more books will be finished before the clock strikes midnight tomorrow night, so it's time to year my favourite reads of the year…

Our latest postcard from The Winding Trail. In it, we reflect a little on the strange, calm beauty of these days 'between the years' and share a short film about Nepal and link to some of our latest writing and photography, including a long read from Japan. the-winding-trail.com/2025/12/28/p...

Between the years…

Christmas walk to our local lake… #adventuresbeyondthefrontdoor

Strolling into Christmas, from Wedding to Hohenschönhausen… #adventuresbeyondthefrontdoor

We've added a new highly subjective guide to The Winding Trail, to a place we've only just returned from: Pokhara in Nepal. the-winding-trail.com/2025/12/22/w...

Picking up Lotte to bring her home for Christmas… but not before a wander around Bremen University’s lovely lake… #adventuresbeyondthefrontdoor

Adventures in Psychojography… morning run out from the Uni in Bremen and across the motorway into the drained marshlands of Blockland and Hollerland, shrouded in mist with the geese calling across the fields… #adventuresbeyondthefrontdoor

Fourteen years since we said goodbye to Václav Havel, but I’m still reading him, still arguing with him, still learning from him…

I’ve long found Chomsky problematic, which began for me with Bosnia… this piece explains it all very well...

Some reading for a Sunday afternoon... our journey to the Kiso Valley in Japan, where we walked a section of the Nakasendō trail and sheltered from the rain among the five sacred trees of the Akasawa forest. the-winding-trail.com/2025/12/14/m...

We recently relaunched The Winding Trail, with essays, stories and photography from our travels in the outdoors. One of the long reads is about a journey through the Harz mountains, following in the footsteps of Heinrich Heine... 1/2

Two weddings in one day in Pokhara. Pretty special.

Another fine day visiting schools in Nepal. What the teachers, communities and indeed the kids themselves achieve despite everything is remarkable and humbling. So we have to try to have their back and make it even just a little bit easier…

'A Dream of White Horses' Paul Scraton @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social in Waterstones, Deansgate, #Manchester

Could you help us fund a new school building? The classrooms at Jana Jagriti school near Besisahar are not safe but with support Pahar Trust Nepal can build a new six-classroom building for these kids. It’s a long shot, but if anyone out there has the means or knows someone who does, let me know…

School visit in a small village in the hills of Nepal… I’m an Ambassador for Pahar Trust Nepal and it was amazing to see some of their work in action; in this case a renovation and refurbishment of a 4-room school badly damaged by the 2015 earthquake…

Traffic jam, Pokhara-style

In Kathmandu…

Joyful that it is to be back in Nepal…

Writing about the Nord Express today.

We just sent out the first edition of our rebooted newsletter from The Winding Trail... you can read it on the site (where you can also sign up for future editions): the-winding-trail.com/2025/11/16/p...

My essay about the joy of the night train is up on The Winding Trail, a long read for a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning, dreaming about adventures past and journeys to come… the-winding-trail.com/2025/07/25/t...

Reading and remembering the Romanisches Cafe in what might be the strangest and most interesting building in the centre of Berlin, the much-maligned Europa Center. With @marcelkrueger.bsky.social

Check out this author photo... I'm coming straight out of a Steinbeck tale to share stories of some of my favourite Berlin writers from the 1920s and 1930s, and reading from BUILT ON SAND (my Berlin novel). It's this Friday. @marcelkrueger.bsky.social will be there. @slowberlin.bsky.social too.

Yorkshire Sunday… #adventuresbeyondthefrontdoor

The Gorreana tea plantation on the island of São Miguel, was - for a long time - the only place in Europe where tea was produced and its history tells us a lot about the difficulties of making a life in the middle of the ocean… the-winding-trail.com/2025/08/29/t... #adventuresbeyondthefrontdoor

One of my recent posts on The Winding Trail is about exploring the hidden valleys and unheralded peaks, and the questions they raise about not only why we travel but how we do it... the-winding-trail.com/2025/10/15/t...

In Norway ‘its little hut…was built by the community for no other reason than to give people a place to shelter, a place to walk to and to take a rest, and a place to protect them if they were unlucky and protection were needed.’ @paulscraton.bsky.social 🙏 the-winding-trail.com/2025/10/15/t...

Yesterday we launched the updated version of The Winding Trail, a project dedicated to adventures being the front door and the joy of being in the outdoors… the-winding-trail.com

@slowberlin.bsky.social & Romanisches Cafe exhibition invite Julia Bosson, @paulscraton.bsky.social and me to introduce our favourite literary regulars of Romanisches and our own writing, followed by a public discussion on November 14. Free tickets: romanisches-cafe.berlin/event/rebels...

Some images of @paulscraton.bsky.social and me on stage at the Mendelsohn House in Olsztyn this week, talking about his work, the city of Berlin and his observations of Germany & German history as an insider/outsider. Translation was provided by Czesław Kinski, and all pictures are by Jacek Sztorc.

Delighted to be chatting with my friend @paulscraton.bsky.social about his writing and Berlin this Thursday on stage at the wonderful Dom Mendelsohna, part of this year's Mendelsohn Festival organised by BORUSSIA Olsztyn. The event will be in English with Polish translation. fb.me/e/jJ7B5tllD

W tym roku wezmę udział nie w jednym, ale w dwóch wydarzeniach podczas Festiwalu Mendelssohna. Przeprowadzę wywiad ze wspaniałym @paulscraton.bsky.social oraz opowiem o sobie i mojej rodzinie na Warmii. Zorganizowane przez moich przyjaciół z BORUSSIA Olsztyn. madeinwm.pl/wydarzenia/f...

A wonderful book that, if you haven’t read it, you really should… let the second wind blow…

This is me. And the song is just lovely.

We did it! 162km along the Berlin Wall Trail from 8am until 2.30 the following morning. I’m so proud of my friends who answered the call and joined me in a challenge that means more than our own PBs or other personal achievements. So why did we run? Here: www.justgiving.com/page/paul-sc...

Waterstones in Leeds have a table display for all their copies of The Salt Path with a sign that says “Take it with a pinch of salt” Reader, I laughed.

“I don’t miss penalties twice…” is right Chloe Kelly! #WEURO2025

Until the cruel Beeching's Axe of puberty, I was into model railways and had a small layout in the corner of my room. Recently, I've wondered if a return to the hobby might help my mental health – and the lovely responses I've had to this piece suggest I am not alone observer.co.uk/news/first-p...

Here we go! Come on girls, let’s go… #ITAENG #WEURO2025

That was unbelievable. A player and 1-0 down after 14 minutes, Germany fought their way to penalties - including probably the greatest save I’ve ever seen from Berger - against a brilliant France side and somehow made it through… great stuff… so happy for them #FRAGER #WEURO2025

The greatest save I’ve ever seen…

Whatever happens, this German team will have won a lot of people over. And that save from Berger was one of the greatest I have ever seen… #FRAGER #WEURO2025

Whatever happens now, to go 1-0 and one player down after 14 minutes and hold on against THIS French team is something else… and they could have won it with the penalty… what a game… #FRAGER #WEURO2025

This game has everything. All four quarter finals have been brilliant. But the penalty taking in this tournament has been terrible and I can’t work out why? Less than 50% I think… #WEURO2025