QUICK READS

Norway could easily claim the title of the world’s most deceptively big country, so why not take it all in at a leisurely pace with one of the world’s best train journeys?

Norway is famed as one of the world’s most naturally beautiful countries. So incredible is this tome-worn land that many of its wondrous landscapes are able to fly almost completely off the radar. In search of hidden gems, what Finding Earth writer Matthew Walsh encounters tucked away among quiet fjords is truly one of Europe’s greatest natural treasures.

It’s one of the world’s fastest emerging tourist destinations, a thundering hive of history, hospitality and home-brew beer, but as I found, there’s an altogether stranger side to Hanoi lying at its heart.

It’s safe to say that being limited to my local patch by the UK lockdown has opened my eyes to the nature around me. It has also only strengthened my love of photographing the natural world as a means of escaping the drab, travel-free days. And so, with camera in hand and the biggest lens I own, I set out to see what could be found.

A few hours from the rush of Kuala Lumpur, peninsular Malaysia quietens, slows, and, most importantly, cools. The rapid evolution of this stunning country from coastal metropolis to pleasant peaks gave rise to one of the greatest hikes I have ever had the pleasure of setting out on.

Poland has marked itself, in recent years, as a relative ‘rising star’ on the European city-break scene, and who can argue when you can boast the likes of Krakow, Gdansk and Warsaw in your repertoire? Beautiful as they may be, cities aren’t everything here, and beyond medieval walls, across rivers and heading into the wilds of Poland, the country’s hidden jewels shine.

The Lake District National Park sits almost exactly in the centre of the British Isles. It's an unpredictable place so I set out there to see exactly what I could find and what makes the Lake District so wild!

At times it can be easy to forget just how wild Britain, England especially, can be. You never seem to be too far from a village, town, city (and pub), there are no wolves, bears, bison, musk oxen like the rest of the northern European continent. Britain, however, makes up for this in sheer spectacle.

Travel can be a stressful experience, navigating new, busy cities, working with a new language or even alphabet, getting used to local customs, coming across disgruntled scammers, the list goes on. It’s always more beneficial, especially on longer trips, to just take some time to yourself rather than pushing yourself to be constantly on the move.

With a global pandemic still eating up ninety percent of column inches and overseas travel limited, doorstep adventures have likely never been so prevalent since before the invention of the package holiday. I admit, I have always fallen for the attraction of foreign shores and regularly neglected my little corner of northern England. As a result, I decided to take a trip a little closer to home.

“The tallest waterfall in North Africa” may not seem like much of a boast in a region most famous for its distinct lack of water, but Ouzoud is a spectacle in more than just scale. But is it for the right reasons?