Walking from Portugal to Prespa
This week, I perched on the ramparts of an ancient castle in the Portuguese town of Guimarães for a group photograph. I had come there to meet all three founder members of walk · listen · create in real life after working with them for over a year to publicise WLC activities. It was a delight to walk with Andrew Stuck, Geert Vermeire and Babak Fakhamzadeh, to make plans for the future, and to see Babak’s clever and surprising photography exhibition In Loving Memory.
The exhibition is part of The Walking Body event at the University of Minho, School of Architecture, Art and Design. Organised by the brilliant Miguel Duarte and Natacha Antão and our very own Geert Vermeire, the programme includes a week of walkshops and a round table with invited artists (until 17 April).
One of the joys of working with walk · listen · create has been meeting such wonderful people and discovering their endlessly inventive creative work.
Speaking of which, today another WLC member, wildlife sound recordist Geoff Sample, was selected for BBC Radio 4's Tweet of the Day. The segment celebrates the fascinating world of birds and their sounds. As a child in Northumberland, Geoff encountered a pelican for the first time, when one turned up at the Coquet estuary and decided to make it its home. Decades later, Geoff visited Prespa Lake, in northern Greece, and saw pelicans in their natural environment for the first time. They lived alongside cormorants and herons, creating an incredible soundscape. Listen to Geoff's recordings here: BBC Sounds - Geoff Sample.
Just as pelicans flock to Lake Prespa, walking artists also gather in the region. International Walking Arts Encounters in Prespa brings artists and walkers from around the globe to create, share, and connect with nature and each other.
Like my trip to Guimarães this week, it’s a reminder that sometimes we need to journey far from home to find a place where we truly belong.
But for a much shorter journey, why not enter our 39 Steps Flash Fiction competition for a chance to win 100 Euros and publication. Deadline, 22 April.
Happy walking, connecting and writing!
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Writer, walker, digital storyteller, psychogeographer
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