William, graphic designer and road-triscary photographer and Cécile dresser in sounds and images are the co-authors of the – superb-blog of travel back from the world. William takes the pen to tell us about their last road trip that took place in Scotland, in van. An adventure in the land of steep terrains and moors as far as the eye could see.
Our last real road trip was last November, right in the heart of Scotland. I’m telling the truth, because we always travel by car, whether it’s for a weekend of wandering in the Basque country or elsewhere. But for this trip, we had gone 10 days, renting a van set up in Glasgow in order to enjoy, in total autonomy, the wild beauty of Scotland.
Road trip preparation is an integral part of the journey
For any of our road trips and our travels we do not pass through agencies. It’s more of a habit than a deliberate choice. For us the preparation of the journey, its organization, its choice of course, stages… is an integral part of the journey. It’s something we like to do. I remember when I was a kid, before I went on vacation, to see my father spread the map on the ground, to stick stickers of color on the corners to see, or places to stop, all that to say that this preparation, organization for me is Important that I am involved.
Deep down, I knew I would put my feet back in Scotland
I had the chance to go there for six weeks with my parents, we had made the tour and the interior in a camper, and I had kept a pretty strong memory of it, Rocky Mountains, moors as far as I could see, some silence in the midst of these expanse Beautiful. It was in 1998, and I think that in my heart, I knew that I would put my feet back, I wanted to see if the sensation and the memories I kept was always the same.
Every trip, we evolve our way of travelling, our vision of road-trip.
A road trip to Scotland was a first for Cécile who had never slept in a van, to make her share the pleasure of waking up in the middle of nowhere with a morning mist, and deer approaching the van, it remains grandiose. The worst is when we almost got stuck in the middle of a storm in Iceland. A fog with almost zero visibility, snow in abundance, a wind to dehorn the oxen. 1h after our passage on this piece of road, this section was closed for 2 days, as much to say that we did not pass far!
The pleasure of spreading a card on the bonnet and saying “hold on and if we were going to see or lead this road”
I like the pleasure of moving forward, the pleasure of riding, the pleasure of spreading a map (you never use a GPS) on the hood and saying “Hold on and if we were going to see or lead this road”. Without going into the clichés, I find a sense of undeniable freedom, all these roads that are available to us, are as many possibilities of discovery, of meetings.
In road-trip, with a vehicle, we remain master of his day, no constraints of timetables, we advance at his pace, we stop as many times as we wish, to enjoy a view, of a moment, of a landscape.