Where the Wild Winds Are

Travel Guide

Following the trail of the wind

His wind-walks begin on Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennines, as he chases the roaring Helm -the only named wind in Britain. In southern Europe he follows the Bora – a bitter northerly that blows from Trieste through Slovenia and down the Croatian coast. His hunt for the ‘snow-eating’ Foehn becomes a meandering journey of exhilaration and despair through the Alpine valleys of Switzerland, and his final walk traces an ancient pilgrims’ path in the south of France on the trail of the Mistral – the ‘wind of madness’ which animated and tormented Vincent Van Gogh.

Named winds

The Meltemi, the Halny, the Tramontana, the Levanter, the Kosova and the Marin – Europe has dozens of named winds but Nick hunter decides to follow four.

A nod to the proverbial four winds and four pints of the compass

Helm

The journey starts or should that be the wind first blows over the highest point of the Pennines that form the country’s backbone

Bora – Through Slovenia and Croatia

My walks took me from a lonely bothy on the fells to a cabinet of bottled airs in the backstreets of Trieste, from a howling blizzard on a Balkan Mountain to the stony desolation of western Europe’s only steppe.

The Foehn

This wind takes the author on a meandering journey through Switzerland, passing through Liechtenstein into  the heart of the Alps

The Mistral

This wind leads down the Rhone Valley in the south of France, finishing at the Mediterranean that is the source and the terminus of any other winds