Why a Booktrail?
2000s: If ever there was a book to tempt you to feel the fear and do it anyway, then this is it.
The Ribbons are for Fearlessness: A Journey
What you need to know before your trail
Catrina is devastated when lover, Jack, leaves her to go surfing on the other side of the world. What is she left with? Tattered dreams of her own and a dead end job. But then friend Andrew suggests having an adventure of their own – an adventure like no other – to busk their way from Norway to Portugal via the midnight sun.
When tragedy strikes however, Catrina must decide if travelling alone, following your dreams when everything else has seemingly deserted you, is the best course of action to follow as she meanders along life’s ups and downs.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
There should be a warning on this book – warning to giving you a huge dose of wanderlust if you haven’t got it already. Seriously, this girl Catrina is probably the least likely intrepid traveler you are ever going to meet – she has no money, can’t seem to rely on herself to do anything, manages to stay on course on a trip across Norway to Portugal busking.
The journey- From Cornwall to Norway
She sets off from Cornwall, heads to Newcastle and takes the ferry to Norway where she soon learns of what it mean to busk in the land of the midnight sun. This is a journey of some 15,000-kilometre in a yellow camper van with only a cello for company. The midnight sun at Nordkapp is only one of her final destinations.
Norway
Norway perhaps is the country which has the biggest impact on her. It’s here where she learn about busking, what is and what is not allowed. How busking at the harbour might not be all that it’s cracked up to be.
By the time she lands at Maridalsvannet, a lake and famous spot, she’s been told to go to and where she parks for the night, she soon discovers something she didn’t know about the place. When she leaves Oslo and heads into Sweden ready to cross the famous Oresbro bridge into Denmark, you can feel the sense of excitement of crossing a bridge and heading into a whole other country – and the rest of her adventure.
France and Spain
The places she visits in France and Spain are touristy spots but she has a reason for going to both – Les Torches in France may be near the Erin national park but it’s not on the tourist map. Whereas Granada and the Alhambra in Andalucia is although Catrina is not impressed with it – given the cars and amount of people there. Shame that such a stunning place can be disappointing.
Portugal
Aah the final leg of the journey and a stunning sight – the Cape St Vincent Lighthouse, Farol do Cabo de São Vicente. Like a beacon of sorts lightening the way and a symbol to save travellers on their perilous journeys.
It’s also a journey from a place called Fear to one called Fearlessness. As she travels from one location to the next, she meets various people, gets to know them before moving on, but having grown and learnt about them and bout herself.
Streetview Maps
Norway - the most northern part!
The final leg of the journey - Sagres - São Vicente Lighthouse
Booktrailer Review
Susan @thebooktrailer
Now I have found a book about solo travel that tells it like it is. I so identified with Catrina (Not the busking I hasten to add that I really quite warmed to her early on despite her lack of awareness over many things. But you can’t fault the girl’s stamina to do what she did and I was amazed. It’s only when you travel on your own that you notice the little things, the shape of the money, the way you drift off when looking into the horizon, the need to make friends, the homesickness but that inner voice in your head telling you to carry on and gather memories.
Who would have known that busking was received so differently in Europe? And that there are rules for buskers iu various towns and cities. That it doesn’t seem to pay well in France and that the journey from Norway to Sweden can make you feel like a pauper.
There are many funny moments along the way but I really admire this girl for not just getting out of her comfort zone but for jumping out of it, smashing it in pieces and all the while, learning how to save herself from Norwegian wave and biting the bullet of playing live on a pier somewhere.
There’s something very moreish about this book – maybe I need to get in a camper van right now, take this book with me and seize the day?
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Twitter: @_CatrinaDavies
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Web: .catrinadavies.co.uk
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