Where's Julia Bradbury off to next?
Outdoor headlines
12 November 2010 11:10
Ten points if you know where this is.
Could it be Greece? Central Africa? China, Arizona? Nope it's Germany.
Specifically, a little-explored (by British walkers anyway) corner of what was once East Germany. This is the Bastei Bridge, in the sandstone mountains of the River Elbe.
And it's here that TV's favourite walker Julia Bradbury pitches up for her new series. In "German Wanderlust", due to be screened on the BBC later this month, she¹ll be aiming to show that there are plenty of surprising landscapes in a land from which we normally expect little more than good cars and clinical footballers.
These include the national park of Saxon Switzerland, which isn't in Switzerland but which is home to the Bastei Bridge; the island of Rugen on the Baltic coast, and the route of the Malerweg, or "Painter¹s Way" which follows the course of the River Elbe.
The show's airdates are unconfirmed as we type, but you can find the complete inside story of Julia's German adventures in the new issue of Country Walking Magazine, courtesy of the show's producer, Owen Rodd.
As he sums it up: "For those who've never walked outside our island nation, I can tell you with confidence that Saxon Switzerland National Park is like nothing you¹ve ever seen before.
"It's an alien world, dominated by twisting, gnarled rock needles. You can lose yourself in dark, dank gorges, exhaust yourself with climbs to the most surprising and unspoilt viewpoints, or simply stroll on the sunny banks of the mighty Elbe River, watching the pleasure steamers drifting past. It is a delightful and remarkably unheralded location."
Full story: see this issue of Country Walking Magazine