Lodestars Anthology Spain - Cover Photo & Feature

Spain has always been a place I’ve enjoyed visiting. There’s no grand emotive or cultural reason for this necessarily it’s probably just because it’s been a holiday destination since I was young as it is for many Brits (or at least it was pre-Brexit).

However, my trips to Spain in recent years have been different from those youthful times when I joined the hotel kids clubs and spent time in the touristy beach resorts (if you excuse a couple of golf holidays). It all started when by chance I found a used copy of ‘The Face of Spain’ by Gerald’s Brenan in my local Oxfam. I found the stories and accounts of Spanish village life fascinating even if some of Gerald's choice descriptions might need rephrasing to avoid offence in this day and age. Around the same time, a Spanish film called Marshland (La isla mínima) was released and added further to my amazement at the environments to be found in Spain if you leave the all-inclusive resorts behind.

In recent years we have turned our Spanish trips into adventures. A trip exploring Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park and Sevilla. Spending time in the countryside near Iznájar with visits to Cordoba and Granada. Walking the Caminito del Rey without anywhere near enough water. Wandering green fields followed by boar and watched by vultures near Montejaque.

I was especially excited therefore when I saw Lodestars Anthology were inviting pitches for their Spain Issue. Even more exciting is the news that one of my images made the cover. Taken from perhaps my favourite day hike ever along the Cares Trail in the Picos de Europa.

You can pick up a copy of the Lodestars Spain Magazine Here. I promise you it’s a brilliant collection of travel inspiration to delve into.

I was also interviewed for the Lodestars website which you can read here.

“The Spain captured within these pages is more serene than I could have imagined. It is a country entwined with the natural world, cloaked in history and besotted by food; a place of passion, culture and art, where everything seems tethered to something bigger. Talk about saffron, and you’re transported to a family kitchen. Muse on a perfect tomato, and you’re hiking in Catalonia’s hills. Here, each element has a story, a tie to tradition or the land - and the effect is remarkably grounding.

For this magazine, our contributors have descended into caves in the name of cheese, gone in search of volcanoes, wandered ancient pilgrim paths, ridden horses into the sunset, been enthralled by architecture, cooked the way their grandparents did and penned odes to lace. They have explored places that come with meaning. Some destinations are ‘home’, others are steeped in memory, and a few are being discovered for the very first time, the siren’s call impossible to resist. You can read this zest in their words and see the ardour in their images, because when someone creates with love and respect you feel it. You’re there with them. This is how I was reacquainted with Spain - through the eyes of others.

I’ve always believed that one of travel’s greatest gifts is the reminder that there are many ways to live a life; that when it comes to finding purpose and value, there are no fixed rules. As you connect with a place, normal confines fall away, leaving you with the here and blissful now, and an awareness of what is truly important. You may find this clarity when lost in a dance, swooning over pintxos, or talking to someone who has followed their passion into the unknown. I thought you had to be there - talking, savouring, doing - to sense this, but when devouring these pieces, I felt just as elated. Impassioned words can make you rethink the everyday, and wonder what it would be like to be a ceramicist on Mallorca, a wine connoisseur in Costa Brava, a wrangler in El Rocío, a rescuer of fincas, an artist, a chef, someone who understands the allure of going on very long walks.

In the end, I did leave Sydney and spent a whirlwind few weeks in the country’s north. It was heavenly, but I was always going to love it - because I was already enamoured with Spain, bewitched by our contributors’ experiences, seduced by its calming, intricate beauty. Spain puts on a complex mosaic of a show, and as you bask in the richness, you can’t help but slow down. I hope these pages capture its magic.”