Aleksandra

Ireland · Scotland · Iceland

“A journey should have air in it. Half of what people remember happened in the gaps we left empty.”

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Wales: Snowdonia, the coast, and the quiet middle
Walking: routes graded honestly, for every pair of knees
Ancestry: parish records and land books, read before you arrive

About Aleksandra

I came to the archives sideways. Somebody I was walking with in Snowdonia asked whether the chapel we had just passed might be the one her great-grandmother was married in. It was, and we had nearly walked past it. Since then the records come first: parish registers, land books, the tithe maps and the ship lists, read in the quiet weeks before anyone arrives.

Most of that work happens in reading rooms in Dublin, Aberystwyth and Kew, and you will never see it. What you see is a townland with your name still on the gate, a church that turns out to be the right one, and a morning that belongs to your family rather than to a tour. I still walk, and I still insist on a proper lunch. I have simply learned that the best days begin with a name on a page.

A day in my Wales

Up early, back late, nothing in between

We would walk in the morning - as far as suits you, on a route I have tested myself, with the car never more than twenty minutes away.

Wales rewards the person who stops. A castle at the top of a valley with no coach park. A slate village where the chapel is the only building left standing straight. I plan one thing a day and let the rest happen, because the rest is usually the part people write to me about afterwards.

Lunch is long, and there is always cake. Then a slow afternoon and a house with a view for the evening.

Three places Aleksandra will always take you

Cwm Idwal in clear weather
An hour’s gentle walk into a place that feels older than everything.
Portmeirion, out of season
Absurd, beautiful, and empty in November. My favourite month there.
A Speyside warehouse
Three casks, one distiller, and nothing that leaves the building.

In their words

“Aleksandra arranged a magical trip through Scotland and Ireland for our 50th anniversary. We told her we wanted to see everything we could fit in and not drive. Aleksandra booked our lodging near all of the sites we wished to visit and we loved every one of them. Each day was a fabulous adventure.”
Eileen M.
50th anniversary · Scotland & Ireland