About Us
Trail Lynx was founded by passionate travellers and keen walkers Julian and Claire, whose exploration of the Balkans and Eastern Europe began many years ago with a 5-hour wait at Polish border control in the depths of a chill winter’s night, just as the country was emerging from four decades of communism.
Fortunately, the wait was more than worth it. Since then, the countries of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union have continued to fire our imagination, and in the intervening years we have made several rewarding visits to the area and indulged our love of travel and trekking in the region.
When discussing these trips with friends and acquaintances, we can see that behind the polite façade of interest certain questions are puzzling them. Why trekking? Why those destinations in particular? Who are these crazy people?
Quite simply, it’s because we’ve had so many memorable trips, discovering new trails and making new friends, and still want to experience more. Many of these countries are tucked away in the forgotten corners of Europe, and relatively few can pick them out on a map with any certainty. But they dish up an exotic mix of mystery and allure as well as great hiking, and we wanted to share our experiences with others so they might be inspired, take the plunge and go to see these emerging trekking destinations for themselves.
Besides being enthused by walking and travel, we are motivated by an ethically responsible approach to our explorations, are fascinated by traditional food, history, heritage and language, and love to read as much about the region as possible – hence drawing such threads together on this site.
It might be reassuring to know that Julian and Claire are not former expedition leaders, mountain guides or super fit multi-linguists but simply a couple of ordinary 50-something weekend walkers with sedentary jobs who love finding ways to explore new paths and experience new cultures and countries whenever they can.