Doing watercolors along the trail

Note and watercolor by Frits Ahlefeldt, Hiking.org

Painting, sketching and drawing is both a special way to see places and remember them better. But even more interesting, it will often also give you a very special opportunity to meet the locals and listen to their stories

Many times as I sit down to paint places along the trails, something special happens, the locals have often observed me from a distance, waiting for this stranger to pass by, but as I sit down and start to sketch, they often get curious about what I do and approach, nodding and smiling.

Then they often say something like: “Let me tell you something of a story about that old house there…” and before I know it they will start telling amazing stories about these places, that only the locals know.