Stay outside, don’t enter buildings for five weeks, don’t even get on a bus or train. Stephan Orth sets these rules for his tour of England. Indoor spaces are prohibited, with one exception: toilets that have direct access from the outside. Otherwise he could get into awkward situations, at least in the cities. The journey takes him from London to Newcastle; 700 kilometers across fields and meadows, but also across urban areas.
Stephan Orth usually travels to countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran or China as a couch surfer for his travel books and stays in the apartments of hospitable locals. The destination England, on the other hand, sounds ordinary. It is due to Corona in summer 2021. Orth, like many others, suffers from pandemic fatigue, screen exhaustion and frustration over lost lifetime.
After an overdose at home, he prescribed an outside overdose. His reflection: how about a trip with a near-zero Covid risk? In a country with high incidences? So which is still possible even during the worst of the pandemic? With the stay out rule, he would amass enough material for a new book, now entitled Absolutely Locked Out.
Stephan Orth has found a place to stay for the night in Manchester. In the open air, of course.
(Photo: Oli Scarff)
His adventure begins in London Heathrow – and fails after 25 minutes in front of a tunnel with the warning sign “No Pedestrians”. The airport’s outdoor world of concrete, metal fences, and unpaved streets leading to barriers is unprepared for a stroll. Orth is absolutely slowed down. Walking into the city from Europe’s largest airport is not possible, a terminal employee explains to him slowly and clearly, as if he doubts the backpacker’s sanity. He threatens to arrest him and shows Orth the way to the bus stop. He has to get on a double-decker and move his experiment a few meters. He starts walking at the roundabout behind the tunnel. In the rain.
When he reaches his host Yong in Camden after the first stage of the day, he has to justify himself. “Do you really want to stay outside in this weather? Come in, I have a comfortable sofa bed,” Yong welcomes him to the garden. While Orth sets up his mini tent between the wooden swing and hydrangea, he defends his experiment: a covid-safe journey, no buses, trains, hotels, houses. unusual times. The neighbors are also surprised and warn Yong via text message that a homeless person may have settled in the garden.
The travel idea is irritating, but the people Orth previously contacted on “Warmshowers” and “Couchsurfing” are curious and let him camp on their green spaces. And be it with the hint: “Don’t get the idea of pooping in my flower bed.”
Stephan Orth: Absolutely locked out. How I traveled 700 kilometers across England and always stayed outside. Malik Verlag, Munich 2022. 224 pages, 18 euros.
(Photo: Malik)
Orth sleeps in gardens, illegally in parks, legally in campgrounds. He bathes in Hyde Park, uses the website Loocations.com to find public toilets, learns that the British have more than 20 words for rain. His perception changes. What is useful and what isn’t is reorganized. Subway stations and supermarkets are useless to him. On the other hand, benches, rental bikes and food trucks are interesting. Bacon roll with ketchup tastes like a delicacy after long marches. Again and again he reminds himself to watch his diet after fish and chips with plenty of tartar sauce. “The number of cardiologists treating patients on the open street is probably limited.” Coffee becomes more important than a shower. Life centers on finding a place to sleep and a pub with outdoor dining.
Orth borrows e-scooters, paddles a kayak on the Thames – and discovers fighting spirit. 20 kilometers upstream in a headwind and drizzle? “That’s fucking mental,” acknowledges an oncoming kayaker. He stays with Brexit supporters, discusses empty supermarket shelves and helps with weeding.
It is the encounters with people that impress the backpacker on his journey. The outside world has long since become his comfort zone when he meets Alan in Hexham. He lives in a tent and says: “I don’t own a square meter, and at the same time I own the whole world.” It is the minimalism that inspires Stephan Orth. On his journey, he learns to give up things and not see this as a great loss. A theme for decades to come.