Patrick Ashton Travels
Slow travel films from the places most people pass by
Walking tours and rail journeys through Britain and Europe — told through history, curiosity, and the small details that make a place worth the trip.
Latest from the channel
New walks and journeys, with a written companion piece for each film.
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How to Cross the Channel at Calais: Legal and Illegal Methods
In Calais, I had a question: how many ways are there to cross the English Channel? The joke answer was two: legally and illegally. The slightly more serious answer took me all over Calais and its environs, going to plces where I was most definitely the only ‘tourist’. Please watch the full film below. The…
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Staying at the Hotel Filthy: A French Farce in Three Acts
When booking cheap accommodation, you can either be lucky or unlucky, or you can have the experience I had in Calais, which took ‘unlucky’ to a new level. I crossed the Channel by ferry as a foot passenger, expecting the shuttle bus to drop me into the middle of Calais, when in fact it dropped…
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Quayside to Seaside: Walking from North Shields to Whitley Bay
This is definitely a walk of two halves. It starts among the working boats and fish quays of North Shields and ends in the cheerful seaside town of Whitley Bay – a few miles of coast that carry you from the Tyne’s industrial river banks and out along the open coast. Watch the full film…
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My Personal Newcastle: Revisiting Places I’ll Never Forget
This walk is a personal one, starting at the house where I was born, remembering the day when I woke up unable to walk, the time my leg almost got crushed in a motorcycle accident, the college where I learned the piano; and much else. While on the walk, I filmed a police incident, with…
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I Filmed Two Separate Crimes in Newcastle
A short and slightly surreal one. Over two consecutive days of filming in Newcastle, I happened to catch two separate incidents on camera – the kind of thing you never expect to be recording. Related walks If you enjoyed this one, you might like these: Stay in touch New walks land on the channel regularly…
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Walking Newcastle’s Iconic Bridges
I set out to walk four bridges across the Tyne in Newcastle. It was a rainy day, and I had expected it to be gloomy, until I realised I had picked marathon day, with the riverside given over to runners and a cheerful and good-natured atmosphere I hadn’t planned for. Please watch the film below.…
About Patrick
I make films about walking the overlooked corners of Britain and Europe — the side streets, the worn steps, the histories hiding in plain sight. No rushing, no skipping the dull bits that turn out not to be dull at all.
Where Patrick has been
Walks and journeys across the world.