In the Footsteps of Smugglers: My Life on a Basque Mountain

An enchanting travel-writing debut, In the Footsteps of Smugglers is a humorous memoir of an English single mother who exchanges suburban life for a tiny, isolated barn high in the Basque Pyrenees. The book blends the adventures of an outsider, behind-the-scenes vignettes of daily life and historical research to produce authentic insights on all things Basque, imbued with a rhapsody on the theme of identity. After eight years living in Copenhagen, an English journalist, driven by a passion for languages and mountains, finally rebels. With little more than an assortment of Earl Grey teabags, Danish candles and a map, Georgina Howard abandons her all-too-cozy, cinnamon-scented lifestyle and drives south. The journey leads to wild and craggy landscapes in the Basque Pyrenees on the French/Spanish border, where place names are written in a bizarre, foreign tongue full of x's and z's. Losing her heart to this beautiful land and her pride to the inscrutability of the language, Howard moves into an isolated barn in a mountain hamlet. While pagan festivals reverberate through the valleys, her Basque neighbors – farmers, shepherds, a gravedigger and a champion female lumberjack – observe her, bemused. Only when her daughter, Marion, is born – after an unsuccessful relationship with an eccentric Basque miller – do Howard's neighbors drop their reserve and welcome her into their homes. Taking Marion's upbringing upon themselves, they fatten her up on spicy Basque sausages and black bean stews, teach her Basque nursery rhymes and train her to milk sheep. Meanwhile, Howard converts a barn into the headquarters of an international business providing walking, culture and language tours. Resigned to the ineptitude of their new neighbor, with patience and amusement, the locals tow her car out of ditches and teach her how to stack wood, catch mice, unblock septic tanks and drink wine from a leather gourd. In the Footsteps of Smugglers follows the adventures of an outsider: a single mother, linguist, cosmopolitan nomad and cultural chameleon who paradoxically makes her home amongst an indigenous people deeply rooted in their land, with a language and culture dating back to stone-age times. Unwittingly, she repays their hospitality by luring anti-terrorist squads, blackmailers and spies into their midst as the dramatic past of the Basque Country proves to have unexpected and far-reaching consequences. An inspiring, humorous travel memoir, Bradt's In the Footsteps of Smugglers weaves behind-the-scenes vignettes of daily rural life and historical research to produce authentic insights on all things Basque, threaded with a rhapsody on the theme of identity. AUTHOR: Originally from Birmingham, Georgina Howard studied European languages before heading to Copenhagen where she worked as a writer and taught intercultural awareness skills to Danish statisticians. But it wasn't long before she rebelled. With an unsatiated passion for maps, mountains and metaphors, she packed her bags and drove south to an isolated Basque hamlet in the Spanish Pyrenees where she built her business, Pyrenean Experience, which runs an eclectic mix of walking, culture and language holidays. Her working environment has altered dramatically from the husky-drawn sledges of the Innuit hunters in Greenland, where she taught English, to the rocky ravines of the Spanish/French border where she guides walks along the World War II escape lines. She has been a feature writer for the Sunday Times and contributed to the Bradt Guide to the Basque Country and Navarre. She can communicate in seven European languages and – to the embarrassment of her Basque daughter – is even learning the rudiments of septic tank plumbing (in Basque!)

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS The Basque Country - a Question of Definition Basque Words and Spelling Prologue My Life on a Basque Mountain PART 1 SCANDINAVIA Chapter 1 Heading North - The Wheelchair in the Snow PART 2 THE BASQUE COUNTRY Chapter 2 Heading South - Alice in Wonderland Chapter 3 Navarre and the Basques - Heading into the Beyond The two definitions of the 'Basque Country', introduction to Navarre, the institution of the Basque house, the Basque code of honour (euskaldun hitza), Basque 'sheepherders' in America, Guernica, the Spanish Civil War. Chapter 4 Marketing - Telephones and Witches Basque politics and ETA (1), Basque flags and nationalism. Chapter 5 The Baztan Valley - Noble Peasants, Pilgrims and Cider Baztan Valley lifestyle and landscapes in the sixteenth century, Camino de Santiago, the Codex Calixtinus, cider. Chapter 6 Finding the Walks - Chocolate Croissants, Maps and Cold Cups of Tea Geography and topography, Basque mythology (1) (lamiak), smuggling tales (1), the WWII Comet Line resistance network (1). Chapter 7 The Guests Arrive - Mutiny in the Kitchen Basque architecture, Spanish-English cultural differences. Chapter 8 People - Sheiks and Silver Robots Chapter 9 A Basque Fiesta - As Good as it Gets ETA (2), Basque culture and fiestas. Chapter 10 A New Valley - The Grandmother, the Miller and the Ostrich Geography and topography. PART 3 MY BASQUE MOUNTAIN Chapter 11 A House with a View - The Turtle on the Tap Basque farms and farming life, Basque house names. Chapter 12 My Basque Village - The Hello Kitty Fountain Basque village life (1). Chapter 13 A Basque Baby - A Fairy Godmother with an Axe Basque village life (2) and local characters. Chapter 14 My Neighbours - The Wellington Boot in the Snow Basque community and solidarity, life under Franco (1), wedding traditions, gravedigging, the annual pig-killing (matanza). Chapter 15 Local History - Tin Cows and Tadpoles Spanish Inquisition in the Basque Country, popular witches' tales, inheritance laws, life under Franco (2). Chapter 16 The Seasons - British Unpunctuality Mountain architecture, superstitions (eguzkiloreak), haymaking, hunting, paganism, the winter festival of the Joaldunak. Chapter 17 Basque Borders and the Comet Line - Eggnogs and Petticoats Smuggling (2), the Comet Line and resistance (2). Chapter 18 Mother and Baby - Snakes, Toothpaste Tubes and the Moon Farming traditions, planting by the moon, traditional Basque food, the Basque language (1). Chapter 19 Culture Shock - Maggots in the Toy Chest The local death toll, genetics. Chapter 20 A Family Business - Hangman and the Unfortunate Word Chapter 21 The Basque Language - Strawberry Ice Creams and Greedy Pigs History of the Basque language (2), Basque rhyming bards (bertsolariak), Basque mythology (2). Chapter 22 The Village Calendar - Wheelbarrow Races and Grumpy Coalmen Basque schools, Basque sports, local traditions. Chapter 23 Ituren Church - Stories from Beyond the Grave Murdered bodies in Ituren graveyard, life under Franco (3). Chapter 24 House and Home - Mushrooms and Marshmallows Farming traditions and land rights. Chapter 25 Gilbert: An Imposter in my Home - Music Boxes and Mountain Savages Spanish anti-terrorist squads in the Basque country, cultural prejudices. Chapter 26 Après Gilbert - Two Trees and a Headless Woman Intercultural exchanges. Epilogue One Heading North Again Identity and cultural integration. Epilogue Two Heading Home Ownership of the land. Endnote

About the Author :
Originally from Birmingham, UK, Georgina Howard (pyreneanexperience.com) studied European languages before heading to Copenhagen where she worked as a writer and taught intercultural awareness skills to Danish statisticians. After eight years, she rebelled. With an unsatiated passion for maps, mountains and metaphors, she packed her bags with Earl Grey teabags and Danish candles, driving south to an isolated Basque hamlet in the Spanish Pyrenees. Few outsiders have lived in this remote setting, and even fewer for the 25 years that Howard already has enjoyed. As a single mother bringing up a half-Basque daughter with the help of the local shepherds, she has gained privileged insights into the local culture and Basque mountain life, including its former cross-border smuggling community. Here she set up a tour operator, Pyrenean Experience, which offers an eclectic mix of walking, culture and language holidays. In the Footsteps of Smugglers is her first book for Bradt.