Briana Gervat's Journey Along The Great War's Western Front

In 2022, as the world creaked open after the COVID lockdown, Briana set out from her United States home and took a flight to Europe. Her destination was an unusual one. Instead of selfies in Italian cities or relaxing on Spanish beaches, her mission was to retrace the front lines of World War I (WWI). Completing the 500-mile hike in just 36 days, Briana Gervat became the first recorded woman to hike the Western Front Way solo. Her memoir of the experience, There Will Come Soft Rains, recounts the way that travel interacts with memory and history. It is a journey about being in multiple places at once; a village in the present that is still saturated with the experiences of those who came before. Briana Gervat joined the Travel Writing Podcast to talk history, how landscapes hold memory, and her writing and self-publishing journey.