Sample site. Wholeframe Expeditions is a fictional business, designed by Alcor Industries to show the World archetype. Nothing here can be booked, bought or sent.
Three crossings of Vessary, each one from a coast to the opposite coast. Twelve travelers, two trucks and a cook, over salt pans, old forest and red hills, until the land runs out and the sea starts again.
Vessary is a wide country with a sea on every side. We cross it three ways and no others. Each crossing starts at a railway station on one coast and ends at a station on the opposite one, and every one of them stops for two nights at our house in Old Quire, right in the middle.
Departures for 2027. Prices are per person and include everything from the first station to the last.
Pick a crossing and it inks itself across the country. The stops are numbered, and the days below follow them in the same order, so the map and the plan are always the same trip.
Drag the map sideways to see all of it. Vessary on one sheet. Hatching is forest, stipple is salt, the thin blue lines are rivers. Old Quire, in red, is the house.
Crossing one · west to east
The Saltline
Twelve days from the fish market at Port Ondine to the sea wall at Tidegate, straight across the widest salt pan in the country.
Days
12
Distance
710 miles
Nights
7 in camp, 4 under a roof
From
$3,480
1
Day 1
Port Ondine
We meet the afternoon train at three. Gear check on the quay, then grilled fish on the harbor wall while the boats come in.
Sleep The Harbor Inn
2
Days 2 to 3
Marrow Flats
The road ends and the salt begins. The pan cracks into hexagons underfoot, and at night the stars come all the way down to the ground.
Sleep Camp at the Needle Wells
3
Days 4 to 5
Stillglass
A lake so shallow you can wade a quarter mile out. Wading birds at dawn, a boathouse supper at dusk.
Sleep Tents on the east shore
4
Days 6 to 7
Old Quire
Two nights at the house. Baths, laundry, the map room, and a free day to walk the old town and its covered market.
Sleep The house, 4 Chart Row
5
Days 8 to 10
Sable Down
Black-grass downs and long empty tracks. A shepherd's well every twelve miles, and a rope ferry over the Sable.
Sleep Camp by the wells
6
Days 11 to 12
Tidegate
The east coast. A last supper at the long table on the sea wall; in the morning, your finished map and the train home.
One railway around the edge. Three lines across. One house in the middle.
1The railway gets you there and home
The Coast Railway runs all the way around Vessary. It takes you to the first station of your crossing and brings you home from the last one. We book both tickets and mail them to you.
2The convoy carries everything
Two trucks, twelve travelers and a crew of three: a lead guide, a driver-mechanic and a cook. Only the crew drives. You ride, walk the good stretches, and never carry more than a day pack.
3The house is the halfway night
Old Quire sits where all three lines cross. Every group stops there for two nights: hot baths, clean laundry, a real bed, and the map room under the roof.
4The cache restocks the second half
Water, fuel, tires and fresh bread wait in the cellar at the house. The trucks leave Old Quire as full as they left the coast, so nothing is hauled farther than it needs to be.
IVA day on the road
From first light to the last line on the map.
5:40 am
First light
The camp is quiet. The cook is not.
6:30 am
Coffee on the tailgate
Oatmeal, eggs, flatbread off the griddle, and a first look at the day's line.
A well, a ruin, a view that needs a minute. The guide keeps a list.
1:00 pm
Lunch in the shade
An awning off each truck, cold things and salty things, and a long sit.
3:30 pm
Walk the last stretch
Three or four miles on foot while the trucks go ahead and find the camp.
5:30 pm
Camp goes up
The same layout every night, so you can find your tent in the dark.
7:30 pm
The long table
Two courses from one pot, a lamp on each end, and the day told twice.
9:30 pm
Tomorrow, in pencil
The guide inks today's line on the big map and pencils in the next one.
VThe price
One price covers the whole way.
From the moment we meet your train to the moment we put you on the one home. The only extras are the ones below, and there are only four.
In the price
Both rail tickets, first coast and last
Every bed and every tent, with a proper mattress
Every meal from the first supper to the last breakfast
Two nights at the house in Old Quire
Ferry, bridge and park fees along the line
A sleeping bag and camp chair, if you'd rather not bring your own
Your finished map, inked by the guide, in a tube to take home
Not in the price
Getting to the Coast Railway
Drinks at the innscamp coffee is free
Travel insuranceyou will need it
A single room at the inns$240
$400 holds a place. The rest is due sixty days before you leave.
VIThe house
The house at Old Quire.
A tall stone house on Chart Row, where three roads and one river cross. It is our office and our garage, and twice on every crossing it is your hotel.
The map room is under the roof, behind the oval window. One wall is a single sheet of Vessary with every line we have driven inked on it. Groups crossing in opposite directions sometimes meet there on the same night, and swap notes on what is coming.
11 rooms, each with a window onto the square
2 baths long enough to lie down in
1 cellar, the cache for every second half
Come and see the map
4 Chart Row Old Quire, Vessary
Tue to Sat10 am–5 pm
Walk in. Look at the wall, ask about a line, drink the coffee.
VIIQuestions
The practical things people ask.
Anything else, call the house at 555-0121 or write to hello@wholeframe.example. Whoever answers has driven the lines.
How fit do I need to be?
If you can walk four miles over uneven ground and climb up into a truck cab, you will manage. The longest walk on any crossing is seven miles, over the Corrant Pass on the Greenway, and it is optional.
What do I bring, and who carries it?
One soft bag up to 35 lb and a day pack. The trucks carry everything else, including the tents. We send a packing list after your first call with the guide.
Can I come on my own?
Most people do. Your tent is always your own. At the inns you share a two-bed room with one other solo traveler, unless you take a single room for $240.
What happens if a road is closed?
It happens, mostly on the Corrants in early spring. The guide carries a second line for every stretch, and the house knows where each truck is every evening.
Can the cook work around what I eat?
Yes: vegetarian, vegan and most allergies. Tell us when you reserve, and again on the call, and the cook will write to you before you leave.
Can I leave halfway?
Yes, at Old Quire. A local bus reaches the Coast Railway in half a day. We refund the nights you miss, less $150.
And if I need to cancel?
The deposit comes back in full up to ninety days before you leave. After that, we move you to any other departure in the same year.
VIIIEnd of the line
Reserve a place.
Choose your crossing and a date. Nothing is charged today: the house writes back, a guide calls, and then the deposit holds your seat in the truck.
What happens next
Within two days A letter from the house confirms your crossing, your date and your seat.
The following week Thirty minutes on the phone with your lead guide. Ask anything. The packing list follows.
Sixty days out The balance is due, and both rail tickets arrive in the mail.
Day one We meet your train at the first station, with your name on a board.
The last morning On the far coast, the guide hands you the whole map with your line inked on it, from one sea to the other.