diff --git a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/dailies/2027-01-10-1000-first-light.entry/entry.md b/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/dailies/2027-01-10-1000-first-light.entry/entry.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 6f91a16..0000000
--- a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/dailies/2027-01-10-1000-first-light.entry/entry.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
----
-title: 'First Light on the Road'
-date: '2027-01-10 10:00'
-template: entry
-published: true
-hero_image: ''
-lat: 60.17
-lng: 24.94
-location_city: Helsinki
-location_country: Finland
-weather_temp_c: -6
-weather_desc: Clear
----
-
-The bus left before dawn and the city was still under snow. I wrote most of
-this by the window with a cold coffee, watching the harbour lights slide past.
-No photographs today — the light was flat and grey and would not have kept
-anyway. Some mornings the notebook is the only camera worth carrying.
diff --git a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/dailies/dailies.md b/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/dailies/dailies.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 8c68fe3..0000000
--- a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/dailies/dailies.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
----
-title: Journal
-template: default
-routable: false
-visible: false
-content:
-    items: '@self.children'
-    order:
-        by: date
-        dir: desc
-    filter:
-        published: true
----
diff --git a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/stories.md b/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/stories.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 08fbb6e..0000000
--- a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/stories.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
----
-title: Stories
-template: default
-routable: false
-visible: false
-content:
-    items: '@self.children'
-    order:
-        by: date
-        dir: desc
-    filter:
-        published: true
----
diff --git a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/trip.md b/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/trip.md
deleted file mode 100644
index a0f02c8..0000000
--- a/docs/demo/trips/no-photos-demo/trip.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
----
-title: 'Notes from the Road 2027'
-template: trip
-date: '2027-01-10'
-date_start: '2027-01-10'
-date_end: '2027-01-14'
-cover_image: ''
-tagline: 'A text-only journal, written before the photos catch up'
----
-
-A short winter trip recorded in words only — no camera this time, just a
-notebook and whatever the road turned up. The entries stand on their own until
-the film comes back from the lab, so this one is a deliberate test of how the
-trip page reads with nothing but text to show.
diff --git a/themes/intotheeast/templates/macros/cover.html.twig b/themes/intotheeast/templates/macros/cover.html.twig
index 8b7b3e3..7da1d74 100644
--- a/themes/intotheeast/templates/macros/cover.html.twig
+++ b/themes/intotheeast/templates/macros/cover.html.twig
@@ -20,8 +20,17 @@
   wrapper + retina <img> when a cover exists, and nothing at all when none
   does (which gives R9/AE4 a clean text-only header for free).
 
-  Retina (R6 / R14): two explicit cropResize derivatives (1x at w×h, 2x at
-  2w×2h) as an explicit `srcset` with w-descriptors; `alt` is the trip title.
+  Rendering (R6 / R14): cropZoom crops-to-fill (cover), so the 1x derivative is
+  an actual w×h strip matching the banner/card aspect — NOT cropResize, which
+  fits-inside and would hand a portrait source back as a narrow sliver that the
+  wrapper's object-fit:cover then upscales into a blur. `alt` is the trip title.
+
+  Retina, all-or-nothing: a 2x derivative (2w×2h) is added to the `srcset` only
+  when the source is genuinely wide enough to supply it without upscaling
+  (`cover.width >= 2w`); otherwise the srcset is 1x only — no blurry, re-encoded
+  upscale, and no odd intermediate widths. Note most imported phone photos are
+  ≤1440px wide, so an auto-picked fallback cover is usually 1x-only; the 2x
+  kicks in mainly for an explicitly-set wide landscape `cover_image`.
 #}
 {% macro render(trip_page, alt, w, h, wrapper_class, sizes) %}
 {%- set cover = null -%}
@@ -38,8 +47,8 @@
 {%- endif -%}
 {%- if cover -%}
 <div class="{{ wrapper_class }}">
-    <img src="{{ cover.cropResize(w, h).url }}"
-         srcset="{{ cover.cropResize(w, h).url }} {{ w }}w, {{ cover.cropResize(w * 2, h * 2).url }} {{ (w * 2) }}w"
+    <img src="{{ cover.cropZoom(w, h).url }}"
+         srcset="{{ cover.cropZoom(w, h).url }} {{ w }}w{% if cover.width >= (w * 2) %}, {{ cover.cropZoom(w * 2, h * 2).url }} {{ (w * 2) }}w{% endif %}"
          sizes="{{ sizes|default('100vw') }}"
          alt="{{ alt }}"
          loading="lazy">