Best of
Walking

2017

The Last Hillwalker: A sideways look at forty years in Britain's Mountains


John D. Burns - 2017
    John Burns takes you on a journey of over forty years from the hills of Britain to adventures in the Rocky Mountains of USA and Canada. His love for the Scottish Highlands and his intimate knowledge of its wild glens and distant peaks means that this book will resonate with anyone whose heart lies in Scotland. Join John Burns in his first faltering steps as a schoolboy in the English Lake District through to climbing adventures in the great ranges of the world and finally to his return to his beloved Highlands. This is a book about the people who love mountains and whose journeys amongst them enrich their lives. It is a story told with humour, humility and passion, a tale that displays a deeper understanding of what it is to have a relationship with nature. The Last Hillwalker has become a best seller amongst the outdoor community. With almost 100 FIVE STAR REVIEWS this is book will be enjoyed by everyone from the serious mountaineer to those who simply want to gain a greater insight into our relationship with wild places. Here’s what people say about the book… Chris Townsend Captures the essence of what it means to love mountains and love being in mountains. Trev C gripping like no other NS Eyre captures the essence of the appeal many of us feel for the mountains A Reader perfectly paced and with great humour Yorrell Entertaining, funny and well written. S McGinn Full of fascinating details, observations, characters and humour Paul a brilliant autobiography by a talented writer, full of humour with the occasional dark moment. The best mountaineering book I've read in a long time!

Father, Son and the Pennine Way: 5 days, 90 miles - what could possibly go wrong?


Mark Richards - 2017
    What we learned about ourselves and about each other. And the sorry tale of how I came to walk a mile in my underpants… In February 2016 I asked Alex, my youngest son, if he wanted to come for a walk with me. Why? Because I wanted a physical challenge before I was too old for a physical challenge – and I wanted some father/son time before Alex went to university and things were never quite the same again. But I wasn’t a walker: I was a writer: someone who spent his days slumped over a desk. The furthest I’d walked was four miles with the dog on a sunny day. So I had to get fit, I had to find out if I could walk 90 miles in 5 days – and I had to come face to face with the ghosts that had haunted me for ten years. “I absolutely love it. Such an easy read and very humorous.” ‘Father, Son and the Pennine Way’ takes you from the February afternoon when I asked Alex to come for a walk with me, to the day we sent off from Malham in North Yorkshire, to the moment we strode up the final hill into Dufton, just outside Carlisle. …But it’s not a book about walking. This is a book about a father/son relationship told through a walk. If you want a traditional guidebook, don’t buy the book. But if you want to be entertained, inspired, amused and taken on a wonderful journey through the Yorkshire Dales, then you’ll love this book. “A brilliant story. Really well put together and very funny.”

Long Road from Jarrow: A journey through Britain then and now


Stuart Maconie - 2017
    Precisely 80 years on, Stuart Maconie, walks from north to south retracing the route of the emblematic Jarrow Crusade. Following history’s footsteps, Maconie is in search of what Modern Britain is really like today.Travelling down the country’s spine, Maconie moves through a land that is, in some ways, very much the same as the England of the thirties with its political turbulence, austerity, north/south divide, food banks and of course, football mania. Yet in other ways, it is completely unrecognisable; highstreets peppered with pound shops and e-cigarette vendors, smoothie bars and Costas on every corner.Maconie visits the great, established and yet evolving cities of Leeds, Sheffield and London, as well as the sleepy hamlets, quiet lanes and roaring motorways. He meets those with stories to tell and whose voices build a funny, complex and entertaining tale of Britain, then and now. Written in Maconie’s signature style, this is a fascinating exploration of a modern nation that, though looks and sounds strangely familiar, has been completely transformed.

The Scottish Bothy Bible


Geoff Allan - 2017
    Scattered across Scotland's most beautiful landscapes, these evocative abandoned crofts and farmsteads are free to stay in and offer a chance to experience the ultimate in wild adventure living. The first ever complete guidebook to Scottish bothies. Including all the Mountain Bothy Association (MBA) 81 bothies and many others lesser-known gems Stunning photography which captures the spirit of bothying culture and Scotland's wildest places Engaging travel writing which document the fascinating history of each bothy and the adventurers who use them Detailed information on the locations and approach routes - by canoe, foot and bicycle - with nine supporting maps Highlights the best bothies for Munros, beach, seclusion and families With a forward by mountaineer Jamie Andrews

Rebirth: A Fable of Love, Forgiveness, and Following Your Heart


Kamal Ravikant - 2017
    It is on this path that he begins reflecting on relationships and forgiveness, to find answers we all seek. As Amit runs from his life, it soon becomes clear that it's impossible to run from himself. It is a universal pilgrimage, and a teaching-tale about love, forgiveness, and facing our fears.Told in the traditions of Paulo Coelho and Mitch Albom, the story gets to the heart of some of life's most enlightening lessons about family, devotion, and ambition.

Backpacker Long Trails: Mastering the Art of the Thru-Hike


Backpacker Magazine - 2017
    Included is trail-proven advice on selecting gear, stocking resupplies, and planning your budget and schedule, complete with gorgeous photographs of life on the trail. Along the way, enjoy sneak peeks into not only the Triple Crown trails, but also lesser-known long trails throughout North America.

Mirror Sydney: An Atlas of Reflections


Vanessa Berry - 2017
    My thoughts stuck to them. They had auras: each gave me a strong feeling that there was, embedded amid the everyday, an order of unpredictable things.’In her delicately wrought essays and hand-drawn maps, Vanessa Berry describes her encounters with unusual, forgotten or abandoned places in the city in which she was born and raised, using their details to open up repositories of significance, and to create an alternative city, a Mirror Sydney, illuminated by memory and imagination. She writes at a time when Sydney is being disassembled and rebuilt at an alarming rate. Her determined observation of the over-looked and the odd, the hidden and the enigmatic – precisely those details whose existence is most threatened by development – is an act of preservation in its own right, a testament to what she calls ‘the radical potential of taking notice’.Berry’s work combines a low-fi DIY approach with an awareness of the tradition of philosophical urban investigation. Her unique style of map illustration was developed through the making of zines and artworks, collaging detailed line drawings with text from typewriters and Letraset.

Just Off For A Walk


Stephen Reynolds - 2017
    or just get really knackered? Find out the answers to these important questions, and many more, by joining him on a grand adventure that takes in 26,719 steps, 921 stiles, 302 bridges, 91,000 feet of climbing and descending, 1 seal, 0 basking sharks, lots of chips and 1 overweight, oversized backpack.

The Mission Walker: I was given three months to live...


Edie Littlefield Sundby - 2017
    She sought out the best care that the medical community could offer, and she relied on the faith she had inherited from her cotton-farmer parents. But Edie also found healing through movement. Edie knew that if she was still walking, she was still alive."The Mission Walker" is both an adventure story and a reflection on the universal experience of confronting our own mortality. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.Edie’s story shows that the sum of a million steps is a life forever changed.

Trekker Girl Morocco Bound: Life after Blood Clots or How I Learned to Live and Love Life as a Thrombosis Survivor


Dawne Archer - 2017
    Yet I suffer from Survivor Guilt; why did my Dad die from his blood clot while I lived through mine? At the age of 26 I experienced two clots, one in my leg and another in my lung. Having made it to my 50s, I now live a fuller and more active life than ever before, although most people would say that trekking in the Sahara Desert to raise money for charity was perhaps a step too far! After being contacted by a friend I last saw 35 years ago, I rashly signed up for this trek which pushed me way beyond my normal limits of endurance. Join me on my journey through the trials and tribulations of this adventure. Laugh and cry with me; this is my story. With blood clots, knowing what to look for might save your life or that of someone close to you.

Pilgrimage: Europe's Most Inspiring Pilgrim Routes


Derry Brabbs - 2017
    This century the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela alone has seen 40 times the number of pilgrim visits. Author Derry Brabbs’ previous book, Roads to Santiago, focused exclusively on the 'camino' through France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela; Pilgrimage revisits this classic route, and nine other inspirational journeys across Europe.Whether you’re truly making a pilgrimage, exploring the world, or simply hiking, Pilgrimage will lead you along deeply historical routes like the 'Jakobsweg' in Germany, between Cologne and Trier. You’ll find great walks in Britain and France, like St. Cuthbert's Way which winds around the Scottish Borders to the holy island of Lindisfarne, and the World Heritage Site of Mont-St-Michel built on the tiny island off the coast of Normandy.The most notable addition to the rejuvenated era of pilgrimage is the Via Francigena, now a very well established path through Switzerland and Italy. The Italian section begins on the bleak summit of the Great St Bernard Pass where a hospice still caters to the needs of passing pilgrims before heading down to Rome through some of Italy’s most beguiling countryside interspersed with medieval hilltop towns and villages.Astounding photographs combine with an absorbing text that describes the history and key features of each route, as well as brief details of the distances and the number of days it takes to walk, and a list of websites to help plan your journey.

Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York


Justin Davidson - 2017
    Now, his extensive, inspiring knowledge will be available to a wide audience. An insider's guide to the architecture and planning of New York that includes maps, photographs, and original insights from the men and women who built the city and lived in it--its designers, visionaries, artists, writers--Magnetic City offers first-time visitors and lifelong residents a new way to see New York.Includes walking tours throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx - the Financial District - the World Trade Center - the Seaport and the Brooklyn waterfront - Chelsea and the High Line - 42nd Street - the Upper West Side - the South Bronx and Sugar HillPraise for Magnetic City"An intimate, seductive guidebook."--The New York Times"An enthralling new book makes clear that I'm not alone in my home-town infatuation . . . lends nuance, texture and historical perspective to my impression that New York City has never been so appealing or life-affirming as it is today."--New York Post"[Davidson] combines a keen intelligence, experience, observational skills, expertise (especially but not solely architectural), and an elegant writing style to make this beautifully produced book indispensable."--Booklist (starred review)"A street-level celebration of New York City in all 'its perpetual complexity and contradiction' . . . a worthy companion to Alfred Kazin's A Walker in the City and the American Institute of Architects guides to the architecture of New York as well as a treat for fans of the metropolis."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Justin Davidson does more than direct our feet to New York's hidden monuments. He explains the structure of the city with a clarity that would be bracing even for a Gotham habitue, but more than that, he finds the meaning in every building and byway."--Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of Far from the Tree"Mr. Davidson's exceptional knowledge of our beloved city is inspiring. Magnetic City is now my official chaperone."--Patti LuPone"Justin Davidson has a mind alive to every signal, and his brilliant prose style transmits that electricity in black-and-white type. He is thus born to the task of capturing the chaotic splendor of New York City on the page."--Alex Ross, author of Listen to This"Justin Davidson's beautiful tours of New York City invoke and redouble our love of the metropolis."--Jerry Saltz, senior art critic, New York

Keep Walking Intently: The Ambulatory Art of the Surrealists, the Situationist International, and Fluxus


Lori Waxman - 2017
    Each group chose locations in the urban landscape as sites—from the flea markets and bars of Paris to the sidewalks of New York—and ambulation as the essential gesture. Keep Walking Intently traces the meandering and peculiar footsteps of these avant-garde artists as they moved through the city, encountering the marvelous, studying the environment, and re-enchanting the banal. Art historian Lori Waxman reveals the radical potential that walking holds for us all.

London's Hidden Rivers: A walker's guide to the subterranean waterways of London


David Fathers - 2017
    Rivers like the Walbrook, the Fleet or the Westbourne have left their mark on the city, and still form an important part of our subterranean world. David Fathers traces the course of twelve hidden rivers in a series of detailed guided walks, illustrating the traces they have left and showing the ways they have shaped the city. Each walk starts at the tube or rail station nearest to the source of the river, and then follows it down to the Thames through parkland, suburbia, historic neighbourhoods and the vestiges of our industrial past. Along the way there are encounters with such extraordinary Londoners as William Blake, Judy Garland, Paul Robeson, Terence Donovan, Bradley Wiggins, Nelson, Lenin, Freud, and the great Victorian engineer Joseph Bazalgette.Hidden Rivers of London contains over 120 km of walks, both north and south of the Thames. Winding through the hills, valleys and marshes that underlie the city, every page is a revelation.

Processes in Human Evolution: The Journey from Early Hominins to Neanderthals and Modern Humans


Francisco J. Ayala - 2017
    Written by two leading authorities in the fields of physical anthropology andmolecular evolution, Processes in Human Evolution presents a reconsidered overview of hominid evolution, synthesising data and approaches from a range of inter-disciplinary fields. The authors pay particular attention to population migrations - since these are crucial in understanding the origin anddispersion of the different genera and species in each continent - and to the emergence of the lithic cultures and their impact on the evolution of cognitive capacities.Processes in Human Evolution is intended as a primary textbook for university courses on human evolution, and may also be used as supplementary reading in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. It is also suitable for a more general audience seeking a readable but up-to-date and inclusivetreatment of human origins and evolution.

The Rough Guide to Devon Cornwall


Rough Guides - 2017
    Both counties will tempt you outside to enjoy their mild climate, with everything from hikes over Dartmoor and surfing off Newquay to puffin-spotting on Lundy Island. But it's not all about the great outdoors, with awe-inspiring cathedrals, innovative galleries and a well-established local food scene to explore (not to mention an even longer-established cider-drinking tradition).The Rough Guide to Devon and Cornwall includes honest reviews from our expert author of what to do and where to eat, drink and sleep in the region, alongside detailed full-colour maps and inspiring photography.Whether you want to visit a rock-hewn theatre or a witchcraft museum, a stately home or a vegan café, The Rough Guide to Devon and Cornwall will help you make the most of your time in these beautiful counties.

Within Walking Distance: Creating Livable Communities for All


Philip Langdon - 2017
    Everything a person needed on a regular basis lay within walking distance. But then the great project of the twentieth century—sorting people, businesses, and activities into separate zones, scattered across vast metropolises—took hold, exacting its toll on human health, natural resources, and the climate. Living where things were beyond walking distance ultimately became, for many people, a recipe for frustration. As a result, many Americans have begun seeking compact, walkable communities or looking for ways to make their current neighborhood better connected, more self-sufficient, and more pleasurable. In Within Walking Distance, journalist and urban critic Philip Langdon looks at why and how Americans are shifting toward a more human-scale way of building and living. He shows how people are creating, improving, and caring for walkable communities. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Starting conditions differ radically, as do the attitudes and interests of residents. To draw the most important lessons, Langdon spent time in six communities that differ in size, history, wealth, diversity, and education, yet share crucial traits: compactness, a mix of uses and activities, and human scale. The six are Center City Philadelphia; the East Rock section of New Haven, Connecticut; Brattleboro, Vermont; the Little Village section of Chicago; the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon; and the Cotton District in Starkville, Mississippi. In these communities, Langdon examines safe, comfortable streets; sociable sidewalks; how buildings connect to the public realm; bicycling; public transportation; and incorporation of nature and parks into city or town life. In all these varied settings, he pays special attention to a vital ingredient: local commitment. To improve conditions and opportunities for everyone, Langdon argues that places where the best of life is within walking distance ought to be at the core of our thinking. This book is for anyone who wants to understand what can be done to build, rebuild, or improve a community while retaining the things that make it distinctive.