Shortlisted for The THWAITES WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2014 - The new literary prize for Nature & Travel Writing about Britain. A uniquely charming, droll, moving, British narrative from writer and poet Simon Armitage as he recounts his 256 mile (North to South) walk along the Pennine Way. Particularly fascinating is that he took no money and either bartered his way through or survived on any money he made at poetry readings.
Sue Baker's View.......
Simon Armitage makes a good companion for this traverse of the Pennine Way (backwards). Starting on the Scottish borders he makes his way home to Yorkshire. And he must keep up; some “interweb” work beforehand had resulted in the recruitment of a small army of walking companions and people happy to provide a bed and a meal. Then there were the poetry readings booked in advance, making a framework for the walk, there was no staying in bed or missing a day without letting down his audience along the way as he came to village halls, marquees or pub. The Pennine Way is very hard work over some incredibly bleak and exposed country and by Simon Armitage’s descriptions of way markers, not a walk for the geographically challenged. But he made it and his progress from a reluctant walker to a strider of mountain and vale is perceptive, an often very funny look at everything from landscape to squashed mars bars.
Like for Like Reading.....
Ramble On: The Story of our Love for Walking Britain, Sinclair McKay
The Pennine Way, Roly Smith and John Morrison (Photographs)
| Primary Genre | Travel |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |