Sleep Walking

'Walking Away' by Simon Armitage (Faber & Faber, 2015)

Being stuck inside, I thought that the logical thing to do was read something that took me to the great outdoors.  So I picked up 'Walking Away' by Simon Armitage, hiker, Yorkshireman and Poet Laureate.

'Walking Away' is the follow up to 'Walking Home', the story of Armitage's 2010 hike along the Pennine Way as an itinerant poet, performing recitals for bed, board and whatever audiences were willing to donate.  In late summer 2013, he repeated the exercise along the northern section of the South West Coast Path, starting at Butlins in Minehead and aiming for the Scilly Isles off the toe tip of Cornwall.  Along the way, he suffers the extremes of British weather, traverses tourist hotspots and rural idylls, and rhymes for his supper every step of the way.

Reaching New Heights

'Ring the Hill' by Tom Cox (Unbound, 2019)

One of my absolute favourite books last year was the audio version of '21st Century Yokel' by Tom Cox, so when I heard he was writing a follow up on the themes of walking, landscape and hills, I couldn't wait.

In 'Ring the Hill', Cox explores the lumps and bumps of the landscape, from tors and mumps, to cliffs and knolls.  Starting with the iconic Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, his exploration of these landmarks leads to musings on wildlife, history, language and folklore, as well as an insight into the background to his collection of folk-horror stories 'Help the Witch'.  There's even a bit of social commentary and the odd ghost story thrown in.  As with its thematically-linked predecessor, this book is a wander through countryside and culture, wide-ranging, all-embracing and rarely dull.