Monday, June 13, 2016

A30 - The Road To Taunton



9 comments:

aferrismoon said...

So were you waiting for a bus and just thought , sod it, I'll walk the 30 miles or so?

Hedgerows and verges are wonderful things.

cheers

john said...

Ha ha, no, not this time. This was me being a passenger in a car. I walk plenty around here, but nothing very long distance. I'd really like to try it though, but not on the road. I could do with a long walk. Hope all good with you aferrismoon.

aferrismoon said...

All is good. Just read Bill Bryson's latest book and he has a few longish walks. He visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan which sound pretty good.

cheers

john said...

I haven't seen his latest yet so don't know where he's walking this time. The Appalachian trail that he did was a real long walk. I enjoyed his description of our local town Exeter, in Note's From A Small Island I think it was, he wasn't impressed! One of my favourites is WG Sebald's In The Rings Of Saturn. Charlie Connelly has been entertaining though fairly lightweight, his journeys round the Shipping Forecast zones, Attention All Shipping for instance, amusing on the delights of seasickness amongst other things. All of John Hillaby's work is really good.

john said...

Not that you asked for any of that! Cheers for now.

john said...

The Lost Gardens should be well worth a look. Cornwall's great but not enough footpaths for my liking. I've seen a small road marked on the map with a gate and barbed wire put over it, really friendly like.

aferrismoon said...

Thanks for the info, it's good to get some pointers. I have a tea towel with the shipping forecast areas on it, but it's a fairly quick read.

cheers

john said...

That tea towel would come in useful if you ever get lost at sea around here, you can wring it out if it gets wet and you'll always have dry dishes wherever you are too.

Not so much on the walking front as wild swimming and all things natural I'd recommend Roger Deakin: Waterlog - A Swimmer's Journey through Britain, Wildwood - A Journey Through Trees, and Notes From Walnut Tree Farm. His writing is beautifully crafted and full of insight, a real pleasure to read. I picked up a book by his 'understudy' Robert MacFarlane, The Wild Places, and absolutely hated it. He never missed an opportunity for a clunking turn of phrase and revealed himself more and more as a selfish and willfully stupid walker.

john said...

Ah, The Road To Little Dribbling. Yes that looks interesting, I'll look out for a copy of that. Thanks.