Five Hundred Mile Walkies

Five Hundred Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780091641702.

"Five Hundred Mile Walkies" tells the story of two city slickers (one four-legged, one two) coming to terms with the countryside on a journey along Britains longest continuous footpath, from Somerset down the coasts of Devon and Cornwall to Dorset. The four-legged walker was Boogie, an intensely unattractive but street-wise mongrel from the housing estates of Stockwell, more used to travelling everywhere on London Transport, whose only previous brush with the countryside was the time he was run over by a Green-line bus. His two-legged companion, Mark Wallington, has written this heroic study of survival against the odds, describing firsthand the hardships and struggle involved in scaling eight-hundred-foot high cliffs with a rucksack full of Kennomeat, and the moments of elation such as the discovery three weeks into the journey of how correctly to erect his tent. "Five Hundred Mile Walkies" is delightfully full of self-deprecating humour, but it also offers a feast of shrewd observations of people, seascape, and countryside in this unique part of Britain.