The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot

About this book

From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places an exploration of walking and thinkingIn this exquisitely written book Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge England home to follow the ancient tracks holloways drove roads and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths of the stories our tracks keep and tell and of pilgrimage and ritual.Told in Macfarlanes distinctive voice The Old Ways folds together natural history cartography geology archaeology and literature. His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kindswanderers pilgrims guides and artists. Above all this is a book about walking as a jour