The Old Ways

As any serious rambler will tell you, when we set out on a voyage on foot we begin an encounter with what is within. Voices silenced by our daily routines or the wurr of the city begin to announce themselves and we become engaged in a dialogue with the landscape and our own past.

In The Old Ways Robert Macfarlane sets out to document this process following the series of ancient paths and tracks which criss-cross the landscape of the United Kingdom and beyond. His walks take him from the South Downs in Sussex to remote Scottish islands, and from classical Spain to the war-torn Palestine. Along the way he encounters a range of fascinating wanderers, pilgrims, trespassers and guides all of whom have a unique take on the path Macfarlane briefly shares with them.

It's a golden age for writing about place, and although this project follows a well trodden path behind such luminaries as Roger Deakin, W G Sebald, Chris Yates and Iain Sinclair, it does offer something new.

Macfarlane's talent lies in completely immersing the reader in the place he is writing about. We see, feel, hear and taste the air he breathes and we do so off the back of some startlingly beautiful prose.