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A Rambling Fancy |
A few weeks ago I mentioned I am collecting books and articles on long-distance walking. Foot traffic, not Chinese cooking. Walking.The suggestions and books keep appearing, and thanks to all. It's startling how many people have written about their journeys, not all of them strictly afoot. I trust there are many, many more books to discover.
From a friend in love with most things Italian, as am I, a well-read copy of Vroom with a View, In Search of Italy's Dolce Vita on a '61 Vespa. Peter Moore found his Vespa on eBay, traveled to Milan to pick it up, and began a book-length journey south to Rome. The only thing I haven't yet done with this amusing book is read it.
My thing about walking began when I read Patrick Leigh Fermor on the 1934 journey he took on foot alone from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts carries him through Europe to a bridge over the Danube, Slovakia at his back, Hungary on the far bank. The journey continues in Between the Woods and the Water. It is so delicious I savor it slowly, and it's keeping me from all the other books on my list.
Years ago I found a used and battered copy of The Thousand-Mile Summer in Desert and High Sierra by Colin Fletcher, and I've kept it near me ever since. Fletcher's fame hit its peak in the 1960's, when my generation was spry enough to contemplate doing what he did -- tending a plane-load of cattle from Ireland to New York, walking the Grand Canyon, and along the entire spine of California, south to north. Fletcher re-popularized the Sierra Club ethic of exploring everywhere and spoiling nothing. He laid out his gear for everyone to copy. He made the seemingly impossible eminently possible.
"For three days I had been following the Rubicon River... I had just waded across it and was sitting on a grassy bank, putting my boots back on. The cold river had been refreshing, and now the sun was warm. A copper-red dragonfly landed deftly on a blade of grass at the water's edge, so close that I could have touched it.
"And suddenly thankfulness surged through me. Thankfulness for the moment, for the day, for the freedom of The Walk, for life itself."
Four Months Afoot in Spain was reported in 1911 by Harry A Franck. Turn Right at the Fountain is iconic: one of the first of the modern walking guides. Now publishers compete for the best version of Walking in Italy or Trekking Everest, Corsica, the Pyrenees, the southern Appalachians, you name it.
Among the many literal guides to walking The Road Trip Pilgrim's Guide by Dan Austin stands out for its encouragement of the idea of pilgrimage, however you personally define that term.
Great American Journeys is a National Geographic paste-up from 20 years ago, detailing travels by horse, afloat, afoot, on the rails and on the road, with beautiful photos and maps. All this for a buck fifty in a local thrift shop.
A Sense of the World, How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts, was the pick of a local book club.
Caroline Sanderson quotes Jane Austen in her book A Rambling Fancy, in the Footsteps of Jane Austen. "When I am out of doors... I am very apt to get into this sort of wondering strain. One cannot fix one's eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy."
Rebecca Solnit is one of those few writers worth reading every word, every book. In A Field Guide to Getting Lost she uses the metaphor of place to explore aspects of being alone in the world. I reviewed Solnit's book here several years ago, and her book Wanderlust five years before that.
Solnit is a treasure. Take her along on your next journey. She writes like this:
"I once loved a man who was a lot like the desert, and before that I loved the desert. It wasn't particular things but the space between them, that abundance of absence, that is the desert's invitation... The light belies the bony solidity of the land, playing over it like emotion on a face, and in this the desert is intensely alive... It was the vastness that I loved and an austerity that was also voluptuous..."
Aired Sunday March 2, 2008 at 10:55 am and Wednesday March 5, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Orders/Information:
If you have a California wanderlust, try a walk with the volunteers at www.coastwalk.org. "In celebration of our 25th year, we're offering a fantastic program chockful of old favorites, new activities, family adventures and cozy inn-based getaways. Make history by installing some of the first trail markers on the California Coastal Trail, enjoy a new day hike near you, or take your favorite kids on a camping trip -- in the Monterey Bay Aquarium!"Vroom with a View by Peter Moore. Centro Books paperback $14.95. ISBN 1933572019.
Between the Woods and the Water Patrick Leigh Fermor. New York Review Books paperback $15.95. ISBN 1590171667.
The Thousand-Mile Summer in Desert and High Sierra by Colin Fletcher. Out of print. The fourth edition of The Complete Walker is still in print: Random House paperback $22.95. ISBN 0375703233.
Fletcher wrote a number of other books, the most famous of which is The Man Who Walked Through Time about being the first (white) man to walk the Grand Canyon afoot below the rim.Four Months Afoot in Spain by Harry A. Franck. Out of Print (1911) but easy to locate. There are many copies available from dealers.
Turn Right at the Fountain by George W. Oakes, paperback. Out of Print. Printed and revised repeatedly from 1971 to 1996, still an inspiring description of what you can find on foot in more than 20 cities of Europe.
Walking in Italy, Second Edition from Lonely Planet Publications. 2003. Paperback $19.99. ISBN 1740592441.
Walking in Italy by Gillian & John Souter. Interlink Books. 2002. Paperback $19.95.
Great American Journeys National Geographic Society hardcover. Out of print, but easily available.
A Sense of the World, How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts. Harpercollins paperback $14.95. ISBN 9780007161263.
A Rambling Fancy, in the Footsteps of Jane Austen by Caroline Sanderson. Cadogan Guides paperback $14.95. ISBN 9781860113284.
The Road Trip Pilgrim's Guide by Dan Austin. Mountaineer Books paperback $14.95. ISBN 9781594850813.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit. Penguin paperback $15.00 ISBN 0143037242.
Our Listeners and Readers Respond:
From Peggy Vaughn:
Walking books. Some I've enjoyed starting with what are probably my three favorites: Walking Easy in the World's Best Places, 25 Long Walks with Jay B. Teasdel; A Walk Along Land's End, John McKinney, which I'd be willing to bet you've read; and third, Best Foot Forward, From La Rochelle to Lake Geneva -- the Misadventures of an Englishwoman, Susie Kelly.Peter Reimuller writes:Three others that I like: A Long Walk South, Sean Rothery, a 2300km walk from the North Sea to the Mediterranean; Walking to Canterbury, Jerry Ellis, and Walking the World: Memories and Adventures, Alan Cook.
Good reviews, but I've never made it through the first and haven't started the second: Clear Waters Rising, A Mountain Walk Across Europe, and Two Degrees West, An English Journey, both by Nicholas Crane. I do believe it's a reader problem and not the author!
None of these are the great American (or British) book, but except for the two by Nicholas Crane that I've not finished so can't comment, all are pleasant, enjoyable reads (of course, that's just my humble opinion).
Happy reading and, as always, many thanks for WOB,
Peggy Vaughn
Take a lesson from Bryson's A Walk in the Woods: You don't have to walk it all. It makes the book more interesting if there are digressions elsewhere. And the trip too.Another interesting book that is out of print. It's The Lost World of Quintana Roo. In about 1959 this Harvard grad walks from about Cancun to Belize, along the then totally undeveloped and mysterious coast of Quintana Roo. Pirates and remote farms. First guy to think of it. I loved it. It has been recommended by many.
It's The Lost World of Quintana Roo. Peissel/Dutton. 1963. I see some notes I made in it: "Naive, and Exciting. Looks crappy and amateur, but I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended."
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Check out the programming on KZYX, Mendocino county's own public radio station.
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