Product Description

Nick picks eight of the most interesting traveller-chroniclers to have explored and reported on the state of the nation from Gerald of Wales who embarked on a seven week journey around the wild perimeter of Wales in March 1188 to HV Morton, the journalist and travel writer who crossed the length and breadth of England by car in the 1920s. Others include Celia Fiennes who started her many journeys around Britain on horseback in the late 1600s at the age of 20, Tudor antiquarian John Leland, Daniel Defoe, William Cobbett, Thomas Pennant, and William Gilpin, who travelled through the north of England by boat in 1770. Contents: 1. Gerald of Wales 1188 /Wales;2. John Leland 1534-43/England & Wales; 3. Celia Fiennes 1682-1712/England; 4. Daniel Defoe 1724-26/Britain;5. William Gilpin 1770-2/North England; 6. Thomas Pennant 1772/Wales & Scotland; 7. William Cobbett 1822-26/S England; 8. HV Morton 1927/England

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178964 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

BBC COUNTRYFILE magazine
'highly readable, informative and amusing... These travellers found challenge, diversity and beauty... It's a joy that, in following them, we find similar experiences today.'

Review
'highly readable, informative and amusing... These travellers found challenge, diversity and beauty... It's a joy that, in following them, we find similar experiences today.' (BBC COUNTRYFILE magazine )

'a serious and absorbing book, with no trace of television breathlessness, and it is handsomely illustrated.' (DAILY TELEGRAPH )

'revealing the country as it has never been seen by modern eyes before.' (BEST OF BRITISH )

'Crane... is an engaging companion, whether on horseback, bike, foot, boat or car, and writes entertainingly throughout.' (WANDERLUST )

BEST OF BRITISH
'revealing the country as it has never been seen by modern eyes before.'

Customer Reviews

'Cure the evil itch of overvalueing foreign parts'
This is a quote from the redoubtable Celia Fiennes in the third chapter of this book. She, like the rest of the explorers in this book, were seeing this island with new eyes, and noting that there was enough to amuse, entertain, impress and exhilarate in the countryside immediately around us.

Nicholas Crane guides us on their journeys again, and they are a eclectic lot - from a monk called Gerald trying to drum up support in the wilderness of Wales, to Gilpin who determinedly searched for the 'picturesque' in the somewhat calmer waters of the Wye. Their motivations and hardships are described in fascinating detail.

I found each journey absorbing and enlightening, but perhaps more importantly it also made me determined to explore more of my island too. Three sets of enticing photographs also whetted my appetite. How long would it take me to follow in Thomas Pennant's footsteps of 1772, I wondered? A quick search of google maps and found great tracts of land without roads and tracks just a few hours away. I wouldn't have to fly or even take a boat. I could catch a train to Inverness and after that I could walk northwest and, according to Nicholas Crane's explorers, see the most dramatic and beautiful landscape in the world.

A great read, that made this armchair traveller want to change into a more active one.

AS ENGAGING AS THE TV SERIES
We were very excited about the release of this book, as many of us had enjoyed Coast and were glued to the Great British Journeys series. The book did not disappoint - well written, erudite and very engaged, Nick Crane certainly knows his subject. It was fascinating to read about these early travellers and the chronicles they left behind, and we highly recommend this beautifully produced volume.