A charming 300-mile romp through farm, field and English history, with two crazy Canadians as our guides.
There are 140,000 miles of footpaths and public rights of way in Britain, many dating back to medieval times—nowhere else in the world can you walk in literally any direction over private land. At fifty-four, John Cherrington, a less-than-active solicitor from BC’s Fraser Valley, wanted a challenge; his companion Karl, 20 years older, wanted to prove he was still tough enough to complete a long-distance walk. So the pair set to walk the historic MacMillan Way, a 300-mile-romp that took them from the fenlands by the North Sea, on through the enchanting, honey-coloured Cotswolds, into Somerset with its legendary Castle Camelot, finally to emerge at Chesil Beach on the English Channel.
With nothing but backpacks and walking sticks, John and Karl stride into the verdant countryside, alive with hawthorn and honeysuckle blooming down green lanes, the singing and swooping of swallows, larks and wood pigeons coursing through the fields and woods. They cannot walk two miles without stumbling into some cultural or historical artifact, landmark or memorial. Alas, blisters, bulls, and English rain are also part of the joie de vivre of long-distance walking.
The journey awaits. Join John and Karl a they pass through the portal to that other dimension and set out to prove the old adagesolvitur ambulando–you can sort it out by walking.
Reviews
“Cherrington roves as lovingly with language as he does over the countryside. You won’t want to miss a step of his journey!” –Rick Antonson, author of Full Moon Over Noah’s Ark: An Odyssey to Mount Ararat and Beyond
“Studded with entertaining literary references, John Cherrington’sWalking to Camelot is an ode to villages and the footpaths connecting them. It is universal in its appeal to the philosopher-rambler while remaining true to eccentricities that could only be English: the bestiary in the hedgerows, the rustics, the food, and curious traditions such as the ‘right to walk’ through properties both public and private.” – Michael Kluckner – author of Toshiko andVanishing British Columbia
Walking to Camelot: A Pilgrimage through the Heart of Rural England
By John Cherrington
Figure 1 Publishing (Canada)
978-1-927958-62-9
$22.95
5.5″ x 8.5″, paperback
272 pages
March 2016
Translation rights available through Seventh Avenue Literary.
I first met him in 1985 when he was an executive at local Vancouver publisher Douglas & McIntyre. He was leaving publishing while I was entering the business but it was hard not to admire his controlled energy and curiosity about all things.
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