Book reviews: Winter 2009
Dr. Gray’s Walking Cure
Muir Gray, £4.95, www.offoxpress.com
If anyone compiled a list of the most influential people on the walking scene in Britain, Sir J A Muir Gray would be in the top ten. As an influential advisor to the Department of Health, he’s been a ceaseless champion of walking as a means of tackling obesity and inactivity, and is one of the reasons why walking for health is now taken more seriously. In this delightful little book, with its preface from no less than Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson, he addresses his remarkable powers of persuasion to the public. Gray clearly lays out the benefits of walking, explains the exercise-science stuff in accessible terms and usefully suggests easy programmes for building up your walking based on what he rightly insists on calling “vital steps” rather than “extra steps”. The bulk of the book is practical advice to individuals, but there are digressions into environmental and political issues, and the writing conveys much of the energy, charisma and humour of the man himself. Des de Moor
Europe’s High Points
Carl McKeating and Rachel Crolla, £14.95, www.cicerone.co.uk
Ticked off all the Munroes and Wainwrights and after a new challenge? This book might just fit the bill: it includes facts and figures, maps and walking/climbing instructions for the highest points in every European country — 48 in all. It provides all the information required to inspire a host of highlevel road trips and enough practical tips and advice to lend it weight. Add it to your bookshelf and not only will you probably excel at your next pub quiz, it might just lift your walking horizons to a whole new level too. Richard Granville
A Walk in the Woods
Archie Miles, £25, www.franceslincoln.com
Stunning photos, sharply focused, half fill this book. There are wood anemones, gnarled tree-trunks, enchanting woodland ponds and streams, tree-lined tracks and tree-topped mountains. The text is charged with bright flashes of history — from prehistoric times to today. There’s an abundance of anecdote, too: from the firs of Thetford Forest and Gwent’s Silent Valley to flowery-gladed Gloucestershire and the fern-clad floors of Castle Eden Dene. I like books that inspire exploration of new territory — this is sure to delight many a recipient this Christmas. Eugene Suggett
History round-up
Visiting the Past
Gillian Hovell, £12.99, www.thehistorypress.co.uk
An exceptionally well-written and accessible guide to Britain’s archaeology, explaining in everyday terms not just what to look out for and where, but what archaeology is all about and why it matters. Richly illustrated throughout, there are ideas for places to visit and visual guides to features on the ground, whether at nationally important sites or simply on your own doorstep.
Railway Walks GWR & SR
Jeff Vinter, £14.99, www.thehistorypress.co.uk
This new edition of Vinter’s classic guide to railway paths along the former Great Western and Southern Railways in the south of England features ten top trails, including the Plym Valley Railway Path, Cuckoo Trail, Downs Link and Camel Trail. There’s a wealth of detail about the former lines, as well as information about the walking/cycling options and simple maps.
1066 and Rather More
Huon Mallalieu, £14.99, www.franceslincoln.com
This engrossing account of a 416km/260- mile walk from York to Battle, in Sussex, retraces King Harold’s 12-day forced march from Stamford Bridge, where he had just defeated Harold Hardrada’s Norwegian invaders, to engage the Norman force on the south coast. It’s a thoughtful look at a key moment in history and our changing countryside. Andrew McCloy
