Somerville’s Travels

by Christopher Somerville

£17.75 from The Ramblers Bookshop

You’ll find Somerville’s versatile hand behind some of the best walks writing – whether it’s the foreword to another vast AA compendium of British walks or the regular column he pens in this magazine. But free from the constraints of a brief – as he is in this personal collection of 20 journeys across Britain – you realise Somerville is far more than just a great walks writer; he’s a gifted storyteller full stop. His idiosyncratic chronicling of these islands’ natural and social history is every bit as funny as Bill Bryson, yet his keen sense of the poetic makes him far more profound. But what I love most about this book is it epitomises what for me is so invaluable about walking: affording you the luxury of time just to wonder, muse and really experience the world around you.