The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane

It was another select gathering last night but the intellectual level was very high and so there was no problem.

The following comments have been made about The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane:

1. The lack of maps was a definite failing for enjoyment of the text. The front- and backend papers were totally inadequate for the task - being decorative historical items from the 1800s. When I finally got around to finding out where Sula Sgeir is (it's worth looking up), or really, where it is not - since it's miles from practically anywhere in the north Atlantic - it gave much more weight to the trip undertaken in a small boat.
2. One essential theme of the book is about how some landscapes still affect us strongly when we are not there - they live on in memory and are amongst the most important landscapes we This was liked by more than one member. I also loved the anecdote about Charles Darwin's 'thinking path' and how the length of his walk was dictated by the difficulty of the problem he was grappling with. It filled me with sadness as my father-in-law, formerly so intellectually gifted, is currently restricted in his activity in a dementia ward and would be so much better able to "think straight" (in my opinion) if given more opportunity to walk.

3. The members present were a bit scathing, it must be said, about walks in the British Isles where every pebble is named and loved over times prehistoric - until you realise the author is only talking about a total area the size of Holland Park. And while he might mention an electricity power line in the bucolic landscape he's probably omitting the large nuclear reactor just over Still, I, for one, did love the story of the "deadliest path in the British Isles", the Broomway - which caused the death of 21 illegal Chinese cockle pickers in 2004 who had lost their way. As someone who regularly loses their way just seated in a bus travelling a regular route at night I can relate to the comment from "the little man from the village" - to quote Monty Python momentarily - of Foulness, Patrick Arnold, who said "It's a weird world out there on the flats".
4. It was felt that this was rather a large book to have to read at one sitting in only a month and that it would have been a better one to dip into from time to time. However, since it was felt that "no-one else would want it at the library" it could in fact be renewed several times and read comfortably over three months.
5. Members pondered the financial situation of the artists mentioned in the text (and particularly, for me, what financial transaction was involved in being mentioned positively, from the artist who dabbled in creating a nine tonne 'kist' - stone box containing a human skeleton of unknown origins - on the island of Lewis). It was thought that Miguel Angel Blanco's library of paths near Madrid is probably supported by the artist's wife working three jobs. It was also suggested that some of the path boxes might well contain unsavoury items such as human publc hair or dog turd found while walking paths No. 33,857 and No. 48,982. Who would ever know?
6. Members loved the walk through parts of the West Bank (Palestine) and the idea of the pleasure of a walk being multiplied a thousandfold when there are restrictions on your life and liberty to doing it.
7. It was agreed that the author would be a total bore at dinner because far too erudite and precise (check out the glossaries and indexes at the back) and likely to want to share his erudition, even if he is a Guns and Roses fan. We voted for Madeleine Albright instead. That said, a couple of members liked that Mark Twain's name means Two Fathoms and was given to him by a captain on board a riverboat. I liked learning that Camino means path in Spanish, having never twigged that Camino de Santiago de Compostela just means the road to Santiago's cathedral. Duh!
8. Some members may be getting the words 'No hay camino, se hace camino al andar' (there is no road, the road is made by walking) or 'Caminar es asesorar!' (to walk is to gather treasure) - tattooed on our ankles - and some may not.

There's a lot more to this book and one of the pleasures of it, for me, was that it could not be easily translated into a Hollywood film, so if you are still reading it - press on! There are more treasures to discover.