num_pages: 384
description: In January 2006 a month or two after my father died I thought I saw him again  a momentary impression of an old man a little stooped setting off for a walk in his characteristic fawn corduroys and shabby quilted jacket. It was walking that first caused rifts between us in my sulky teenage years and walking that brought us back together later on; and this ghost of Dad has been walking at my elbow since his death as I have ruminated on his great love of walking his prodigious need to do it  and how and why I walk myself.The January Man is set over one calendar year as month by month region by region Christopher Somerville walks the routes that remind him of his father. As he travels the country  from the River Severn to the Lake District the Norfolk Coast to the Isle of Foula off the west coast of Shetland  he describes the history wildlife landscapes and people he passes down back lanes and old paths in rain and fair-weather.This exquisitely written account of the British countryside both inspires us to don our boots and explore the 140000 miles of footpaths across the British Isles but also illustrates how on long-distance walks we can come to an understanding of ourselves and our fellow walkers. Over the hills and along they by-ways Christopher Somerville finally finds the man behind his fathers modest buttoned-up wartime facade.
language: English
title: The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain
publisher: Doubleday UK