The old ways
Subtitle: a journey on foot
By: Robert Macfarlane
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 432
ISBN-13: 9780670025114
Subjects: Voyages and travels; Walking; Description and travel; Natural history; Trails; Travel; Landscapes
Description: "In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane's distinctive voice, 'The Old Ways' folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature. His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest, from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kinds--wanderers, pilgrims, guides, and artists. Above all this is a book about walking as a journey inward and the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move. Macfarlane discovers that paths offer not just a means of traversing space, but of feeling, knowing, and thinking."--Publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Tracking (England ); title: Track; title: Path; title: Chalk; title: Silt; title: Part II. Following (Scotland); title: Water, South; title: Water, North; title: Peat; title: Gneiss; title: Granite; title: Part III. Roaming (Abroad); title: Limestone; title: Roots; title: Ice; title: Part IV. Homing (England); title: Snow; title: Flint; title: Ghost; title: Print; title: Glossary.