Robert Macfarlane, Ancient Tracks, Old Paths, Wayfarers, Walking

BBC Radio 4, IPlayer
Ramblings, In Search of the Old Ways.

Walking as a special way of seeing. Listen in particular to the section from 0740 - 0828, on English identity, on the old English wayfaring brigade, often 'unattractive bigots' who thought they could walk their way back into an authentic Englishness, according to Robert Macfarlane.

"Clare Balding walks with the celebrated author and academic, Robert Macfarlane who takes her from his home in Cambridge out onto the Icknield Way. For a man known to love mountains, Robert explains how he's slowly come to love the tame lowlands of Cambridgeshire and how he now relies on climbing trees to give him height and views. While Clare is not tempted to join him at the top of an accommodating beech tree, she's happy to admire the graffiti left on the bark. Walking out in the summer sunshine Robert shares his fascination for the ancient tracks, drove-roads and sea paths that criss-cross the British Countryside".

Holloway and South Dorset holloways

Robert Macfarlane, Common Ground 2005 Guardian articles

The Pilgrimage Revival

From The Wild Places

Gilbert White