The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot

Immediately want to go back and reread all the poetry, imagery, and metaphorical connections Macfarlane spins, because I was too engrossed in the act of reading to underline or put exclamation points beside them all. A meditation on paths and walking that makes you immediately want to put on shoes, go outside, and roam the countryside with fresh eyes.

I don't keep many books for re-reading or dipping back into, but this will be an exception. If I had read it on my e-reader, I would have taken a lot longer; firstly because I would have looked up words for their precise meaning; but principally because I would have kept highlighting phrases, sentences of paragraphs for the sheer beauty of the writing and carried them off to my digital notebook.
As well as the excellence of the descriptive writing and the thought provoking linkages between walking and other aspects of our lives, this book is filled with wonderful characters, mostly quirky but who one would love to meet. I was particularly taken by the artists, Steve Dilworth and Miguel Angel Blanco.
Almost as soon as I got into the book, show more I was reminded of a book called "Palestinian Walks" by Raja Shehadeh which I had read a couple of years ago, and, lo and behold, that author appears as a friend of Macfarlane.
But the strongest link to my past reading is the almost constant underlying presence in this book of the poet Edward Thomas. Less than two years ago I had never heard of him. Then whilst preparing a talk for Remembrance Sunday I came across two of his poems in a war poems collection which really resonated with me. Almost immediately after this I picked up a fantasy thriller in a charity shop, which turned out to be deeply awful, but which began with a beautifully written account of Thomas' meeting with the angel of death on the battlefield at Arras. Coincidence struck again when the Kindle daily deal the next week was "All Roads Lead To France", an excellent biography of Thomas. Ever since that 3-4 week period I have kept some of Thomas' poetry to hand for sampling. This wonderful book has sent me back to that poetry several times in the last week. I should point out that I am not really into poetry! show less

Robert Macfarlane's Old Ways: A Journey on Foot is another masterpiece from one of the preeminent modern nature writers; but he more specifically lays claim to the field of landscape writer, and within that niche his work is unsurpassed. Here Macfarlane explores both the lore and the lure of the well-worn pathways that man has traveled, and takes us along with him as he wends along these ways, seafaring along waters, wayfaring across the land on roads of silt, peat, gneiss, limestone, snow, ice, and more. Macfarlane seamlessly melds their rich history to his personal travelogue adventures, writing with exquisite style, beauty, precision, and wit. Throughout there are innumerable brilliant paragraphs, passages, phrases, and specific word show more choices that to be fully appreciated must be lingered over, and thoughtfully considered before moving on. For those at one with the landscape and drawn to foot travel, this is a book to be savored and treasured. show less

Macfarlane has quickly become a favorite author of mine. I am not sure anyone writes about the natural world better than he does, plus he “walks the walk” and just doesn't write about it.
Here he travels Britain's ancient paths and routes that criss-cross the British Isles. Not only does he comment on nature but the reader gets a vast history lesson on a variety of subjects, past and present. His prose is smart and beautiful throughout. The only issue I had was that I listened to this on audio, (the narrator was wonderful) but I surely missed a lot, so I hope to revisit this one in print.

Inspiring, especially reading slowly to allow images and ideas to seep into the rest of life. A lot of other writers are mentioned and talked of but it is Edward Thomas that provides some backbone to the book. Highlights in my memory are the time in Palestine and the footprints in the snow in Scotland that nearly enticed them to tragedy, but the book came together for me in the penultimate chapter 'Ghost', an imagining of Edward Thomas' last days in the trenches 1917. And while a lot of the content is very personal, I liked that it was a vehicle for the ideas and not the point. Shall look forward to the next book by Robert Macfarlane to come my way.

This book makes a good case for walking as a way of knowing. Author and Cambridge professor Macfarlane reflects on walks and boat journeys in eastern and southern England, Scotland and its islands, the West Bank, Spain, and Tibet. Through careful attention to the pathways and their geology, Macfarlane gains insight about the ancient peoples and cultures whose movements created these pathways and connected these spaces. By the end of the book, many readers will feel an urge to get out and explore the pathways in their own neighborhoods.

This is a book to read slowly, and to savour. Robert Macfarlane is a man to whom walking is more than an enjoyable pastime. It informs his life. He walks the ancient pathways of England, of Europe, of the world. He considers what paths mean to our history and our topography.

He looks at paths that are not paths as most of us understand them: passages on the sea. It interested me to think about his idea of reversing our usual take on maps, and to empty the landmass of routeways in favour of populating the sea with them. In this way we gain a greater understanding of very ancient peoples - back to the Bronze Age and beyond - who realised that with the wind behind you, then unthinkable distances could easily be covered. Distant seaboards show more exchanged goods and culture in a way such people would not have done with their landward neighbours. But he's equally fascinating in Spain, in Palestine,in Tibet, but most of all in his beloved British Isles. This is where he ends his book, ruminating about depressive poet and keen walker Edward Thomas' life and final days in the Great War.

If you enjoy walking - and even if you don't - this will change your mindset about the way you view the paths you travel. show less