Two of these I actually consumed as audiobooks – new for me, as I’ve always loved the tactility and page-turn of a physical book. However, it was quite convenient when making a long journey by bus (I absolutely cannot read on a bus – you?) or when my car radio died on the drive to the Lake District.
This latter journey I filled with
The Alps, Stephen O’Shea’s history-packed account of a roadtrip through the European range. Different mountains, of course, but it made a sort-of apt companion as I navigated the English fells, and had me hankering after a proper alpine trip – maybe Inntravel’s border-hopping
Tour du Mont Blanc?
The other audiobook I ’read’ was
A Time of Gifts, the first instalment of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s epic walk across Europe in the 1930s. I first devoured it 20-odd years ago, but revisiting it recently as spoken word simply highlighted how Leigh Fermor’s exquisite, lyrical prose ripples like poetry.
And
A Time of Gifts is a stone-cold classic. Arguably it’s the best travel writing to have ever been written, and the most tantalising tome for a keen walker. Of course, you’d need to walk almost every single Inntravel trip – there are around 190 of them – to cover the distance of Leigh Fermor’s epic walk. On the plus side, when Inntravel takes you through the magnificent landscapes of central Europe – like the
Romantic Bavaria itinerary, for instance – I’m pretty sure they don’t make you stay in hayricks...
My fascination with the Camino de Santiago has not abated, so this Book Club features another read about the famous pilgrimage,
The Gathering Place by Mary Colwell. It couldn’t be more different from Paulo Coelho’s
The Pilgrimage, which I dug into last time. This is a far more straightforward account. Colwell is a nature campaigner as well as an author and I enjoyed her ruminations on the state of the planet. She chose to walk during covid and, unusually, during winter, which certainly makes things tougher. More sensibly, Inntravel runs its three
Camino itineraries from March to October, which will mean better weather, as well as increased camaraderie. If you’re unsure, you can always download Inntravel’s handy
Camino de Santiago guide.
Hopefully there’s a book here for everyone. Love them? Hate them? Let us know – and tell us the titles that transport you across the globe.
This is not an insignificant choice. Selecting the right reading material for the right holiday is an important part of the planning process. Personally, I don’t want to end up on some glorious Italian balcony with a gory thriller. Nor do I want to be lazing on a sun-soaked Spanish beach with a worthy-but-dismal kitchen sink saga. At the end of a delightful day’s walk, I want to relax with something that doesn’t kill the mood.