Showing titles in Travel Writing & Commentary

In this journey of self-discovery, Sam Heughan sets out along the West Highland Way to explore his heritage and reflect on the personal waypoints that define him. The result is a love letter to the wild Scottish landscape that means so much to Sam, and a charming, funny, wise and searching insight to the world through his eyes. Waypoints is a deeply personal journey that reveals as much to Sam about himself as it does to his audience.

In a bid to impress his not-quite-girlfriend Jennifer, Mark persuades her to accompany him on a journey to discover the true source of the river that flows past her London flat. Setting himself up with a classic Victorian camping skiff, he's ready for adventure and romance - but his plans are scuppered at the last minute by his manic mongrel mutt, Boogie. Boogie has bad breath, terrible wind and a tendency to moult all over your toast - and on top of all that, he can't swim. But Mark can't leave him behind.

For most travellers, and all merchants, the road from China to India lies as it has lain for centuries, through Singkiang along that ancient Silk Road which is the most romantic and culturally the most important trade route in the history of the world. In 1935 Peter Fleming set out to travel that route, from Peking to Kashmir. It was a journey which swept him and his companion 3500 miles across the roof of the world. It took them seven months to complete the journey.

Sara Wheeler visited Antarctica as a guest of America's National Science Foundation and soon after her arrival fell in love with the frozen landscape and it's harsh beauty. During her seven month stay the author travelled to the various national sectors, visited several national bases and experienced four seasons. The author has a reverence for the early explorer and visits many historic landmarks in her journey across Antartica.

What does it take to be one of the world's best high-altitude mountain climbers? A lot of fundraising; traveling in some of the world's most dangerous countries; enduring cold bivouacs, searing lungs, and a cloudy mind when you can least afford one. It means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram, and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty.

Every year upon arriving in Plobien, the small Breton town where he spends his summers, American writer Mark Greenside picks back up where he left off with his faux-pas-filled Francophile life. Mellowed and humbled, but not daunted (OK, slightly daunted), he faces imminent concerns: What does he cook for a French person? Who has the right-of-way when entering or exiting a roundabout? Where does he pay for a parking ticket? And most dauntingly of all, when can he touch the tomatoes?

Du Fu (712-70) is one of China’s greatest poets. His career coincided with periods of famine, war and huge upheaval, yet his secular philosophical vision, combined with his empathy for the common folk of his nation, ensured that he soon became revered. Like Shakespeare or Dante, his poetry resonates in a timeless manner that ensures it is always relevant and offers something new to the modern generation. Broadcaster and historian Michael Wood follows in his footsteps to try to understand the places that inspired Du Fu to write some of the most famous and best-loved poetry the world has known.

For many years Sierra Leone and Liberia have been too dangerous to travel through. With their wars officially over, Tim Butcher sets out on a journey across both countries, trekking for 350 miles through remote rainforest and malarial swamps, pursuing a trail blazed by Graham Greene in 1935. Weaving history and anthropology with personal narrative - as well as new discoveries about Greene - it is as exciting as it is enlightening.

Join the adventure as 33-year-old Rene Cormier politely removes himself from the working world that surrounds him and cashes in what few possessions he has to finance a three-year-long motorcycle journey around the world. Never one to let excessive planning get in the way of a good ride, Rene runs out of money half way through the tour and ultimately takes five years to cover the 41-country, 154,000 kilometer (95,000 mile) route.

In Skyfaring, airline pilot and flight romantic Mark Vanhoenacker shares his irrepressible love of flying on a journey from day to night, from new ways of mapmaking and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Here, anew, is the simple wonder and transcendent joy of motion and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love.

After accelerating their studies and graduating high school early, two teenagers set off from their hometown in Minnesota to embark on a 2,200-mile canoe journey up the heart of North America. Their destination: the permafrost shores of Hudson Bay. Inspired by a passion for the simple life, where gadgets and schedules are replaced by nature and its harsh beauty, the duo found something that many believe is lost: a true adventure.

Where's the Next Shelter? is the true story of three travelers on the Appalachian Trail, a 2,000-mile hike that stretches from Georgia to Maine, told from the perspective of Gary Sizer, a seasoned backpacker and former marine who quickly finds himself humbled by the endeavor. If you long for the horizon or to sleep under the stars, then come along for the hike of a lifetime. All you have to do is take the first step.

At the age of nine, Jamie's family feared he would never walk again. Twenty years later, he set off to run 5,000 miles coast to coast across Canada. When Jamie decided to repay the hospitals that saved his life as a child, he embarked on the biggest challenge of his life: running the equivalent of 200 marathons back to back, solo and unsupported, in 40 degree weather, surviving all kinds of injuries and traumas on the road and wearing through 13 pairs of trainers. And he did it all dressed as the superhero the Flash.

Simon Kuper has experienced Paris both as a human being and as a journalist. He has grown middle-aged there, eaten the croissants, seen his wife through life-threatening cancer, taken his children to countless football matches on freezing Saturday mornings in the city's notorious banlieues, and in 2015 lived through two terrorist attacks on their neighbourhood. Over two decades of becoming something of a cantankerous Parisian himself, Kuper has watched the city change.

When dark, sinister clouds loom, Victoria and Joe find themselves facing life-changing decisions. Happily, silver linings also abound in this, the fifth Old Fools chronicle. A fresh new face joins the cast of familiar characters but the return of a bad penny may be more than some can handle. What does the future hold for the Spanish village of El Hoyo and the two old fools?

Audio Guide London | Walking Tour of London in a Day Welcome to "Audio Guide London | Walking Tour of London in a Day," your ultimate companion for exploring the heart of London in just one day! Our expertly crafted audio guide takes you on the most efficient route to experience the city's iconic landmarks, historical sites, and hidden gems, all within a single day. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a seasoned traveler, our optimized tour ensures you see the very best of London without missing a beat. Tour Stops: Introduction to the Tour Stop #1: Trafalgar Square Stop #2: The Mall Stop #3...

In his ninth motorcycle journey, award-winning author Lawrence Bransby has chosen to travel through Vietnam. With the ever-present spectre of the war looking over his shoulder, Bransby travels throughout this fiercely independent country, meeting local people, riding sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail close to the border with Cambodia, and spending time in a Vietnamese hospital after an accident–somehow inevitable after negotiating what are accepted as the second most dangerous roads in the world.

Peter Marshall was born in Orkney. His ancestors were farmers and farm labourers on the northern island of Sanday – where, in 1624, one of them was murdered by a witch. In an expansive and enthralling historical account, Marshall looks afresh at a small group of islands that has been treated as a mere footnote, remote and peripheral, and in doing so invites us to think differently about key events of British history.

The Russian Far East, that most remote of regions on this Earth, is also home to the notorious Road of Bones. Few people have travelled there, and those who do usually travel in groups on well-prepared bikes. Lawrence Bransby, award-winning author and motorcycle adventurer, in his latest journey across Russia - the whole way this time - rode the Road of Bones twice, alone, on an old DR350 that had been stored in a shed in Kyrgyzstan for two years. Two Fingers on the Jugular is the story of this three-month, 20,000-kilometer journey.

Canoeing the Congo narrates the journey of Phil Harwood, who undertook an epic five-month solo attempt to canoe the Congo River in war-torn Central Africa. It was a historic 'first descent' from the true source in the highlands of Zambia. Just short of 3,000 miles long, the Congo River is the eighth longest in the world and the deepest river in the world, with a flow rate second only to the Amazon. Along the way, Phil encountered numerous waterfalls, huge rapids, man-eating crocodiles, hippos, aggressive snakes...