Landscapes contain hidden histories that shaped the development of the world we live in.
How we moved through those landscapes also tells us something about ourselves.
The book we’re talking about today explores the web that has stretched across Britain for over 11,000 years, as prehistoric routeways evolved to Roman roads and pilgrim paths.
We’ll also learn how land-grabbing Norman barons began the enclosure of the countryside, and how national parks and long-distance trails emerged from the ashes of two world wars.
A story like this wouldn’t be complete without firsthand accounts of hikes into the icy Cairngorms and along the remains of Hadrian’s Wall.
After all, our guide to this hidden history once spent a year and a half walking the chain of mountains that wind across Europe, from Cap Finisterre in Spain to Istanbul. We’ll talk about that remarkable journey, too.
Nicholas Crane is the author of ten books, including The Path More Travelled, The Making of the British Landscape, Latitude, and one of my favourite travel classics, Clear Waters Rising. He’s also known for his television work as lead presenter on the series Coast. And he was was president of the Royal Geographical Society between 2015 and 2018.
We spoke about navigating Mesolithic routeways, the legacy of Britain’s Roman roads, and how 7th century pilgrimage reshaped the urban landscape.
These are the books we mentioned in the podcast:
We also mentioned:
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