Rambling Man walks the London LOOP


Book Description

A long distance walking trail around the edges of Greater London? That's not going to be very good, is it? I mean, it will all be houses and industrial estates. Burnt out cars and flytipped old kitchen units? And let's not forget the litter that will be absolutely everywhere. No, dear friend, better head out to the proper countryside, somewhere clean and shiny, and where you most definitely won't get mugged every five minutes. Andrew Bowden had truck with such naysayers. That wasn't the real London There was beauty to be find in the boundaries of the capital, of that he was utterly convinced. And so he set off to find it by walking the London Outer Orbital Path, or LOOP as most people call it. Along the way he found that London really was hiding some wonderful gems. The beauty of Scratch Wood, the joy of the Grand Union Canal, and even a field full of lavender. There was attractive parkland, fields full of crops, cracking rural pubs, and even deer wandering around a suburban housing estate. Plus a street called Bogey Lane. No, those naysayers were wrong. For on his journey, he found London to be a cracking place.




Rambling Man Walks the Yorkshire Wolds Way


Book Description

The Yorkshire Wolds Way. A 79 mile walking route that starts near the Humber Bridge, and ends with fish and chips in sight at the Victorian seaside resort of Filey. It's a walk that takes you through a secret part of Yorkshire. One rather overshadowed by those famous Yorkshire Dales, and the North York Moors. Hidden it may be. But it's there. Not very well known. But there. So in the middle of a heatwave, two men left their respective homes, and headed to the town of Hessle, on the Humber Estuary. And they went on a walk. A walk along fields, through enchanting dales, quaint villages and so much more. Although there were quite a lot of fields. This is the important, and extremely true tale of that journey. Of the sights. Of the sounds. Of the conversations about Adrian Chiles. Of the benches. Of the questions. Like, just what is a wold, anyway? Includes a guide to planning your own walk on the Yorkshire Wolds Way National Trail.







The London Loop


Book Description

A must-have guide for any walker looking for a challenge and wanting to escape the city, this explores the London LOOP London Outer Orbital Path (The London LOOP ) which follows a green corridor right around the capital. This spectacular route offers a circular walk among secret countryside that will make you forget you're within a few miles of Heathrow Airport, the A13, or the suburban sprawl of Croydon, Watford or Dagenham. Here is rolling downland near Coulsdon, the forest of Enfield Chase, the lonely Thames marshes at Rainham, the classical parkland of Bushy Park and a canalside stroll at Uxbridge. London could not seem further away. Split into 15 sections that each represent a day's walk of reasonable length, this walker's companion gives detailed descriptions of each walk, including numerous points of interest and key sites numbered in the text and on the maps for easy identification. With background information on everything from local history, architecture, archaeology, industry, land-use and wildlife plus full information on public transport access to the start and finish of each walk, this book shows you how to escape the Big Smoke for the day – without going too far!




Capital Ring (National Trail Guides)


Book Description

The Capital Ring is a 78-mile (125 km) walking route encircling inner London that links the astonishing number of islands of green space - parks, woodlands, abandoned railway lines, towpaths and nature reserves - which still survive in the very heart of the city. The Ring takes in many of London's leading attractions - for example, the Thames Barrier, Eltham Palace and Richmond Park - as well as overlooked gems such as Oxleas Meadows, the Parkland Walk and Abbey Mills Pumping Station, and gives a close-up view of the ever-changing Olympic Park. This guide divides the route into 15 sections, each starting and finishing at a public transport point, and is packed with a vast amount of information.




This Other London: Adventures in the Overlooked City


Book Description

Join John Rogers as he ventures out into an uncharted London like a redbrick Indiana Jones in search of the lost meaning of our metropolitan existence. Nursing two reluctant knees and a can of Stella, he perambulates through the seasons seeking adventure in our city’s remote and forgotten reaches.




London's Lost Rivers


Book Description

Packed with surprising and fascinating information, London's Lost Rivers uncovers a very different side to London - showing how waterways shaped our principal city and exploring the legacy they leave today. With individual maps to show the course of each river and over 100 colour photographs, it's essential browsing for any Londoner and the perfect gift for anyone who loves exploring the past... 'An amazing book' -- BBC Radio London 'Talling's highly visual, fact-packed, waffle-free account is the freshest take we've yet seen. A must-buy for anyone who enjoys the "hidden" side of London -- Londonist 'A fascinating and stylish guide to exploring the capital's forgotten brooks, waterways, canals and ditches ... it's a terrific book' - Walk 'Pocket-sized, beautifully designed, illustrated and informative - in short a joy to read, handle and use' -- ***** Reader review 'Delightful, informative and beautifully produced' -- ***** Reader review 'A small gem. A really great book. I can't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 'Fascinating from start to finish' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************************************************ From the sources of the Fleet in Hampstead's ponds to the mouth of the Effra in Vauxhall, via the meander of the Westbourne through 'Knight's Bridge' and the Tyburn's curve along Marylebone Lane, London's Lost Rivers unearths the hidden waterways that flow beneath the streets of the capital. Paul Talling investigates how these rivers shaped the city - forming borough boundaries and transport networks, fashionable spas and stagnant slums - and how they all eventually gave way to railways, roads and sewers. Armed with his camera, he traces their routes and reveals their often overlooked remains: riverside pubs on the Old Kent Road, healing wells in King's Cross, 'stink pipes' in Hammersmith and gurgling gutters on streets across the city. Packed with maps and over 100 colour photographs, London's Lost Rivers uncovers the watery history of the city's most famous sights, bringing to life the very different London that lies beneath our feet.




Rambling Man Walks The North Downs Way


Book Description

Andrew Bowden was unemployed and getting tired. Tired of looking for jobs. Tired of thinking about what to say for interviews. Tired of visiting the Job Centre to justify why they should give him some money. Tired of sitting in front of the computer all day waiting for that elusive offer of gainful employment to appear. Tired. So very tired. And that was just after three weeks of doing it. So, in-between scouring the job ads, he decided to go for a walk on the North Downs Way. When not bombarding employers with CVs, or attending interviews, he headed off on a series of day hikes, exploring the south of England, before finally arriving in Dover, about to face one of the biggest changes of his life. One even harder than trying to talk to a recruitment agent called Tim. And for those who are inspired to walk the trail themselves, there's also a guide to planning your own North Downs Way walk.




The Rings of Saturn


Book Description

"The book is like a dream you want to last forever" (Roberta Silman, The New York Times Book Review), now with a gorgeous new cover by the famed designer Peter Mendelsund A masterwork of W. G. Sebald, now with a gorgeous new cover by the famed designer Peter Mendelsund The Rings of Saturn—with its curious archive of photographs—records a walking tour of the eastern coast of England. A few of the things which cross the path and mind of its narrator (who both is and is not Sebald) are lonely eccentrics, Sir Thomas Browne’s skull, a matchstick model of the Temple of Jerusalem, recession-hit seaside towns, wooded hills, Joseph Conrad, Rembrandt’s "Anatomy Lesson," the natural history of the herring, the massive bombings of WWII, the dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, and the silk industry in Norwich. W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants (New Directions, 1996) was hailed by Susan Sontag as an "astonishing masterpiece perfect while being unlike any book one has ever read." It was "one of the great books of the last few years," noted Michael Ondaatje, who now acclaims The Rings of Saturn "an even more inventive work than its predecessor, The Emigrants."




Gay Girl, Good God


Book Description

“I used to be a lesbian.” In Gay Girl, Good God, author Jackie Hill Perry shares her own story, offering practical tools that helped her in the process of finding wholeness. Jackie grew up fatherless and experienced gender confusion. She embraced masculinity and homosexuality with every fiber of her being. She knew that Christians had a lot to say about all of the above. But was she supposed to change herself? How was she supposed to stop loving women, when homosexuality felt more natural to her than heterosexuality ever could? At age nineteen, Jackie came face-to-face with what it meant to be made new. And not in a church, or through contact with Christians. God broke in and turned her heart toward Him right in her own bedroom in light of His gospel. Read in order to understand. Read in order to hope. Or read in order, like Jackie, to be made new.