TRAVELLING LIGHT

(Abacus £9.99) ‘LAURENCE Sterne once suggested that we travel for one of just three reasons: imbecility of mind, infirmity of body or inevitable necessity.’

This is a thought to cherish while stuck at Heathrow Airport, waiting in vain for information about an inexplicably cancelled flight.

But Alastair Sawday finds more positive reasons to travel: escape, curiosity and ‘the longing to be with people who do things differently’.

Sawday’s guidebooks have provided generations of travellers with recommendations for quirky, but comfortable, accommodation: French chateaux, Italian castelli and English farmhouses.

In this genial memoir, he celebrates exploration at a gentle pace that allows time to appreciate the beauty of one’s surroundings — and the pleasures of the local cuisine.