9 Get back on your feet in the UK

This month’s bookshelf is walking for a reason

There’s any number of reasons why people should set upon a huge travel challenge, but a tough brush with mortality certainly seems to fire many an ambition. This month’s bookshelf finds a pair of life-affirming reads powered by life-changing diagnoses. First on the road is One Woman Walks Wales (Honno Press, £13), which sees Ursula Martin spending her time – in between check ups for ovarian cancer – walking the whole of her home country, getting to intimately experience all 6,000km of its rugged peaks and valleys. Inspirational.

Raynor Winn’s decision to walk the South West Coast Path with just the barest of essentials isn’t just motivated by her husband’s terminal diagnosis, but also the loss of their family home in the same week. The Salt Path (Penguin,£15) finds the broke pair blur the line between wild camping and being homeless – and rediscover the meaning of the word home.

Cameron Mcneish’s heart always belonged to Scotland, despite his experiences walking and climbing around the world. There’s Always the Hills (Sandstone Press, £20) recounts the trek leader’s love affair with the planet’s wild places – but especially his beloved homeland’s.

Of course, an adventure’s not always about roughing it. Between her safari, spa and city break assignments, travel journo Anna Hart delivers her breezy Departures (Sphere, £14): part modern guide to living with itchy feet, part ode to the transformative power of getting away… and to sometimes just saying ‘f**k it’.