Tales from the Big Trails
THIS BOOK draws together 40 years of adventures on every single one of Britain’s National Trails, starting with the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and ending with the Norfolk Coast Path. With a bright and cheerful present-tense narrative, Martyn Howe recounts the joys and stresses of treading these famed long-distance trails – and it is quite a journey, given that it began when the author was only 15 years old.
A lot has changed since then, from the gear he carried (Martyn lightened his pack a little after suffering from shin splints) to his approach (he often used B&Bs on later trails). His life changed, too. “The wanderlust that infected me has no cure,” he writes, and this led to the decision to quit his job and seek more flexible freelance consulting work. This gave him the time and freedom he needed to work towards his ambition of hiking all of the National Trails.
This is not just about the journey, though. The book is packed with fascinating asides about the history, culture and folklore of the areas the author walked through, plus quotes from poetry and literature. It’s a book where you can pick up a broad amount of background about a great many places, and this adds much interest to the prose. Martyn is curious about people’s stories and takes the time to talk to everyone he meets.
But I do feel the book lacks a sense of overall narrative (beyond the desire to hike all the National Trails). Although a few themes do resurface, such as the importance of health and not taking your blessings for granted, each trail’s story is more or less self-contained: a snapshot of trail life. This makes it an easy read. But at times I wished for more awareness of the environmental conflict embodied in the landscapes through which the author roamed, although that may be my own biases showing there! Without giving away any spoilers, deeper themes prompted by personal tragedy do emerge, and they give rise to some of the most touching points in the storyline.
I finished the book feeling that I’d enjoyed many days out on the trail with an optimistic and knowledgeable companion. It’s a worthwhile read for anyone interested in long-distance backpacking in the UK.
Alex Roddie