BOOKS

Armchair Traveler

June 19, 2022 / No Comments

“You can lead me all over Attica or anywhere else you like, simply waving in front of me the leaves of a book.” ~ Socrates

 

When the Covid lockdowns had begun to take their toll on my everyday tolerance for staying at home – something I thought up to that point was limitless – I decided to travel in my armchair using other peoples travel memoirs as gateways to the world.

 

“We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.”
― John Lubbock

 

People told me I was mad and only making the restrictions worse, but in fact the books I was reading told stories of journeys I would most likely never have taken even without the freeze the pandemic placed on us. As you can see from the reading list below, my mind travelled from the wilds of Alaska, over the Himalayas on foot, across the world by train and spent some time in France and Spain. I even managed to undermine the 2km local restriction by travelling along the Irish border and around the Wild Atlantic Way without ‘leaving’ home!

 

“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” ~ Paul Theroux

 

If the truth be told I’m not really a great traveler really. I detest airports and only tolerate air travel. I quite like ferry travel, especially to France, and driving is my preferred mode of transport because living on an island train journeys are not so appealing and relatively short. Travelling by bus is way down on my list, slugging it out with flying.

 

“It is not the destination where you end up but the mishaps and memories you create along the way.” ~ Penelope Riley

 

Over time I even began to feel like I was actually on the journeys with the authors. Offering advice when things began to turn nasty or celebrating when they went well. I definitely paid close attention to the mention of food – the ‘sunflower’ books made me actually physically drool at times and told the various authors ‘ I told you so’ when they suffered through setbacks and sore feet.

 

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in an office or mowing your lawn. Climb that damn mountain.” ~ Jack Kerouac

 

A quick glance at the list will tell the tale of an opportunity lost and my minor fascination with the Camino to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Lost because at this stage a bad back and even worse feet make a few kilometres feel like I’m taking part in the Exodus out of Egypt. The recent accounts were all worth spending time with but I really liked ‘Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son’ by Martin Sheen and, not on this list, ‘Buen Camino!: A Father-Daughter Journey from Croagh Patrick to Santiago De Compostela’ by Natasha & Peter Murtagh.

 

The reading journey continues despite the lifting of restrictions with Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy. Published in 1965 it tells the tale of an Irishwoman who cycled her bike solo from Ireland to India. I chose this, the first of many such books from this author, because she sadly died earlier this year aged 90 and was still travelling widely in her late seventies and into her eighties. There’s a message for us all there I think.

 

What are the best travel memoirs you’ve read?

 

Reading List

These links are to Goodreads and for your information ONLY. They’re not financially motivated and we don’t earn money from links or recommendations.

  1. Walking the Camino: A Modern Pilgrimage to Santiago by Tony Kevin
  2. A House in the Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre
  3. Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart
  4. How to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together by Dan Kois
  5. The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell
  6. A Harvest of Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre
  7. Reflections of Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre
  8. On The Road with Kids by John Ahern
  9. One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Croake
  10. Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son by Martin Sheen
  11. Wandering Irelands Wild Atlantic Way by Paul Clements
  12. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
  13. Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000 Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier by Mark Adams
  14. The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn
  15. Around the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000 Mile Adventure by Monisha Rajesh
  16. Walking the Himalayas by Levinson Wood
  17. The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border by Garrett Carr
  18. Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain by Jack Hitt.

 

 

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