United Kingdom
Bath, Somerset: Jane Austen
‘I walk: I prefer walking’ KEY DATA Terrain: Pavements, hilly bits Starting point: 13 Queen Square, BA1 2HJ Distance: 6.4 km (4 miles) Walking time: 1 hr 56 mins Map: can also be found online at https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/10535476/Bath-Literary-Ramble Facilities: Everything JANE AUSTEN (1775-1818) Jane Austen visited Bath in 1797 and again in 1799 before moving there in 1801 when her […]
Morden Tower, Newcastle: the modern poetry movement
‘I learned more reading at Morden Tower than I had at a hundred universities’ MORDEN TOWER We came across the Morden Tower on a walk around Newcastle’s thirteenth-century city wall which can still be seen in several parts of today’s city. Here, on the northwest side, it is most evident, a stone’s throw from St […]
Glastonbury, Somerset: Searching for King Arthur
‘All these things considered, can no man reasonably gainsay but there was a king of this land named Arthur…you may see his sepulchre in the monastery of Glastonbury.’ William Caxton, preface to Malory’s Morte d’Arthur KEY DATA Terrain: steep climb Starting point: St John’s Car Park, Glastonbury, 10 St John’s Square, BA6 9LJ Distance: 4.3 km […]
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire: Lord Byron
‘…It lies perhaps a little low, Because the monks preferred a hill behind To shelter their devotion from the wind.’ LORD BYRON (1788-1824) Lord Byron was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, embodying a lifestyle of brilliance and lasciviousness. The phrase ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ was coined for him, and […]
Melrose, Borders, Abbotsford House: Sir Walter Scott
‘It is a kind of conundrum castle to be sure, which pleases a fantastic person in style and manner’ KEY DATA Terrain: good paths on the estate Starting point: Abbotsford Visitor Parking (TD6 9BQ) Distance: 2 km (1 ¼ miles) Walking time: ½ hour OS Map: OS Explorer 338 Facilities: Toilets, café (admission fee applies) […]
Winchester, Hampshire: John Keats
‘The pleasantest town I was ever in’ KEY DATA Terrain: potentially muddy in the meadows, steep ascent Starting point: Colebrook Street, SO23 9LH Distance: 7.4 km (4.6 miles); an extra 5 km (3.1 miles) if you take the West Hill (Hardy) loop Walking time: 2 hours 10 mins (allow an extra 1hr 20mins for Hardy loop) […]
Hull, East Yorkshire: Philip Larkin
Hull, East Yorkshire: Philip Larkin ‘I like it because it’s so far from everywhere else. On the way to nowhere, as somebody put it. It’s in the middle of the lonely country, and beyond the lonely country there is only the sea. I like that.’ ‘A city that is in the world, yet sufficiently on […]
Westminster Bridge and Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, London
Westminster Bridge We start our walk on Westminster Bridge and pick an early Sunday morning to try and soak up the experience before the rush of the day. We lean over the parapet peering downstream and recite Wordsworth’s famous poem ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.’ ‘Earth has not any thing to show more […]
Gough Square, London: Dr Johnson’s House
Gough Square, London: Dr Johnson’s House ‘Wherever I turned my view … there was perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be regulated’ Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Dr Johnson’s House is a charming 300-year-old townhouse, nestled amongst a maze of courts and alleys just north of Fleet Street. In 1746, Dr Samuel Johnson agreed to […]
Inspiring Places: London, Bloomsbury – Books, Books, Books
‘I love walking in London. Really, it’s better than walking in the country.’ Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf The books that inspired this walk…too many to mention I worked in Bloomsbury briefly as a summer intern with Evans Educational Publishers, under the tutelage of the engaging Warren Knock, who to make ends meet or maybe just […]
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