Alnwick Castle, Northumberland: JK Rowling
‘The Hogwarts of the North’ JK ROWLING (1965-) The Harry Potter series of novels has sold over 500 million copies, making it the best-selling book series in history. The films have also been immensely popular, and a sub-world of tourism has built up to see the places where the films were shot. Ever since JK […]
Southwark, London: Chaucer and Shakespeare
‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances’ KEY DATA Terrain: pavement Starting point: London Bridge tube (SE1 2SW) Distance: 8 km (1.1 miles) Walking time: 28 mins Map: can be found online at https://explore.osmaps.com/en/route/10773916/Southwark-London-Chaucer-and-Shakespeare Facilities: Pubs, theatre facilities SOUTHWARK In medieval times […]
Haworth, West Yorkshire: Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
‘The idea of being authors was as natural to us as walking’ – Charlotte Brontë ‘I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free’ – Emily Brontë ‘The book becoming a map’ – Ted Hughes KEY DATA Terrain: moorland. Only attempt this walk when conditions are reasonable. Starting point: Haworth Tourist Office, […]
Liverpool’s Hope St Quarter: focal point of the Mersey Beat and the Mersey Sound
‘Liverpool is at the present moment the centre of the consciousness of the human universe.’ Alan Ginsberg, 1965 ‘A port in which all climes and countries embrace.’ Herman Melville The inspiration for the walk…The Mersey Sound (1967) I came to Liverpool late, but fell in love with the city immediately. It just felt different from […]
Ashdown Forest, East Sussex: AA Milne
‘In that enchanted place on the top of the forest a little boy and his bear will always be playing’ KEY DATA Terrain: Heathland Starting point: Gills Lap Car Park, TN22 3JD Distance: 5.5 km (3.4 miles) Walking time: 1 hr 42 mins OS Map: OS Explorer 135 Ashdown Forest. Also online at https://explore.osmaps.com/route/10731600/ashdown-forest-east-sussex-aa-milne?lat=51.077331&lon=0.092004&zoom=14.1415&style=Leisure&type=2d Facilities: None […]
Whitby, North Yorkshire: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
‘Leaping from wave to wave the strange schooner rushed at headlong speed, swept before the blast…’ KEY DATA Terrain: 199 steps! Starting point: 6 Royal Crescent, YO21 3EJ Distance: 2.9 km (1.8 miles) Walking time: 52 mins OS Map: Online at https://explore.osmaps.com/route/10731466/whitby-north-yorkshire-bram-stoker?lat=54.489651&lon=-0.617193&zoom=15.7148&style=Standard&type=2d Facilities: All BRAM STOKER (1847-1912) Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker visited this pretty coastal town regularly […]
Slad, Gloucestershire: Laurie Lee
‘All my beginnings were hatched into this very compact series of narrow, brief valleys, which are like seed pods.’ KEY DATA Terrain: Hills and fields Starting point: The War Memorial, Slad (GL6 7QD) Distance: 8.3 km (5.2 miles) Walking time: 2 hrs 53 mins OS Map: OS Explorer 80. The map can also be found […]
Isle of Jura, Argyll and Bute: George Orwell
‘An extremely un-get-at-able place’ ‘The walks are wonderful’ KEY DATA Terrain: boggy in places, potentially unforgiving weather Starting point: Road End (Jura bus from Craighouse); or water taxi to Kinuachdrachd. Sturdy bicycles are also an option for proceeding north from Road End Distance: 18.2 km (11.4 miles) return Walking time: 5 hr 16 mins return […]
Inspiring Places: The River Cam, Cambridge
‘In Arcadia’; ‘That was our place’ KEY DATA Terrain: easy going Starting point: Trumpington Park & Ride, 43 Hauxton Rd, CB2 9FT (take the bus into the city centre first, then return here on foot from Byron’s Pool via Consort Avenue) Distance: 6.8 km (4.3 miles) Time: 1 hr 45 mins OS Map: OS Explorer […]
Helpston, Cambridgeshire: John Clare
‘Everything about the place, in fact, which made it precisely this place, and not that one, was forgotten’ KEY DATA Terrain: no contours, excellent paths Starting point: Woodgate, Helpston (PE6 7ED) Distance: 6 km (4.1 miles) Time: 1hr 42 mins OS Map: Explorer 235. The map can also be found at https://explore.osmaps.com/en/route/10644761/Helpston-Cambridgeshire-John-Clare Facilities: Pub, village shop […]
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