United Kingdom
Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater, Lake District: Wordsworth’s Daffodils
‘Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze’ GLENCOYNE BAY Imagine for a moment this ‘spot in time’. The spot is between the main road and the water at the south end of Glencoyne Bay, now also known as Wordsworth Point. The time is April 15th, 1802, vividly described by Dorothy […]
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire: William Shakespeare
‘Upon entering the town of Stratford, a feeling, I trust, something more elevated than of mere curiosity, naturally depicts the steps of every admirer of our divine Poet towards that spot which gave birth to the most extraordinary genius this or any other country has ever produced…’ Samuel Ireland, 1795 KEY DATA Terrain: Pavements throughout […]
Sandaig, Glenelg, The Highlands; Gavin Maxwell, Ring of Bright Water
‘Nowhere in all the West Highlands and Islands have I seen any place of so intense or varied beauty in so small a compass’ The inspiration for this walk…The Ring of Bright Water (1960) This was very much my parents’ book, I had noticed it on the bookshelf at home, but it hadn’t really caught […]
Inspiring Places: Bournemouth, Dorset
‘The Evergreen Valley’, ‘A city set in a garden’ ‘The pines, the chines, steeply-rising cliffs, parks, gardens, heathlands, amusements, esplanades, sands, and sprawl add up to the strange unique character of Bournemouth. A fascinating, pine-scented phenomenon’. Thomas Hardy ‘The real Bournemouth is all pines and pines and pines and flowering shrubs, lawns, begonias, azaleas, bird-song, […]
Near Sawrey, Lake District: Beatrix Potter
‘Hill Top is to be presented to my visitors as if I had just gone out and they had just missed me’ The inspiration for this walk… The World of Peter Rabbit (from 1902 onwards) My parents would go round to their friends Bill & Laddie’s for dinner frequently and, only being about five years […]
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 […]
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 […]
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