British Travel Books

[D'wards]

I am currently reading this book after hearing the author interviewed on the radio
Move Along, Please https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CQ1DH5G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ya1gDb8K1PPAA

I am a big fan of the Mark Wallington Boogie books too
500 Mile Walkies https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0099523906/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2b1gDbF033DWS

What other British travel books are there that aren't just tourist guides?

I've done the Bill Bryson one and enjoyed it, but that's just the thing I mean

 

[Supine]

I don't know if he did one about Britain but Paul theroux is good.

 

[Sprocket.]

I don't know if he did one about Britain but Paul theroux is good.

Paul Theroux’s Kingdom by the Sea.
He travels around as much as possible of the entire coast of Britain. It’s over twenty years since I read it but very entertaining.
Also I don’t know if it’s still in print but Tom Vernon’s Fat Man on a Roman Road is good too. He rides up the old Roman Roads from Exeter to Edinburgh. This I also read many years ago. It inspired me to find a pub on the A15.

 

[belboid]

Robert Macfarlane's are all ace. It's more 'landscape and place' than travel, but brilliantly written.

 

[Sprocket.]

I also enjoyed the Mark Wallington books. But as far as walking the southwest coastal path with a dog we have been limited to a jaunt from Slapton to Torquay so far!!

 

[pogofish]

I don't know if he did one about Britain but Paul theroux is good.

Yes he did - Induced civic apoplexy in Aberdeen when he wrote about being refused entry to a country music night at one of our shittiest "hotels" for wearing jeans...!

 

[D'wards]

I also enjoyed the Mark Wallington books. But as far as walking the southwest coastal path with a dog we have been limited to a jaunt from Slapton to Torquay so far!!

It would be a dream to do that but in those days (1985 I think) you could just seemingly pitch your tent anywhere and just crack on

 

[BassJunkie]

I enjoyed this book, and others by the same author. He's "of his time" though.

H V Morton's In Search Of England

In Search Of England by H.V. Morton

J B Priestley's

English Journey - Wikipedia

Daniel Defoe "A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies"

A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain - Wikipedia

I like these books, because, you know, the past is a foreign country, and I love travel writing.

 

[Winot]

Jonathan Raban - Coasting (he bumps into Paul Theroux )

WG Sebald - Rings of Saturn (his other stuff is meant to be good too)

Lower brow but very funny - Notes from a Small Island (Bill Bryson)

 

[chilango]

I've just read Swimming which I loved.

It's an abridged version of Waterlog.

 

[planetgeli]

Probably not what you're looking for but I've just finished All Together Now by Mike Carter which sees him walking the route of the 1981 People's March for Jobs which his Communist dad organized. It does give a good snapshot of inner Britain and though he's a Remainer, explains pretty well via the people he meets why the country voted for Brexit.

He's written another One Man and his Bike which is about cycling around Britain.

 

[kebabking]

somewhat leftfield perhaps, but Max Adams has written a book called In The Land of Giants - its a travelogue through Dark Age history, using the landscapes, buildings and historical sources that remain.

i enjoyed it.

 

[hash tag]

Tim Moore has walked/toured the monopoly board. Was it he who walked the tube?
I loved Nick Cranes 2 degrees West which is one for the pedants the way he walks the length of the country in a straight line. Quite the opposite of Janet Street Porters monstrosity on a similar theme.
Eric Newly is a great travel writer. His Something Wholesale as a commercial traveller in the '40s is a great read.
Tilting at Windmills about playing crazy golf is very light weight and fluffy.

There was a book about three grumpy old gits having days out which wasn't bad.
there are many more.

 

[hash tag]

Ian Sinclair has written some well informed books IE London Orbital.
I remember a crap book about a couple who walked the coastline. We're they always bickering if I remember. I think it was the sea in my left?

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Paul Theroux’s Kingdom by the Sea.
He travels around as much as possible of the entire coast of Britain. It’s over twenty years since I read it but very entertaining.

He seems to find it suspiciously easy to strike up conversations with random people on trains

 

[D'wards]

He seems to find it suspiciously easy to strike up conversations with random people on trains

The book I'm reading now is about a guy travelling from Land's End to John O'Groats by public bus. He does seem to encounter a high amount of colourful characters and overhear snippets of funny conversation.
However, the fact he was writing a book about it means he was more tuned into it than a normal person I spose.
Same with Theroux- he has to encourage content for his book innit

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

When I was a kid I enjoyed a number of books by Francis Chichester. They were the polar opposite of living in the landlocked plains far from a city of any size.

• Observer's Books Nos 3–5 with sub-titles of Solo to Sydney (1932), Seaplane Solo (1933) and Ride the Wind (1936). These books cover the England – Sydney flight, the New Zealand – Australia flight, and Sydney – Japan flight respc.
• Night and Fire Spotting (1941)
• Solo To Sydney (1930) & (1982). Flying from England to Sydney, Australia.
• Ride On The Wind (1936) & (1967) Flying from Sydney to Japan
• Alone Across the Atlantic (1961) [12] Sailing over the Atlantic.
• Atlantic Adventure (1962) More Atlantic Sailing
• Alone Over the Tasman Sea (1945, 1966) originally published as "Seaplane Solo" (1933) Flying from New Zealand to Australia via Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands
• The Lonely Sea and the Sky (1964) Autobiography
• Along The Clipper Way (1966 & 1967) (anthology of sailing stories)
• Gipsy Moth Circles the World (1967). England – Sydney – England solo sailing voyage.
• The Romantic Challenge (1971) An attempt on a sailing record.

Francis Chichester - Wikipedia

 

[belboid]

Top 10 books about walking in Britain | Gail Simmons

 

[D'wards]

Having a sniff around Amazon and this looks a nice read...

Before I grow too old: A journey from John O'Groats to Lands End https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1495419304/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_20qhDbPV2TX8A

 

[hash tag]

More by Moore

Here's the Monopoly Board one

 

[hash tag]

The underground one was not Tim Moore but Mark Mason

 

[campanula]

Before I was married to the soil, I had always entertained ideas of sailing (although farting about in a Mirror is about the limit of my experience)...and was completely spellbound by Tristan Jones astonishing salty sailing endeavours - most notably Ice!. Although a later biography did reveal a certain level of fabulous invention, pretty much all of the books (and there are quite a few) are worth reading.

A working class orphanage boy and lifelong sailor, his life was very far removed from the aristocratic 'explorer' type.

 

[hash tag]

I got dragged into Foyles yesterday and this is one of the many I came out with

"Winding its way from the White Cliffs of Dover to the Druid groves of Anglesey, the ancient road of Watling Street has gone by many different names. It is a road of witches and ghosts, of queens and highwaymen, of history and myth, of Bletchley Park codebreakers, Chaucer, Boudicca, Dickens and James Bond.

But Watling Street is not just the story of a route across our island. It is an acutely observed exploration of Britain and who we are today, told with wit and an unerring eye for the curious and surprising."

 

[JuanTwoThree]

George Borrow's mid 19th century Wild Wales is interesting.