Take a Hike! Seven books to entertain and inspire this autumn

Seven books to entertain and inspire you this autumn

By Sarla Donovan

Alone with four camels and a dog for company, Robyn Davidson endures fiendish heat and poisonous snakes in a perilous 2700 kilometre journey across the Australian desert. French doctor Jean-Christophe Rufin morphs into a celestial tramp whilst walking 800 kilometres on the Camino de Santiago. Bill Bryson lives on a diet of snickers bars and raisins as he tackles the Appalachian Trail.

Books can make you laugh, be amazed and spark dreams of places to go and things to do, whether sleeping under desert stars or walking the longest continuous footpath in the world. These seven true tales of epic walking adventures feature the ordinary and the extraordinary strapping on their packs, lacing up their boots and heading off into mountains, deserts, forests and woods.

The authors face many challenges. Frightening encounters with wild animals (imaginary and real.) Losing vital gear. Running out of food. Getting lost. Injury. Leaky tents. Blisters. Storms. Weird people. Plus there’s all the fun stuff: eating proper food after prolonged periods on rations. Cups of tea along the way. Meeting lovely new people. Deep sleeps after walking all day. Being in nature. 

As Bryson writes in A Walk in the Woods, “….Time ceases to have any meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It’s quite wonderful, really.” So, whether you're planning a trip of your own or compiling an autumn reading list, here are some fabulous and inspiring books about walking.

The Salt Path

By Raynor Winn

As if losing their home, business and livelihood wasn't enough, Raynor Winn's husband Moth has been diagnosed with a terminal illness at 53. With little left to lose they make an impetuous decision to walk the 1000 kilometre South West Coast Path from Somerset to Dorset. Wild camping most of the way the pair contend with early morning dog-walkers, bath in the ocean and live off less than $100 a week. The freedom they find in living at the mercy of sea and sky is ultimately liberating and leads them to a surprising new path. Listen to her interview on RNZ.

Buy now: $10.99 amazon.com

The Santiago Pilgrimage

By Jean-Christophe Rufin

An irresistible urge to "go on a very long walk on my own" leads French doctor, diplomat and writer Jean-Christophe Rufin onto the famous pilgrims path, Camino de Santiago. Taking the less travelled North Way he starts in French Basque country and continues on through coastal towns San Sebastian, Bilbao and Santander. This wry and beguiling account of his forty day journey gives insight into the day to day disasters and delights of sustained walking and reveals his encounters with fellow pilgrims, locals, monks and wildlife on this this well-trodden path.  

Buy now: $10.79, amazon.com

Tracks

By Robyn Davidson

Robyn Davidson describes a huge weight lifting off her back the day she sets off to cross the vast Gibson Desert: "All around me was magnificence. Light, power, space and sun. And I was walking into it. I was going to let it make or break me." Moments later the 27-year-old Australian plummets back to earth as the reality facing her - travelling 2700 kilometres with four camels and a dog - hits home. That tension between the spiritual and the practical continues throughout her incredible journey as Davidson sheds the trappings of her former identity and emerges forever changed in this compelling and vivid book. 

Listen to Robyn being interviewed by Kathryn Ryan on RNZ 

Buy now: $11.22, amazon.com

A Walk in the Woods

By Bill Bryson

It's been said that the best-selling books about hiking speak to people who would never contemplate a long-distance hike in the first place. This is one of 'em. Published in 1997 it's a humorous travelogue depicting Bryson as fledgling hiker embarking on the 3500 kilometre Appalachian Trail. His gear list includes includes four bandannas and a “big knife for killing bears and hillbillies.” That lack of preparedness makes for great hilarity as he painfully transforms into hardened trail vet over the course of a summer. 

Buy now: $9.39, amazon.com

Wild by Nature

By Sarah Marquis

Harassed by drunken horsemen on the Mongolian steppes; evacuated from the Gobi Desert with a tooth infection; struck down with Dengue fever then attacked by drug lords in Laos; arrested and deported from the Szechuan mountains in China. Discover how Swiss explorer Sarah Marquis handles these and other hair-raising situations in this riveting account of her three year, 20,000 kilometre journey. 

Hear Sarah talk about her expedition on RNZ

Buy now: $17.77, amazon.com

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

By Laurie Lee

On a mid-summer morning in 1934 Laurie Lee sets out on foot from his Gloucestershire village for Spain via London. He was 19 years old and he carried a hazel stick in his hand and a violin under his arm. This 1969 sequel to his childhood memoir Cider with Rosie conveys the innocence and openness of a young traveller at time when Europe had few borders and fewer travellers. Filled with the romance of life on the road, it's a beautifully written account of a long-ago Spain that could just make you want to walk out your front door and keep on going.  

Buy now: $13.95, amazon.com

Wild: A Journey From Lost to Found

By Cheryl Strayed

Reeling from the death of her mother and a self-destructive lifestyle 26-year-old Cheryl Strayed decides to walk the 2600 kilometre Pacific Crest Trail, hoping to heal herself. Like Bill Bryson she is woefully ill-prepared, but that's partly what gives this book its appeal. Structured around a series of disastrous/humorous/illuminating incidents Strayed interweaves them with flashbacks from her rocky upbringing. You'll be hooked from the start. 

Buy now: $11.37, amazon.com