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The Wild Rover: A Blistering Journey Along Britain’s Footpaths
Mike Parker, bestselling author of "Map Addict," is back with a brilliant, intelligent, and witty exploration of a glorious and passionate British subject--footpaths and our rights of way. Mike discovers how these paths have become part of the UK's cultural landscape and why, at the tender age of 44, he suddenly finds himself at a crossroads. Provocative, funny, and personal, this book celebrates Britain's unique and extraordinary network of footpaths. It examines their surprisingly turbulent history, from the Enclosures Acts of the eighteenth century to the 1932 Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout in Derbyshire, and from the hard-won post-war establishment of great National Trails to the dramatic latter day battles by the likes of Nicholas van Hoogstraten and Madonna to keep ramblers off their land.
330 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
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May 25, 2014Now that I've finished the book I'm not really sure what it is about, or what it's focus is. I think it could have done with another draft or round of editing just to try and shape more of a a story out of the material. It's an ok read but feels disjointed. A series of magazine articles that, much to their own surprise, find themselves squeezed in together between the covers of a single book. I suppose loosely described it is one man's set of stories about walking on British countryside footpaths with excursions on trespass, legal rights of access and long distance footpaths.
It feels as though a common theme to tie the book together could have emerged at several points, but it never quite gets there. Instead the book is stuck on a stile, not political enough to be a polemic, not personal enough to tell a story of his own change or relationship with the countryside, not funny enough to be a humorous book.
Some good bits include the author being rained off the coast to coast footpath when he decides to sleep his first night under the stars, two Iowans collecting examples of bad service in the UK (easily done, but can make for good stories back home), the annual Queer Pagan Camp, whose participants remind each other not to pitch their tents on the fairy paths, and of course the author's shaman friend from the afore-mentioned camp telling him mid way through a night walk across Dartmoor that his migraine was caused by a fairy embedding a flint in his forehead, the confession of an old man that he had been involved in the destruction of a local beauty spot simply because he and some co-workers had some explosives to hand while working on a forestry project.
It feels as though a common theme to tie the book together could have emerged at several points, but it never quite gets there. Instead the book is stuck on a stile, not political enough to be a polemic, not personal enough to tell a story of his own change or relationship with the countryside, not funny enough to be a humorous book.
Some good bits include the author being rained off the coast to coast footpath when he decides to sleep his first night under the stars, two Iowans collecting examples of bad service in the UK (easily done, but can make for good stories back home), the annual Queer Pagan Camp, whose participants remind each other not to pitch their tents on the fairy paths, and of course the author's shaman friend from the afore-mentioned camp telling him mid way through a night walk across Dartmoor that his migraine was caused by a fairy embedding a flint in his forehead, the confession of an old man that he had been involved in the destruction of a local beauty spot simply because he and some co-workers had some explosives to hand while working on a forestry project.
March 30, 2024
I really enjoyed exploring the footpaths of Britain with Mike Parker. This is not a travel guide but really gets to the essence of footpath history, mythology and the joys of walking with humour.
October 26, 2016
I really liked parts of this book, but the rest of it left a lot to be desired. I bought this book while on a trip to Britain and thought it looked interesting. I would love to walk some of the fells and trails but do to a disablilty I will likely never be able to. So I thought from the blurb I could live vicariously through this author's trips along the various walks. You do get to hear a bit about the various paths he took both the extremely popular like the Coast to Coast, he gave up after two days, and the not so well known like the Lyke Wake Walk and the controversy behind it. Most of the book is spent talking about the history behind getting the right of way to walk these foot paths and bashing people who made the walks popular like Alfred Wainwright and Julia Bradbury. I know that they are not popular among everyone and usually I'm all about reading up on the history of something, but that's not what I wanted or expected when I bought this book. So due to my expectations I have to give it two stars.
June 30, 2014
Enjoyable enough, though I think "a brilliant, intelligent and witty exploration of a glorious and passionate British subject - footpaths and our rights of way" is overstating it a bit. To start with I wasn't sure there was enough in the subject of footpaths to fill a whole book, and by the end I thought there was probably a lot more to the subject than was covered here. I suspect that means the author actually got the balance fairly right, it doesn't go into enough detail in places but it doesn't get boring either. And I'm left wanting to read his book about maps, Map Addict: A Tale of Obsession, Fudge & the Ordnance Survey, next.
January 3, 2022
It is an interesting traipse around Britain's long distance paths. Quite interesting, but not as funny as map addict though.
November 3, 2012
Written on the back of the success of his previous book 'Map Addict' this had some rather forced humour along with some interesting facts. Possible in need of a good editor?
July 30, 2020
Off all the things you least want to come face-to-face with on an early morning dog walk, your own hypocrisy comes quite high on the list.
This opening line is just one example of how Mike Parker's writing style made the otherwise potentially dull subject matter, involving the history of, and bureacracy related to, public footpaths, and access to the countryside made me want to keep reading more.
Earlier this year, I'd read his book, Map Addict so choosing to read this one too was an easy choice, and I could tell from this book that Mike Parker puts a lot of weight on the importance of the public being able to roam freely across the country, and is very scathing about landowners who object to having public rights of way through their property. Curiously, he also seems to be less than complimentary about the Ramblers' Association.
This book showed me that there are a lot of politics involved in the process of creating public footpaths (a lot more than I would have expected) and the book provides a comprehensive history of how this came about, including a mass trespass at Kinderscout Peak that occurred as an act of protest in the 1930s.
A large amount of this book was about Mike Parker's own experiences rambling in the British countryside, and this showed an occasionally self-deprecating, and humourous, writing style that put me in mind of Bill Bryson. I noticed that he mentioned the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which resulted in the closure of all countryside footpaths for most of the year, citing it as a warning that we should take advantage of our right to roam while we can.
This opening line is just one example of how Mike Parker's writing style made the otherwise potentially dull subject matter, involving the history of, and bureacracy related to, public footpaths, and access to the countryside made me want to keep reading more.
Earlier this year, I'd read his book, Map Addict so choosing to read this one too was an easy choice, and I could tell from this book that Mike Parker puts a lot of weight on the importance of the public being able to roam freely across the country, and is very scathing about landowners who object to having public rights of way through their property. Curiously, he also seems to be less than complimentary about the Ramblers' Association.
This book showed me that there are a lot of politics involved in the process of creating public footpaths (a lot more than I would have expected) and the book provides a comprehensive history of how this came about, including a mass trespass at Kinderscout Peak that occurred as an act of protest in the 1930s.
A large amount of this book was about Mike Parker's own experiences rambling in the British countryside, and this showed an occasionally self-deprecating, and humourous, writing style that put me in mind of Bill Bryson. I noticed that he mentioned the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which resulted in the closure of all countryside footpaths for most of the year, citing it as a warning that we should take advantage of our right to roam while we can.
September 28, 2025
This is absolutely the most niche book I’ve ever read, and now I’m inspired to dig deeper into my very specific and random interests because this book (the first half…) was a lot of fun to read.
The second half started to ramble on (haha that’s funny because avid walkers of Britain’s footpaths are called ramblers…). Though a wonderfully informative and fun first couple chapters, the author later started down lots of rabbit (foot)paths and wrote a lot about things not incredibly pertinent… like his sexual preferences which I simply did not want to read about while reading a book about English footpaths (or ever, really).
I’d totally recommend the first few chapters, though, if you want a fun crash course into the history and politics of Britain’s right of way, long distance paths, and all things related to walking!
The second half started to ramble on (haha that’s funny because avid walkers of Britain’s footpaths are called ramblers…). Though a wonderfully informative and fun first couple chapters, the author later started down lots of rabbit (foot)paths and wrote a lot about things not incredibly pertinent… like his sexual preferences which I simply did not want to read about while reading a book about English footpaths (or ever, really).
I’d totally recommend the first few chapters, though, if you want a fun crash course into the history and politics of Britain’s right of way, long distance paths, and all things related to walking!
December 8, 2017
This is a fairly comprehensive review of Britain's footpaths, with observations on those who walk them - especially those who walk them at the present day. It is partly biographical, being largely based on the writer's own experiences over the course of a year, but backed up by considerable research.
It is an interesting book, and the style may appeal to many - but not to me. I found it verging on dull in too many places, and found myself speed-reading some sections. But parts are good, and some are amusing.
It is an interesting book, and the style may appeal to many - but not to me. I found it verging on dull in too many places, and found myself speed-reading some sections. But parts are good, and some are amusing.
May 4, 2023
I love Mike Parker - probably because we sit on the same end of the political spectrum - but his writing is thoughtful, compelling, and often laugh-out-loud funny. This book is both a contemplation on and a description of, key walks that he has undertaken. His rants are fabulous and his serious asides are carefully thought through and raise doubts about how much we are taking our wonderful field-path system for granted. So, if you're a serious walker or a dog walker - or somewhere in between - I think you'll find this a pleasurable and intelligent read.
June 25, 2019
Thoroughly interesting.
Some history of UK public rights of way and how it all came about, and some lovely descriptions of walks.
Made me want to go out and do a bit more walking across the countryside.
Some history of UK public rights of way and how it all came about, and some lovely descriptions of walks.
Made me want to go out and do a bit more walking across the countryside.
May 13, 2020
Part history, part politics, some folklore, some anecdotes, some philosophy, some nature. Most of it coherent, some soapbox style rambling (pun intended), all concerning the long distance footpaths of Britain. Not everyone's flask of.tea, but I loved it.
September 16, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. Well written, interesting, informative, and often funny with the author really transferring his love of walking and walking in Britain and Ireland to the reader. When reading travelogues it helps if you quickly grow to like the author and here I did.
July 25, 2024
Took a while to plod through this one!
Appreciated some of the perspectives and historical contexts of footpaths, but felt like it lacked focus a bit, and could have done with more Scottish content ideally.
Appreciated some of the perspectives and historical contexts of footpaths, but felt like it lacked focus a bit, and could have done with more Scottish content ideally.
December 30, 2018
Relatable, if a bit too left, even for me!
October 2, 2019
Better than map addict. Some really interest parts followed by some really dull parts.
May 8, 2022
Unneccesarily "blistering" in all the wrong ways. I'm sure he felt quite virtuous. Disappointing.
November 10, 2022
An enjoyable book club read, a bit outdated now but informative and interesting, if you like walking!
July 8, 2023
A solid 3.5/5.
A couple of genuine belly laughs and plenty of wry amusement throughout. Fascinating early on with regard to the Kinder Scout and Winter Hill trespasses.
A couple of genuine belly laughs and plenty of wry amusement throughout. Fascinating early on with regard to the Kinder Scout and Winter Hill trespasses.
July 7, 2024
A very pleasant meander through Britain and its footpaths, with just the right amount of humour thrown in.
August 15, 2024
Full of history of rambling
March 3, 2017
An entertaining account of footpaths, walking and some of the issues around it. Suffers from an element of glibness and some silly cliches, eg the bullshit about incomers property being much more liable to signposting than 'locals'. Also, surprisingly as Parker is a resident, his claim that Powys has 20 ROW officers is hugely inflated.
Having said all that, there are plenty of 'laugh out loud' moments, and certainly enough enjoyment in the reading of it to want to get hold of his map book.
PS I am a ROW contractor working in Powys!
Having said all that, there are plenty of 'laugh out loud' moments, and certainly enough enjoyment in the reading of it to want to get hold of his map book.
PS I am a ROW contractor working in Powys!
August 20, 2016
Enjoyed this very much. It's about walking, but it's more than that (and it's not for you if you want a serious guide book to particular trails). It's more of a travel book around the theme of walking, mostly in Britain but with a brief passage on Venice. It dots about quite a bit geographically, and there are some lovely observational musings on the way. It is also very funny (he laughs both at himself and others). I particularly liked the chapter on the Chilterns, which is where I grew up- interesting to see it from an outsider's point of view. It seems that the Icknield Way has become a bit more popular, and signposted, than it was in my childhood. Also, his mad night-time attempt at the lyke walk on Dartmoor, which I'm also familiar with from childhood and wouldn't attempt at night, full moon or not! (He should go back in daylight. It certainly isn't a "featureless" landscape - but then I was introduced to it with an eye to its overpopulated Bronze Age days!) He is good on the politics of rambling and rights of way, too. I shall probably keep this book and reread it.
June 20, 2012
I enjoyed this book. I would have enjoyed it more office the writers had laid off the mystical bullshit a bit more. Also I would have liked him to completed more of the challenges he set for himself. The book was more a celebration of his failures. All said though, it was an interesting look in to the history of British rights of way.
May 27, 2012
A fun and entertaining read with many interesting historical and legal facts included. It made me laugh a few times, brought back some fond memories of several paths. If you like walking you should enjoy this book after reading it I have rejoined the Ramblers Association.
November 15, 2012
interesting book from the map addict looking at britain's footpaths through his journey along them with some social and cultural history put it but felt wasn't as good though as his map addict book though
May 16, 2014
This bitingly witty book is a fun look at the wonderful tradition if footpath walking in the UK. Even though he tends to scorn adherence to established routes that I have enjoyed immensely, I still found it a very entertaining and interesting book. Like his borderline crankiness!
August 12, 2014
Rambling book about walking and footpaths. I liked it.
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July 9, 2013Couldn't finish it
November 19, 2013
Good in places but I didn't finish the book because I got bored. Did have some funny and interesting bits but in the end was too drawn out for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews