What do you think?
Rate this book
Doubling Back
A fascinating and moving account of walking in the footsteps of others, and a masterwork of travel writing In 1952, Linda Cracknell's father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. It was the last walk he would ever take. Linda retraces that fateful journey 50 years later, following the trail of the man she barely knew. This collection of walking tales take their theme from that pilgrimage. The walks trace the contours of memories, following friends, writers, and relations along trails across mountains, valleys, and coasts from the Highlands of Scotland to Kenya. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs, and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past. This book celebrates life, family, friendship, and walking through mountain landscapes richly textured with stories. A masterwork of travel writing in the vein of Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin, this lyrical, poignant book contains stunning landscape descriptions.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2014
5 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Linda Cracknell
28 books9 followersLinda Cracknell writes short stories, novels, drama for BBC Radio Four, and creative non-fiction. She won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story competition, and was shortlisted for the Scottish First Book Award for her story collection Life Drawing (Neil Wilson Publishing, 2000) and the Robin Jenkins Literary Award for environmental writing. Her second story collection A Searching Glance was published by Salt in 2008. She was the recipient of a Creative Scotland Award in 2007 for a project linking walking and writing. She edited the anthology A Wilder Vein (Two Ravens, 2011) and has contributed wide range of other anthologies and magazines. She lives in Highland Perthshire.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 30, 2014
From BBC radio 4 - Book of the Week:
A beautiful and moving memoir where the author retraces walks undertaken by others, from the Highlands of Scotland to the Swiss Alps and Kenya.
In 1952 Linda Cracknell's father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. Fifty years later Linda retraces that fateful journey, following the trail of the man she barely knew. This collection of walking tales takes its theme from that pilgrimage. The walks trace the contours of history, following writers, relations and retreading ways across mountains, valleys and coasts formerly trodden by drovers, saints and adventurers. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past through particular places.
Boring, boring, boring.....
A beautiful and moving memoir where the author retraces walks undertaken by others, from the Highlands of Scotland to the Swiss Alps and Kenya.
In 1952 Linda Cracknell's father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. Fifty years later Linda retraces that fateful journey, following the trail of the man she barely knew. This collection of walking tales takes its theme from that pilgrimage. The walks trace the contours of history, following writers, relations and retreading ways across mountains, valleys and coasts formerly trodden by drovers, saints and adventurers. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past through particular places.
Boring, boring, boring.....
November 6, 2017
3.5 stars
May 30, 2014
Book of the Week May 26
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b044gmfb>
A beautiful and moving memoir where the author retraces walks undertaken by others, from the Highlands of Scotland to the Swiss Alps and Kenya.
In 1952 Linda Cracknell's father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. Fifty years later Linda retraces that fateful journey, following the trail of the man she barely knew. This collection of walking tales takes its theme from that pilgrimage. The walks trace the contours of history, following writers, relations and retreading ways across mountains, valleys and coasts formerly trodden by drovers, saints and adventurers. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past through particular places.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b044gmfb>
A beautiful and moving memoir where the author retraces walks undertaken by others, from the Highlands of Scotland to the Swiss Alps and Kenya.
In 1952 Linda Cracknell's father embarked on a hike through the Swiss Alps. Fifty years later Linda retraces that fateful journey, following the trail of the man she barely knew. This collection of walking tales takes its theme from that pilgrimage. The walks trace the contours of history, following writers, relations and retreading ways across mountains, valleys and coasts formerly trodden by drovers, saints and adventurers. Each walk is about the reaffirming of memories, beliefs and emotions, and especially of the connection that one can have with the past through particular places.
June 19, 2017
Doubling Back is an unusually personal book about walking, in that many of the walks described in it might not have made it into other writers' books. This is by no means intended as a criticism: these walks were important enough to Cracknell to write about, which is the best reason I can think of for reading about them.
The ten walks take place mainly in Great Britain, although there are excursions to Norway, Spain, Africa, and the Swiss Alps. Each one attempts to recreate, or at least celebrate, a journey made by one or more previous walkers (including, in some cases, Cracknell herself).
Although I'm usually shamelessly parochial in my reading preferences, the standout chapters to me were both set abroad: a walk retracing the wartime escape route taken through Norway by the father of one of Cracknell's friends; and an approximate recreation of an alpine climbing expedition led by Cracknell's own father in Switzerland in 1952. But I also enjoyed some of the less spectacular walks, especially following in the footsteps of Thomas Hardy and his wife in Cornwall, and a clamber over the hills above Loch Ness in Jessie Kesson country (no, me neither).
An enjoyable read.
The ten walks take place mainly in Great Britain, although there are excursions to Norway, Spain, Africa, and the Swiss Alps. Each one attempts to recreate, or at least celebrate, a journey made by one or more previous walkers (including, in some cases, Cracknell herself).
Although I'm usually shamelessly parochial in my reading preferences, the standout chapters to me were both set abroad: a walk retracing the wartime escape route taken through Norway by the father of one of Cracknell's friends; and an approximate recreation of an alpine climbing expedition led by Cracknell's own father in Switzerland in 1952. But I also enjoyed some of the less spectacular walks, especially following in the footsteps of Thomas Hardy and his wife in Cornwall, and a clamber over the hills above Loch Ness in Jessie Kesson country (no, me neither).
An enjoyable read.
April 13, 2016
3.5
Cracknell calls her book "a retreading of former ways first with feet and then in words". She 'retreads' ten walks, some she did herself many years ago, and some are walked for the first time in memory of those no longer with her.
Cracknell is an illusive character - sometimes she seems very alone and happy to be independent, other times she seems a bit of a lost soul, thinking about the children she never had, and about lovers who have now departed from her life.
On the whole the book is very good, but at times it does lapse a bit into 'creative writing' mode,
Cracknell calls her book "a retreading of former ways first with feet and then in words". She 'retreads' ten walks, some she did herself many years ago, and some are walked for the first time in memory of those no longer with her.
Cracknell is an illusive character - sometimes she seems very alone and happy to be independent, other times she seems a bit of a lost soul, thinking about the children she never had, and about lovers who have now departed from her life.
On the whole the book is very good, but at times it does lapse a bit into 'creative writing' mode,
September 25, 2014
I've long been a fan of Linda Cracknell's prose and 'Doubling Back' is no let down. Walking is clearly a deep passion in her life and the descriptive passages, whether bringing to life Cornish pathways or Alpine peaks, are poetic and dramatic. Each of the ten walks allows her to ruminate on literature, human relationships, the nature of memory and our connections with the natural world. A must read whether you like scaling peaks with ice axes and crampons or prefer a comfy chair and warm fire.
May 26, 2021
Each turn of the page awakened my own memories of walks undertaken and places visited. It is beautifully written and the descriptions are so vivid, I could almost have been on the walks with the author. Linda Cracknell retraces the footsteps of others from the Drove Roads of Scotland, the Scottish Borders, a route to Skye and to the escape route of Norwegian Sven Somme over the mountains into neutral Sweden during the Second World War and finally back to her home ground of Aberfeldy.
Most exciting, dramatic but also poignant for me though was her trip in her own father’s footsteps over the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. One of the author’s friends sums it up for me ‘How many days do you get like this in a lifetime? Perhaps 30 if you’re lucky’
Most exciting, dramatic but also poignant for me though was her trip in her own father’s footsteps over the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. One of the author’s friends sums it up for me ‘How many days do you get like this in a lifetime? Perhaps 30 if you’re lucky’
January 8, 2025
Cracknell's quiet voice takes you along paths and through landscapes across the world and at home in her own adopted country of Scotland. Her accounts are much more than descriptions of her physical walks, however; they are intimate journeys through memories, alongside ghosts of the past and inspirational figures still very much alive.
January 8, 2019
Another enjoyable books about walking and the pleasures that surround it. Memories of past walks and those who shared the routes mixes with other thoughts often brought on by a stroll outside. Pleasurable reading
July 26, 2021
I've wanted to read this book for a long time, having already read two stories from it years ago. It did not disappoint. I loved each road I travelled with the author.
April 17, 2023
Some of the essays about the author's different walks in places far and wide were quite good but it is a stretch to make them the topic of a book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews