Wild Britain: A Traveller's Guide

by Douglas Botting

The New Forest is hardly the sort of wild or remote place where you would expect to get lost, especially if you are an experienced traveler, but Douglas Botting managed it. "There were no sounds of civilization to give us a bearing on the outside world, no distinguishable landmarks, just trees, and more trees, and clearings, thickets, groves, gullies leading nowhere in particular, and trees again." As he explains in this warm and lyrical book, it does not do to underestimate wild Britain. He makes a wonderful job of showing you around, taking you from the broad-leaf woodlands of southern England to the wind-lashed basalt and granite cliffs of the Outer Hebrides. Whether he is celebrating the rolling Yorkshire Dales of his childhood, where the lapwings cried and the bluebottles huzzahed in the cowpats, or engaging with the earth-shattering intricacies of plate tectonics, Douglas Botting is always readable and entertaining. The book also describes in detail where to go fishing, climbing, cycling, caving, riding, camping, and even ballooning, and offers some unusual ideas for where to stay, including the time capsule of Kinloch Castle on the Isle of Rhum, intact in every detail down to the scoreboard of its Edwardian billiard room. This edition of Wild Britain is published in association with Friends of the Earth, and has been thoroughly revised with their help. The entire text has been reset. All names and addresses have been brought up to date, and e-mail addresses and web-site details added. Sustrans cycle routes have been incorporated wherever appropriate, along with other improvements.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

Reviews

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books was quite useful to understand what to expect in a huge variety of National Parks and wildlife areas inside Britain. It explains the parks and what animals or birds are found there. Books is sorted by sections.

[Margaret Pinard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's an oldie, I've got to think a lot of the advice is still great. Geography must stay relatively stable, even if people and their fads do not. Time enough to put it to the test next year on a trip! :)