At Night: A Journey Round Britain from Dusk to Dawn

by Dixe Wills

Quirky travel writer, Dixe Wills, uncovers the 'other' Britain - the side revealed only at night. The night time brings calm and tranquillity but is also disorientating, making familiar surroundings foreign.

In his journey through the British landscape, Dixe tastes all that the night has to offer - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people, the animals. It's also a reflection on our relationship with the hours of darkness and why it is sometimes a fearful, yet always a magical place. Discover the dark secrets of Devon, Skomer, Snowdonia, Cumbria, Scotland, London and much more.

At Night explores various aspects of unseen Britain - from its mythical beasts and wildlife spectacles, to its sleeper trains and night time sporting events. Dixe also includes tips on walking safely in darkness and finding your way by the moon and stars, and brings up to date a literary tradition of night walking started by Charles Dickens.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Travel, Natural History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 21, 2015

About the author

Assuming for a moment that we are what we do, I’m an author and freelance non-flying travel journalist. I’ve written a number of genre-bending books and one or two that give librarians fewer dilemmas. My most recent work is Tiny Stations (AA) which is a journey through the penumbric world of Britain’s railway request stops. Prior to Tiny Stations, I penned Tiny Islands (AA) and Tiny Campsites (Punk). Before the mania for all things tiny struck me, I managed to knock out a few non-size-specific books, including The Z-Z of Great Britain, Places to Hide in England, Scotland and Wales, New World Order (Wills Weltordnung in its Bloomsbury Berlin edition) and, under the name Johnson P Johnson, The Armchair Naturalist (all Icon).

I write for the UK newspaper The Guardian, mainly on green travel. You can read my articles here. You might also find me popping up in other newspapers (though not ones owned by Rupert Murdoch or edited by Paul Dacre, you’ll be pleased to learn) and magazines, some of which you’ll find listed here. I host a monthly spoken word night-cum-pub quiz mash up called Stranger than Fiction that you really ought to come along to because it’s great fun and only costs six quid. I also have a cracking Isle of Dogs-based romcom script unjustly gathering dust in a cupboard. Is there no start to my talents?

Reviews

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a small copse of mature trees on the outskirts of the tiny village in which I live. It's a pleasant little wood, full of birdsong, and not somewhere that frightens me.
However at night that all changes! I don't even like driving past, and nothing would induce me to enter it, even with a strong torch. But why should this be so? Is it just a fear of not being able to see properly? Or does it somehow go deeper?

Dixe Wills explores our fear and fascination with night time in this really interesting book. He's made a bit of a name for himself with writing on the quirkier side of life, and he's explored his subject well.

Mind you, he does say "I have seldom gone to sleep before 2am for most of my adult life" which did make me wonder what sort of life he leads!

The book covers a wide range of night time experiences. For example he takes a sleeper train - but makes sure he stays awake all night. And I particularly enjoyed his urban ramblings around night time London in the footsteps of the insomniac Charles Dickens over 150 years ag

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is an alternative side to Britain, a side only revealed, though that is probably the wrong word, at night. Familiar landscapes become eerie and disorientating, but also calmer and quieter. Animals and people not normally seen during the day emerge. Other senses are enhanced and you become more aware of the smells and sounds around you. With your sight diminished, it takes a while to adjust to the dark, but on a moonlit night you can still see well.

In this quirky, delightful book, Wills goes looking for Britain at night. He joins in with an overnight bike ride, cycling from London to Dunwich. His regular bike was stolen, so he is on a spare bike and it isn’t quite roadworthy. He travels on the overnight sleeper train from Scotland to London and spend a night on the island of Skomer watching out for Manx shearwaters. The legend says that a night spent on Cadair Idris will turn you mad or into a poet, so Wills has to give that a go. He lives in London, and one of his jaunts was spending time wandering around the same streets that Dickens trod, revealing a whole new aspect of the city to him.

Like his other books, this is a really enjoyable read. He has a knack of choosing subjects that are rarely touched on by other writers, and by exploring the various aspects of the country at night he has found another niche. There are tips on moving safely at night too, as he wants us, the readers, to venture into the night in the same way that he did. Worth a read, and I am looking forward to his next book.

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Re-read March 2023, remains a good book on nocturnal wanderings. I like that Wills is able to conjure the atmosphere of nighttime, including the inky blackness and the fresh smells of dew slowly forming on grass. This one gets a stay of execution from the bookshelf cull.

Original review: 3.5 stars. A great book about all things nocturnal.

Having been hugely disappointed by Dixe Will's book on random train stations, this was a total turnaround due to the interesting subject matter. The conversational and humorous style of writing (which grated severely in the stations book) works well to explore all matters relating to night time.

He covers a good range of adventures from night camping by "haunted" forests and up the top of Cadair Idris, to night cycling through Sherwood Forest, to Dark Sky Reserves to taking the overnight sleeper train from the Highlands of Scotland to London.

Interesting if like me, you're a night owl and are frequently awake whilst the rest of the world slumbers on.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever I read his books I think - I want to have his life. The great thing is that the journeys he describes and the discoveries he makes can be ours. I have never been I disappointed with any of his titles and this is another great read.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful. Now I want to train to try the Dunwich Dynamo communal bike ride and generally also not be afraid of being out late at night.

[Ronald Schoedel III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Now I want to pedal the Dun Run, stay awake on the Caledonian Sleeper, and follow in the footsteps of Dickens-turned-footsteps of Dixe.

[Ralph Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Night is a magician,” begins this thought-provoking book. Exquisite, intelligent writing oozes out of its pages but first and foremost it begins with a contradiction, this insistence that the night is no bad thing. Wills regards with a pinch of salt the many superstitions around night-time and yet stuffs his book full of them. I, myself, opt for the rather more mundane reasoning that our primal minds dislike night for a reason. We don’t want to be out and about along with our traditional predators. There’s an ugly passage in the last chapter when he quizzes a homeless man which, once again, somewhat shows the author’s naïveté when it comes to night. For the destitute, night means danger and in most cases, death.

[Helen Firminger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was minded not to like this. Partly because he starts off by telling me things I know already. But mostly because I like the comfort of night walking and want to have written it myself - which is obviously not the author's problem. I'm pleased to say the book is charming, dealing lightly with dartmoor, beautifully with cadair idris, and humorously with puffin chicks on skomer. I giggled at least three times and allow that Dixe Wills deserves to write this book.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant insight into an otherwise unknown part of life.