Weird Walk: Number Three - Midsummer 2020

Weird Walk #3

by Weird Walk, Alex Hornsby (Editor), Owen Tromans (Editor)

Rise up like the sun...

48 page A5 zine
Printed on high quality recycled stock
A midsummer night's zine

In this issue we dive, like a drunken Norse king, headfirst into boozelore to pick out the legends and customs concealed in your glass. Elsewhere, strong vibes abound as we get out to some of this land’s most resonant spots: the return of Dolmania takes us down the road to the Devil’s Den, while new feature High Horses hikes out to Uffington.

We also explore the ritual renaissance with artist Ben Edge, and the undisputed king of 'Northern Gothic' Andrew Michael Hurley joins us to discuss his work and the landscape and folklore therein.

The solstice is upon us, the perfect time to be dreaming of rambles...

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Folklore, Travel, History

48 pages, Magazine

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Emily Thornhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slightly late to reading this over the summer solstice as I had originally planned, but enjoyable no matter the time of year:) I’ve been trying to read the issues corresponding with the celebrations that take place as the wheel of the year turns, to really revel in the history and folklore of the time. This edition communicates perfectly the hazy buzz of summer! My favourite sections were ‘The Ritual Renaissance’ with Ben Edge and ‘The Folklore of Booze’.

I found the ‘Beating the Bounds’ section fascinating, as it references a folk tradition I remember taking part in myself as a child. Unlike the account given here, the version I was involved in consisted of walking along the old parish boundary of my town, placing a square of turf on top of the stone markers, and lifting our residents upside down to gently bump their heads against every boundary stone we reached. It was cool to see this ancient tradition getting a mention:)

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this issue of Weird Walk, a zine that connects the weirdness of the British landscape, it's culture, folklore and history together in whatever it does to the practice of rambling. The print stock is gorgeous to hold, and thankfully in this issue it's easier to read than the black type on pink.

One of my favourite pieces in the zine was an acid folk primer (with some suggested walks t00). Weird Walk have playlists on Spotify so I was listening to the acid folk one whilst reading this on a beautiful spring morning with the sun shining. Acid folk is a touchpoint of the sixties and seventies where traditional folk meets psychedelic ideas in instrumentation and lyrics. It harks to a past but in many respects in 2024 it harks to a different past, that of the aspirations of the 1960's of welcoming in modernity whilst holding tight to the past.

I also loved the interview with Andrew Michael Hurley who lives in the same city as I do, who wrote a piece in Test Signal which almost broke my heart exploring the connection between walking during a pandemic and the encroachment of new build housing on previous wild spaces because it resonated so strongly. His books are set 'around here' but as I discovered in this interview 'not quite' because people cannot quite seem to place them. I loved his observation on folk horror being a way of shining a light on Britain's imperial past and also a reflection on the right wing adopting England's green and pleasant lands. These fields being places were folk were murdered, where wars were fought, where industrialisation destroyed the landscape.

In Issue 1 there was an article on 'flat roofed pubs' and in this issue there is another short piece about another pub in Birmingham. A pub built next to a secondary school (which definitely woudn't happen now) - although it wasn't that long ago that you couldn't walk ten minutes in any village, town or city without finding a bunch of pubs. I also remember my sixth form college having a pub right next to the gates so it's not that unusual in working class estates. The article refers to it being a pub for men, but explores the rumours and urban folk tales of youth and working class estates. This was the pub kids sneaked in for a pint. This was a pub the teachers go drunk in after work. This was a pub where men invited in older girls from the school.... All of these things may have happened once, often or never but I can kind of relate to all of these stories growing up on a working class estate. The pub is now a fried chicken outlet and to be honest that feels worse being right next door to a school.

Great zine with lots to dip in and out of, lots of walks and obligatory dolmens...

[Kieran Telo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more readable than the previous pink edition, and a solid addition to the series even though none of the articles were outstanding. I liked the interviews and the walk around Uffington but the acid folk stuff and half baked history of boozing not so much. Again, very few of the pictures/photos are captioned. Why?

[Helen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Edge art, booze, chalk horse and folk horror novels.