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Weird Walk #4
Weird Walk: Number Four - Imbolc 2021
Weird Walk Zine Issue Four
48 page A5 zine
Printed on high quality recycled stock
Abundant with vibes
The wheel turns and we find ourselves halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Signs of new life emerge, the earth awakens, a new issue of Weird Walk pokes through the fecund mulch…
The question of land rights, and who owns the British countryside, has dangled over these islands for centuries. Nick Hayes addresses free access to open spaces directly in this issue’s interview, while Zakia Sewell speaks of discovering a different kind of Britain, the Albion that she has navigated on her excellent BBC radio shows.
Elsewhere Stewart Lee finds his own connection with the landscape on a walk from Lamorna, uniting passions for visionary artists and prehistoric monuments and, in contrast to country acres parcelled away on grand estates, we take a look at the edgelands, those unloved, unruly spaces and the music that conjures them.
May the wand of Saint Brigid bless your vegetation…
48 page A5 zine
Printed on high quality recycled stock
Abundant with vibes
The wheel turns and we find ourselves halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Signs of new life emerge, the earth awakens, a new issue of Weird Walk pokes through the fecund mulch…
The question of land rights, and who owns the British countryside, has dangled over these islands for centuries. Nick Hayes addresses free access to open spaces directly in this issue’s interview, while Zakia Sewell speaks of discovering a different kind of Britain, the Albion that she has navigated on her excellent BBC radio shows.
Elsewhere Stewart Lee finds his own connection with the landscape on a walk from Lamorna, uniting passions for visionary artists and prehistoric monuments and, in contrast to country acres parcelled away on grand estates, we take a look at the edgelands, those unloved, unruly spaces and the music that conjures them.
May the wand of Saint Brigid bless your vegetation…
48 pages, Magazine
First published January 1, 2021
38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 25, 2024
A perfect inspiration read for 2025 bucket list item number 1: Go on more hikes.
August 20, 2024
A fantastic and fascinating mag that is lovingly curated in every sense of the word.
March 21, 2024
A so-so issue of Weird Walk for me. There wasn't much I didn't enjoy in the zine and I do enjoy it's meandering nature but this issue felt like it was less than the sum of it's parts somehow. Maybe it's how I'm feeling or the time I read it or whatever.
As always the paper stock is lovely to hold and it looks great although similar to the black text on pink in an earlier issue I wasn't in love with the black text on turquoise here.
I really enjoyed Zakia Sewell's piece about identity and a 'quest for Albion' and what it means from multicultural Hounslow to rural Wales. I enjoyed her personal introspection of her own identity and culture and relationship to folk music. What I am enjoying in my readings of folklore zines is the concerted effort to reclaim tradition, history, folklore and culture out of the grasp of the far right. Where my own reflections go is that there is a section of British people who think the left or the woke 'hate' Britain. They miss nuance. I can despise the state, the wealth inequality, the bigotry and legacy of Empire - but I can appreciate our diversity, our traditions, our culture (and I include my working class culture for all it's rights and wrongs here). We can also appreciate a good walk in the woods!
Stuart Lee (the well known comedian) writes a lovely meandering piece around the village and region of Lamorna in Cornwall. It is a love affair to the art, culture, and folklore and history of the area. It seems imbued with magic! The way Lee writes it is as though the place exists in another place. I'm relatively well travelled around the UK to a degree but have never been to Cornwall. It sounds wonderful, a place set apart by it's remoteness. Lee's wonder and excitement really comes through in this piece and I really liked it. This is one of two pieces to name drop Napalm Death which feels curiously fun.
There are a couple of walks suggested in here aside from Lee's Lamorna walk. There is a ramble around Glastonbury Tor - a place infused with Arthurian legend which I would love to visit, and one to see a standing stone on a hill in Dorset. This is heavily themed South West issue!
I enjoyed the interview with a professor of Neolithic Archaeology (actually working in the city I live so there's a local connection), and there is a one page piece about the London Stone which is written in an almost satirical or magical realism style. Part of me wants to smile about that being the only history London has before the Industrial Revolution (I know it's not true, but London tries it's best to hoover up culture in the UK).
An article about the right to trespass is really good and deserves more attention in the 'weird walk world'. So much of England is kept away by fences and enclosures. It is still the land of my ancestors and mine - as an aside, the right wing with all their 'look at the foreigners taking our stuff' never look to the landlord and property owning class and ask, 'why did you take away our fields, woods, wild spaces, rivers, hills and mountains...'
Considering I really enjoyed the music articles in previous issues I didn't get into them here. I recognise the concept of liminal spaces and that area between urban and rural and I would like to see it explored more but I felt I wasn't to interested in the musical connection.
Weird Walk does come with a strong recommendation if you like walking, like to explore our relationship to the land and history in England
As always the paper stock is lovely to hold and it looks great although similar to the black text on pink in an earlier issue I wasn't in love with the black text on turquoise here.
I really enjoyed Zakia Sewell's piece about identity and a 'quest for Albion' and what it means from multicultural Hounslow to rural Wales. I enjoyed her personal introspection of her own identity and culture and relationship to folk music. What I am enjoying in my readings of folklore zines is the concerted effort to reclaim tradition, history, folklore and culture out of the grasp of the far right. Where my own reflections go is that there is a section of British people who think the left or the woke 'hate' Britain. They miss nuance. I can despise the state, the wealth inequality, the bigotry and legacy of Empire - but I can appreciate our diversity, our traditions, our culture (and I include my working class culture for all it's rights and wrongs here). We can also appreciate a good walk in the woods!
Stuart Lee (the well known comedian) writes a lovely meandering piece around the village and region of Lamorna in Cornwall. It is a love affair to the art, culture, and folklore and history of the area. It seems imbued with magic! The way Lee writes it is as though the place exists in another place. I'm relatively well travelled around the UK to a degree but have never been to Cornwall. It sounds wonderful, a place set apart by it's remoteness. Lee's wonder and excitement really comes through in this piece and I really liked it. This is one of two pieces to name drop Napalm Death which feels curiously fun.
There are a couple of walks suggested in here aside from Lee's Lamorna walk. There is a ramble around Glastonbury Tor - a place infused with Arthurian legend which I would love to visit, and one to see a standing stone on a hill in Dorset. This is heavily themed South West issue!
I enjoyed the interview with a professor of Neolithic Archaeology (actually working in the city I live so there's a local connection), and there is a one page piece about the London Stone which is written in an almost satirical or magical realism style. Part of me wants to smile about that being the only history London has before the Industrial Revolution (I know it's not true, but London tries it's best to hoover up culture in the UK).
An article about the right to trespass is really good and deserves more attention in the 'weird walk world'. So much of England is kept away by fences and enclosures. It is still the land of my ancestors and mine - as an aside, the right wing with all their 'look at the foreigners taking our stuff' never look to the landlord and property owning class and ask, 'why did you take away our fields, woods, wild spaces, rivers, hills and mountains...'
Considering I really enjoyed the music articles in previous issues I didn't get into them here. I recognise the concept of liminal spaces and that area between urban and rural and I would like to see it explored more but I felt I wasn't to interested in the musical connection.
Weird Walk does come with a strong recommendation if you like walking, like to explore our relationship to the land and history in England
July 29, 2022
Weird Walk Four is marred by a production cockup that means certain pages are bound in the wrong order. I pointed out what seemed to be missing pages, was sent another copy, and only then realised that the pages are all there but not in the right sequence. This and the very weak article by Zakia Sewell, whoever that is, mar what would have been the best issue yet.
Nick Hayes interview is great, Boundary Sounds too, and I wish the Vicki Cummings interview was both longer and had better imagery (or even some indication of what the drawings actually are: as with issues 1-3 none of the images are captioned). And the Stewart Lee article was much better than I was expecting too. The London Stone piece seems to descend into some Burroughsian cut up abstraction at the end.
Nick Hayes interview is great, Boundary Sounds too, and I wish the Vicki Cummings interview was both longer and had better imagery (or even some indication of what the drawings actually are: as with issues 1-3 none of the images are captioned). And the Stewart Lee article was much better than I was expecting too. The London Stone piece seems to descend into some Burroughsian cut up abstraction at the end.
March 16, 2021
When can we go for a good old romp?!
April 27, 2021
Great little zine which introduced me to a handful of pieces of writing and sounds which I'll be investigating a bit further!
November 23, 2025
Lamorna, Glastonbury, Neolithic, how to trespass, Dolmania and Albion.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews