A treasure trove of fascinating stories, little-known places and
hidden gems of history, Westering is a coast-to-coast British journey
from Norfolk to the Welsh coast, by an established travel writer.
From Great Yarmouth to Aberystwyth, Westering takes us across England
from the Fens, Leicester, the Black Country and central Wales. It
connects landscape, place and memory to evoke a narrative unravelling
the deep topography, and following a westerly route that runs against
the grain of the land, its geology, culture and historical bedrock.
With the industrial Midlands sandwiched between bucolic landscapes in
East Anglia and Wales, here we explore places too often overlooked.
Along the way we encounter deserted medieval villages, battlefield
sites, the ghosts of Roman soldiers, valleys drowned for reservoirs,
ancient forests, John Clare's beloved fields, and the urban edgelands.
Notions of home and belonging, landscapes of loss and absence, birds and
the resilience of nature, the psychology of walking, and the
psychogeography of liminal places all frame the story.