A review by poorlywordedbookreviews
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.0

“𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘛𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴.”

   

Travel ancient paths and you can unlock lost worlds, travel back in time and into our collective imagination. Route ways carved into the landscape tell our earliest stories, long before pen hit paper.

   

Focused mostly on Britain, but also featuring paths in the Himalayas and Palestine, this is my third McFarlane non-fiction, and definitely my least favourite to date. It still has all the positives I’ve come to expect, and when it’s hitting it’s stride he really immerses you into the natural world, full of awe and wonder, with such a vivid sense of place. However, I found this one was frequently too verbose and a tad self indulgent. It was the first time he’s really smacked me as someone who definitely enjoys the sound of his own voice. It also doesn’t help that the different sections here are often not very distinct from each other, giving that messy ‘run together’ feel - dipping in and out, rather than reading the whole thing would probably offset this. And purely personal to me, he rehashed a lot of information I already knew from other reading. 

   

In conclusion, don’t start your McFarlane reading with this one. Read Underland or Landmarks!