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Product Description
Product Description
In a sweeping panorama which takes in everything from hot pepper ice cream and slug sex to the legacy of the Romantic movement and the future of the European brown bear, If You Only Walk Long Enough is a fascinating portrait of the French Pyrenees as they move into the 21st century. It is also the story of a solitary walker and a long-distance footpath, the Pyrenean Way (GR10). When he set out from the Atlantic coast, Steve Cracknell thought he was heading for the Mediterranean on a trail which ambled through the foothills. He ended up with crampons and ice axe, crossing glaciers to tackle the highest peaks of the range. In a book which is by turns amusing and thoughtful he treads lightly across the landscape, concluding that the Pyrenees are changing rapidly. Now is the time to discover them.
About the Author
Born in Yorkshire, England, but now a French citizen, the author lives in a village not far from the Mediterranean. He studied engineering at university before becoming an archaeologist. He then started a typesetting business only to end up in website design and programming.
He grows grapes for a hobby, drinks wine for pleasure, and is the vice-president of the village social club because somebody has to do it. He enjoys long walks in the mountains, alone or in good company.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Only walk Long Enough. GR10. Atlantic to the Med.,
By
This review is from: If You Only Walk Long Enough (Paperback)
For those who have a spirit of adventure the GR10 long distance footpath and this book is for you.
I just loved it and have recently finished re-reading it. Not only could I picture exactly where and what Steve Cracknell is describing, but I also greatly enjoyed his humour and all the extra information regarding local customs, history and general explanations surrounding the trek from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean along the French side of the Pyrenees. I would recommend it to anyone who has or intends to attempt this hike, as the book brings it all back to life, without the pain and exhaustion!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Don't buy this as a guide book,
By
This review is from: If You Only Walk Long Enough (Paperback)
This is the narrative of his walk along GR10 and it tells you how he found it and the people he met.
At times I lost interest and had to concentrate to get to the next page. It is well written if you want to learn about the route but there is not enough in it to act as a guidebook. It does, however, give you lots of interesting details as you go.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great way to learn about the Pyrenees Mountains,
By bilahn "bilahn" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: If You Only Walk Long Enough (Paperback)
Before picking up this book the only thing I knew about the Pyrenees Mountains was that they formed the border between France and Spain and contained the Basque Country and an obscure country called Andorra. Given that I was unlikely to ever learn more, and since I am an avid hiker, this book was an enjoyable way to find out more.
This book recounts the author's travels over several sessions on the Pyrenean Way, a long distance hiking path that traverses the mountains from the Atlantic Ocean to the Meditteranean Sea, entirely, I gather, on the French side of the border. It is thus comparable to the famous Appalachian Trail in the United States. It is however, a very different kind of trail than the Appalachian. The later, while never far from the East Cost Megalopolis, largely travels through very sparsely populated remote areas, passing only near small towns. In my part of the country, the Superior Hiking Trail of Northern Minnesota will take you exclusively through trees, and more trees. The Pyrenneas Mountains, however, contain a higly develped rural economy with a fairly large population. Given the much longer history of Europe compared to North America, this is not too surprising. The result is that while we do learn much about the natural world of the Pyrenneas, there is a very large emphasis on the human element of the mountains. Very well written, the book reads much like a novel: we meet many intresting characters during the journey, we visit the towns and hostels he stays at, and learn much about the history of the area, and the ways the mountains are changing. Throughout, the reader absorbs a lot of the local flavor of these localities, and the kind of people who live there. All of this is in the context of the physical travails of making a long hike of this nature. Many travel books tend to be either dry and merely descriptive, or overly florid in prose. Thankfully, this book avoids both. Being mildly conversant in French, I enjoyed the rather large quantities of French phraseology (I could test myself before seeing the immediate translation). Some attention is also paid to forestry and conservaton issues, which are of major interest to me. Some of these issues are quite different from those in North America. I was amused, for example, that similar to Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," about the Appalachian Trail, the author has an obsession with bears! I can tell you that I have never seen a bear on any of my hikes, and the only time any one usually does is if they leave food out at a campsite overnight. In fact, the reintroduction of bears in the Pyrennees is very controversial. This is in contrast to North America, where such a controversy would seem unlikely. Bears have never left, and they are likely to continue to rule. I would recommend this book to anyone who pursues travel log adventures of this type, or anyone who wants to learn some history of this part of Europe in an informal and engaging way. |
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