Search Results for: travel writing

Fired by a long enthusiasm for all things Greek, Edward Enfield mounts his trusty Raleigh to follow in the footsteps of such notable travellers to Greece as Benjamin Disraeli, Edward Lear and the Romantic poet Lord Byron.

Fortified by delicious fish dinners and quantities of draught retsina, he tackles the formidable roads of the Peloponnese before plunging, on a later trip, into the rugged heartlands of Epirus and Acarnania. His travels are set against the great panorama of Greek history – Greeks and Romans, Turks and Albanians, Venetians, Englishmen and Germans all people his pages.

An enchanting travelogue that combines wit, charm and scholarship, Greece On My Wheels is a superb example of travel writing at its unforgettable best.

Join travel writer Tom Chesshyre in this charming celebration of our favourite green spaces from around the world

People love parks – and more than that, people need parks. We crave greenery, fresh air and birdsong. Whether we’re in Colombia or Korea, America or Australia, urban parks are places where we can find calm amid the chaos. They can also (more often than we may realize) conceal intriguing hidden histories, and can tell us something about modern life in our frenzied world, too.

With fondness and humour, travel writer Tom Chesshyre recalls 50 of his favourite urban parks from across the world, in a love letter to the green escapes that bring us joy in our cities.

Escape to the sunlight and colour of a wild island in the south Aegean.

When Jennifer moves alone into the Honey Factory on a tiny Greek island, bringing a laptop, her hiking boots and plans for a peaceful life, she has no idea what surprises are in store.

Diving into an exciting new life with a fisherman, she learns something every day. Joining the dancing at local festivals and helping at a café on the beach, surviving winter storms and finding a canine companion, she is faced with both challenges and rewards, and discovers that to become an island woman she must live small and think big.

I came here looking for some kind of happiness. I think it might be the cleverest thing I have ever done.

One heartbroken winter, Jennifer decides to act on her dream of moving to a tiny Greek island – because life is too short not to reach out for what makes us happy.

Funny, romantic and full of surprising twists, Falling in Honey is a story about relationships, tzatziki, adventures, swimming, Greek dancing, starfish… and a bumpy but beautiful journey into Mediterranean sunshine.

Steve and I clutched hands – his right in my left – and then we simultaneously pushed down with our feet. Cogs clicked, wheels turned, and we were on our way. We left Nordkapp within minutes. Cape Town was only 18,000 kilometres away.
Deciding to break away from his comfortable lifestyle in London, Reza and his friend Steven set off from the most northerly point on mainland Europe to cycle the 11,000 miles to the other end of the planet, completely unsupported.
Their expedition becomes a race against the clock, as they attempt to complete the trip in a world record of just 100 days. Battling punishing terrain and primitive roads, harsh and debilitating climates, malaria, food poisoning and heat stroke, their thrilling journey brings them face to face with some of the world’s most stunning, memorable and volatile regions.
This is the intensely personal story of one man’s mission to create a more positive, purposeful life, and the compelling account of the epic journey he took to get there.

At 2,922 miles, the Congo is the eighth longest river and the deepest in the world, with a flow rate second only to the Amazon. Ex-Marine Phil Harwood embarked on an epic solo journey from the river’s true source in the highlands of Zambia through war-torn Central Africa. With no outside help whatsoever he faced swamps, waterfalls, man-eating crocodiles, hippos, aggressive snakes and spiders’ webs the size of houses. He collapsed from malaria, and was arrested, intimidated and chased. On one stretch, known as ‘The Abattoir’ for its history of cannibalism and reputation for criminal activity, the four brothers he hired as bodyguards were asked by locals, ‘Why haven’t you cut his throat yet?’ But he also received tremendous hospitality from proud and brave people long forgotten by the Western world, especially friendly riverside fishermen who helped wherever they could on Phil’s exhilarating and terrifying five-month journey.

Author’s documentary film of the journey, available on his website ww.canoeingthecongo.com, won several awards and went on tour in North America with the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

Join travel writer and self-confessed “train nut” Tom Chesshyre as he celebrates 200 years of passenger railways on a zigzagging tour around the UK – the home of the railways – from the Isle of Wight to Snowdonia, Inverness and Penzance

In a small market town in the northeast of England in 1825, something momentous happened: ticket-bearing human beings began moving along wrought-iron tracks on a contraption with wheels powered by engines. The contraption was called a “train”. What happened in Darlington, along a 26-mile line to Stockton, would kickstart the railway revolution. Today, 1.3 million miles of tracks crisscross the planet.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of this groundbreaking event, Tom Chesshyre embarks on a journey around the country that invented trains, taking in many heritage lines maintained by armies of enthusiasts. On a series of rides beginning and ending in Darlington on a train-inspired circle, Tom enjoys the scenery, seeks out the history, dodges delays (best he can), and lets the rhythm of the clattering rails help him understand what it is about trains – especially wonderful old trains – that we love so much.

Magic, to a sailor, is harnessing the wind – getting something for nothing – the surprise of a gust, the boon of a side-wind and the trial of a headwind and best of all, the moment when a change in direction means turning away from the head seas and wind and spray in silence and warmth. In 1969, man flew to the moon and sailed around the world solo. In 2009, sailor and Londoner Steffan Meyric Hughes thought he’d try something a little closer to home, becoming the first to sail and row around London in a small boat. Along the way, he discovers the history of the great city and great secrets of the mysterious Thames: wrecks, bombs and intrigue. Circle Line is the story of a unique journey on the forgotten waterways of one of the world’s greatest capitals; an investigation into the way we live today; and a humorous, moving trip down memory lane.

The man with the gun pushed me down onto the carpet. I tried to cower to make my body curl smaller, instinctively covering my head.
Oh God, please don’t kill me.’ My words clung to my teeth and now my whole body was so cold. All I had left were these words.
‘Please. Please don’t kill me. Jesus. God. Please.’
I wanted to live and I knew it with absolute certainty. I don’t want to die.

Emma Slade was a high-flying debt analyst for a large investment bank, when she was taken hostage in a hotel room on a business trip to Jakarta. She thought she was lucky to come out of it unscathed, but over the ensuing weeks and months, as the financial markets crashed, Emma became her own distressed asset as the trauma following the event took hold.

Realising her view on life had profoundly changed she embarked upon a journey, discovering the healing power of yoga and, in Bhutan, opening her eyes to a kinder, more peaceful way of living.

From fast-paced City life to the stillness of Bhutan’s Himalayan mountains, Set Free is the inspiring true story of Emma’s astonishing life lived to extremes and all that that entails: work, travel, spirituality, Buddhism, relationships, and the underlying question of what makes a meaningful life.

“A magical and hugely captivating journey – filled with such beauty, wonder and surprise. A simply marvellous read, hugely recommended“ – Stephen Fry

A real-life journey through the fantastical world of The Odyssey

It started with a boy, of course. Seeking solace from the pain of heartbreak and her father’s illness, Laura Coffey embarks on what was meant to be a simple holiday. But her newfound fascination with ancient Greek myths transforms her trip into a six-month odyssey, around tiny archipelagos and mystical Mediterranean islands thought to be the setting of Odysseus’s epic journey. As she chases one of the most conflicted, flawed and yet beloved heroes through his fantastical sea-kingdoms, looking for the places where geography and mythology collide, she discovers the wild beauty of the islands, and the redemptive powers of travel and nature, cold-water swimming, long hikes up mountains, and luminous star-lit skies.

But her quest to find happiness, safety and the true meaning of home is overshadowed by the deepening illness of her father. Returning as he’s dying, forced to confront the very things she was running from, Laura reflects on what she has lost, how to live between story and reality, and the way we craft our own mythologies. Slipping between the mythical realm and the real world, she finds enchantment and healing in the magic of both.

“If you love memoir and Greek mythology, this is a delight. A spellbinding book about growing up, grieving and the gods.” – Clare Pollard, author of Delphi