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Text Content

CHRISTOPHER SOMERVILLE

travel writer
 * About the Author
 * News
 * Walks
 * Map of Walks
 * Books
 * Comments
 * Contact Me
 * Walks in Ireland

About the AuthorNewsWalksMap of WalksBooksCommentsContact MeWalks in Ireland


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


 


ABOUT CHRISTOPHER

Christopher Somerville is Walking Correspondent of The Times. His long-running
‘A Good Walk’ series appears every Saturday in the Times Weekend section. He has
written some 40 books, many about his travels on foot in various parts of the
world, and thousands of articles in all the national newspapers. He has had two
collections of poetry published. He loves music, and sometimes tries to play it.
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Christopher’s forthcoming book ‘The View from the Hill – four seasons in a
walker’s Britain’ (Haus Publishing, 20.09.21) …


NEW FOREST IN MIST



It was one of those cold, muted Hampshire days in early spring, and the New
Forest looked as if it was still deciding whether it was ready to admit the
season of new life just yet. Silver birch leaves were quivering at breaking
point all across Fritham Plain, rabbits scuttered between green heather and gold
sand scrapes, and a whitethroat was hesitantly trying out its scratchy little
courting song from a gorse bush spattered bravely with yellow blooms. Yet there
was no warmth in the pale ghost of a sun trying in vain to peer through the mist
that hung over the Forest.

A morning for brisk walking, then. After a couple of weeks cooped up in the
house, Jane and I were glad to step out along the gravelled track that ran away
from the forest hamlet of Fritham across the open expanse of heath where
ragged-coated ponies were cropping the gorse. Clumps of ancient hollies stood
out above the heather and bracken, their smooth branches twined with ivy, their
trunks girdled with fresh green shoots of butcher’s broom. There was a rich tang
of wet earth and of sappy wood, the smell of a springtime about to unpack itself
from the ground and the trees.

It was the Normans who brought us the notion of a forest as a hunting enclave.
Deer have always needed trees for shelter and open ground for grazing, so
forests were never intended to be great unbroken slabs of trees – they developed
as mosaics of woodland, water, rough grazing and wetland, with farmland and
forest settlements creeping in over the centuries. That’s the way the New Forest
is today, a rare and wonderful expanse of varied country through which a walker
can wander pretty much at will.

From the open heath the path dipped through the skirts of Sloden Inclosure and
Holly Hatch Inclosure, blocks of old forestry sheltering yew groves and immense,
gnarled oaks as swollen and spindle-limbed as any Arthur Rackham fairy tree.
‘Look!’ Jane exclaimed, gripping my arm to call a halt. Two fallow does, one
heavy with a fawn, were watching us from the trees. Deer and humans stared at
one another till the animals tossed up their heads with an air of ineffable
contempt and trotted away.

Out from the trees curled the path, making back towards Fritham across the wide
heather wastes of Ocknell Plain. Tiny mallard ducklings were scooting across
Cadman’s Pool in a jostling line, and down in the boggy valley beside South
Bentley Inclosure a pair of snipe went zagging away as we plodged noisily
towards their feeding place through yellow mud.

The mist never let up all day; in fact it was thickening once more when we got
back to Fritham and shook off our mud-laden boots at the door of the Royal Oak.
But we’d seen enough of the stirrings of spring on our New Forest walk to add a
spice of delight to our lunch of bread, cheese and Ringwood bitter.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Vivid reading. Knowing that some of the fighting in the Burmese jungle was
hand-to-hand is one thing; reading what it was like to take part in a bayonet
charge is quite another.’ – Sunday Telegraph ‘Perfect for veteran ramblers and
leisurely strollers alike.’ – Coast Magazine ‘Cathedrals are all things to all
people. … To capture all this, vividly and stylishly, in one book
suggests something close to divine inspiration … Yet it’s not the breadth of his
travels that impresses. It’s the depth of the “cathedral experience” that he
uncovers by the old-fashioned journalistic method of getting knowledgeable
people to talk freely about what they know best, then using his sharp eyes and
wits to fill in the rest of the story.’ – Richard Morrison, The Times ‘This
is nature at its most embracing; human nature richly-woven into the cycle of the
seasons and the ecologies of father and son, observed with the passion and
learning of Britain’s favourite walker. A truly wonderful, uplifting book,
bursting with life.’ Nicholas Crane

 Posted by john at 16:42



CHRISTOPHER'S NEW BOOK 'THE VIEW FROM THE HILL - FOUR SEASONS IN A WALKER'S
BRITAIN' (HAUS PUBLISHING) IS OUT NOW! UPCOMING TALKS SO FAR:


SUN 26 JUNE, 12:15 - CHALKE VALLEY HISTORY FESTIVAL

TUES 20 SEPTEMBER - APPLEDORE BOOK FESTIVAL, EARLY EVENING, MAIN HALL -
BOXOFFICE@APPLEDOREBOOKFESTIVAL.CO.UK

SAT 15 OCTOBER, 15:00 - MALVERN FESTIVAL, 3 PM, ST LEONARDS CHURCH, BEAUCHAMP
COMMUNITY (NB THIS TALK IS ON CHRISTOPHER'S BOOK ABOUT CATHEDRALS, 'SHIPS OF
HEAVEN' - HTTP://WWW.MALVERNFESTIVAL.CO.UK/INDEX.HTML?PAGE=EVENTS

MONDAY 24 OCTOBER - OFF THE SHELF FESTIVAL, SHEFFIELD, 7PM, MILLENNIUM GALLERY -
HTTPS://WWW.OFFTHESHELF.ORG.UK




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RECENT POSTS

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© Christopher Somerville Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

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