Walking the Bones of Britain: A 3 Billion Year Journey from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary

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A thousand mile, three billion year journey that tells the story of how the land beneath our feet shapes our past, present and future from the author of The January Man and Ships of Heaven. Travelling a thousand miles and across three billion years, Christopher Somerville, author of The January Man and Ships of Heaven, sets out to discover how the land beneath our feet shapes our past, our present and our future. Taking a journey of a thousand miles, Christopher Somerville begins in the far north, at the three-billion-year-old rocks of the Isle of Lewis, formed when the world was still molten, and travels south-eastwards to the furthest corner of Essex, where new land is being formed. Crossing bogs, scaling peaks and skirting quarry pits, he unearths the stories bound up in the layers of rock beneath our feet, and examines how they have influenced everything from how we farm to how we build our houses, from the Industrial Revolution to the current climate crisis. Told with characteristic humour and insight, this gripping exploration of the British landscape and its remarkable history cannot fail to change the way you see the world beyond your door. 'Somerville is a walker's writer' Nicholas Crane

Reviews

[Somerville's] infectious enthusiasm and wry humour infuse his journey from the Isle of Lewis to southern England, revealing our rich geological history with vibrant local and natural history. * Observer *
For someone who hated geology lessons at school, barely able to stay awake during discussions of laminated rhyolites and tuffaceous breccias, Christopher Somerville has made up for this with aplomb and vivid readability. To have tramped more than 1,000 miles from the sea stacks of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, where in fiery days gone by more than 3,000 million years ago the landscape was literally set in stone, and reach the silty clay of Wallasea Island in Essex is a remarkable achievement. By focusing on the best bits of geological interest along the way such as Arthur's Seat in once volcanic Edinburgh, the sandstone crags of the Pennine Way and the chalky Chilterns, he provides an illuminating new take on the British landscape. Encounters, warm humour, history and plenty of geology (Carboniferous periods, Permian periods, Zechstein Seas, no less) carry you down the winding tracks. -- Tom Chesshyre, author of Lost in the Lakes

Rambling alongside the tirelessly energetic Christopher Somerville from the comfort of my armchair is a joy.
In Walking the Bones Someville is the perfect travelling companion. Knowledgeable and observant, he picks up the stories of the paths he walks along in much the same way as he illuminates the stones which are under his feet, holding them up for us to see, and then returning them to the path, for the next curious traveller to find. A meticulous exploration of the ground beneath our feet. Glorious."

-- Katharine Norbury, author of The Fish Ladder and Women on Nature
An ideal gift for any walking enthusiast who wants to know more. -- Patrick Corbett * Geoscientist magazine *
Walking the Bones of Britain demystifies our daunting geology on a nine-month journey laced with humour and history. -- Roger Butler * The Great Outdoors *

Author Bio

Christopher Somerville is the walking correspondent of The Times. He is one of Britain's most respected and prolific travel writers, with forty-two books, hundreds of newspaper articles and many TV and radio appearances to his name. He lives in Bristol.