Amber, Furs and Cockleshells: Bike Rides with Pilgrims and Merchants

(Paperback)

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Description

The Amber Route, the Santa Fe Trail and the Pilgrim Way to Santiago de Compostela: three very different but equally evocative journeys rich in history and spectacular landscape; also three challenging bike rides undertaken by the irrepressible Ms Mustoe. Amber beads have been highly prized for their magnetic power and beauty for millennia, making their way from the Baltic Sea to ancient Greece, Rome and medieval Europe. Santa Fe is synonymous with tales of the Old West, and the author weaves a colourful story of prospecting and trading along its trail. The shrine of Santiago de Compostela draws thousands of Christian pilgrims each year, but the route to it still provides the endurance and adventure necessary to a pilgrimage Treading the path to it was known in medieval times as 'taking the cockle' - and the cockleshell is still carried today by those who traverse along the Way. All three odysseys cross extraordinary towns and fascinating environments, and the author's warm and accessible style brings alive the history and magic of the places she writes about.

Reviews

Evocative reading * Observer *
Written by a real traveller * Wanderlust *
Her wry sense of humour is one of the great charms of Lone Traveller * Daily Telegraph *

Author Bio

Anne Mustoe read Classics at Cambridge and was the headmistress of a girls' school in Suffolk until 1987, when she left her job and embarked on her first solo journey around the world by bicycle. She is an established travel writer with a substantial following who lectures regularly on her adventures.