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From the very centre of England – literally, as his village is furthest from the sea – Hugh Thomson travels to its outermost edges. The Green Road into the Trees is a journey made rich by the characters he meets along the way. And the ways he takes are the old ways, the drover-paths and tracks, the paths and ditches half covered by bramble and tunnelled by alder, beech and oak: the trails that can still be traced by those who know where to look.
Just as in his acclaimed book about Peru, The White Rock, Hugh shows how older, half-forgotten cultures lie much closer to the surface than we may think. In recent years, archaeologists have uncovered remarkable findings about the Celts, Saxons and Vikings that have often yet to reach the wider public. Travelling along the Icknield Way, Hugh passes the great prehistoric monuments of Maiden Castle, Stonehenge and Avebury, before ending at the Wash near Seahenge.
By taking a 400 mile journey from coast to coast, through both the sacred and profane landscapes of ancient England, Hugh casts unexpected light – and humour – on the way we live now.
In the past, award-winning travel writer and explorer Hugh Thomson has written books about Peru, Mexico and the Indian Himalaya. Now he returns to explore the most exotic and foreign country of them all – his own.
"Frequently comic, his voice is original and engaging; proof that it is the walker, not the path, that counts"
– James Attlee, Independent
"An immensely enjoyable book: curious, articulate, intellectually playful and savagely candid"
– John Gimlette, The Spectator
"An ideal companion - knowledgeable, but refreshingly unpretentious"
– Tom Robbins, Financial Times
