When Bill Bryson moved back to the USA he
found a path on the edge of his New Hampshire town that turned out to be part
of the Appalachian Trail that runs from Georgia in the south through thirteen or
so states to Maine in the far north.
At 2,100 miles this long distance trek is
equivalent to eight Pennine Ways but despite having little hiking experience Bryson
is drawn to the challenge and he rashly announces his intention to walk it to
friends and family.
Reality dawns as he researches the challenge
and enumerates (in one of the funniest couple of paragraphs I’ve ever read) the
perils of the wilderness he will be exposed to – roughly categorised under
fierce beasts (mammals, reptiles and insects), extreme weather and dangerous
vegetation.
Then comes the, equally funny, kitting out stage;
and the search for a walking companion that results in the unlikely candidature
of the even less prepared Stephen Katz.
Finally they set off from Springer Mountain
in Georgia and predictable but laugh out loud incidents come thick and fast –
it’s the way he tells it that creases me up. How far they get is less important
than what they discover and who they meet on the trail, and how they face up to
moments of real danger.
Among the humour are ironic, but serious,
points made about the plight of the environment and the American way of life
(largely incompatible concepts), but at the end of the day it is the Bryson
humour that makes this such an excellent read.
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