The Wild Rover A Blistering Journey Along Britain's Footpaths

In WILD ROVER Mike tells a gripping story of how these paths became part of our cultural landscape and why, at the tender age of 45, he suddenly finds himself at a crossroads. Provocative, funny and written lovingly, this book is a celebration of our amazing network of trails, their sheer antiquity and penetration into every corner of the land -- from the Thames Path to craggy mountaintop passes in the Highlands. It examines the chequered, and surprisingly turbulent, history of our precious paths, from the Enclosures Acts of the eighteenth century to the 1932 Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout in Derbyshire; the hard-won post-war establishment of great National Trails like the Pennine Way to latter-day battles by the likes of Nicholas van Hoogstraten and Madonna to keep ramblers off their land. The story ranges far and wide, to all corners of the country, and beyond, and back through the centuries. Mike engages with poets and artists, farmers and ramblers, landowners and Rights of Way officers, enthusiasts and campaigners, historians, archivists and anyone else who crosses his path (or even tries to block it).