A Book Retracing Walking Paths of Others

Doubling Back is an updated edition of a classic book published 10 years ago, as the author ‘doubles back’ to follow in the footsteps of others, walking paths across the ‘holy island’ of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, the Isle of Skye, Norway and Kenya.

Following paths of writers and relatives gone before, Linda charts how places in writing and memory create ‘wrinkles in time’ and geography that allow us to walk in the footsteps of others.

Join her, as she cross the Swiss Alps to retrace the mountaineering past of the father she barely knew, follows the escape route of a Norwegian scientist on the run in the Second World War, of simply celebrate the joy found in ‘friendly paths’ of her local regular terrain, and the ritual of returning home.

This revised edition includes an account of a new journey through northern Scotland’s Flow Country (the peatland that is our chief carbon store).

I’m here on a writing retreat, and each day for a month is my own. Already I have established rituals. I like to be first to the kitchen, to collect the fresh loaves left hanging on the little side door that opens onto the village street.

After a glass of orange juice, I put on my shoes and slip into the garden, pass the lavender bushes fussed over by small white butterflies and scrambling with bees. At the bottom of the sloping lawn, a wicket gate opens into the wider world.

Linda Cracknell is a writer on the natural world, and also writes radio scripts. This book was serialised for BBC Radio. All her writing is inspired by place, and she also teaches nature writing.

Wonderfully explores the strange durability of the paths that we make in our lives, in our dreams and after our deaths. Robert Macfarlane

Not so much a book to inspire you to do her walks, but to challenge you to enjoy your own walks more. Sara Maitland