In The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot author Robert MacFarlane seamlessly blends tales of his experiences walking historic and modern paths, explorations of the history of influential walkers, and philosophies of the relationships between ourselves and the landscapes through which we move. As a reader, I was initially hesitant about this book. My heart and body are entrenched in the landscapes of the American West, and I thought that reading about MacFarlane’s travels through the chalk downs of England might be too distant to have any real meaning. I was wrong, though. The real meat of MacFarlane’s work is in his eloquent prose and ideas. Reading The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot has enriched my experience of the landscapes around me and encouraged new ways of considering the paths I travel.

MacFarlane’s ideas about remembered landscapes in The Old Ways are particularly compelling.

Relatable Nature

“Half a mile offshore, walking on silver water, we crossed a path that extended gracefully and without apparent end to our north and south.”

Included in the paths MacFarlane traverses in his book is the Broomway - a path several hundred yards offshore of the Essex coastline. The Broomway extends through tidal sands, and must be walked while the tide is out. It is dangerous, frequently enshrouded in fog; those walking it run the risk of losing their direction entirely. MacFarlane’s story of his walk on the Broomway is almost emblematic of the book – while the Broomway is a real physical path, the description of it seems to sit in a misty space between the imagination and corporal reality. In other chapters of the book, MacFarlane hikes over chalk downs, gneiss, and peat, through the mountains of the Tibet, Palestine, and Spain, and sails off the coast of Scotland.

MacFarlane is part of a long tradition of nature writing, using travel stories and natural history observations in order to develop ideas about the relationships between people and nature. For those who enjoy the works of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Henry David Thoreau, Ed Abbey, or others, MacFarlane is a sort of modern echo of beloved classics. Another great appeal of the book is its emphasis on walking. For many of us who enjoy backpacking or hiking, walking is a central part of our experiences in nature. Because walking can range from mundane to exhilarating, MacFarlane’s musings on the subject can help other walkers find delight at times when it might otherwise be tiresome.

An Understanding of Landscapes

The other value of reading The Old Ways is the potential for the ideas in it to affect the way we understand our lives. Like many people, I love wild landscapes, and find myself living in an urban one. For this reason, I found some of MacFarlane’s ideas about remembered landscapes particularly compelling. He writes:

“We tend to think of landscapes as affecting us most strongly when we are in them or on them, when they offer us the primary sensations of touch and sight. But there are also the landscapes we bear with us in absentia, those places that live on in memory long after they have withdrawn in actuality..."

Acknowledging the significance of remembered landscapes allows us to honor them in a way we might not otherwise. This, and other ideas in The Old Ways, spring from a long tradition of nature writing, but are written by a contemporary author, with value for modern readers – enriching the lives we live at the interface between landscape and mind.

You can find The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane here at Amazon.com.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Issue 25 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original review here.