Nineteen Days, 256 Miles, & One Renowned Poet

The wandering poet has always been a feature of our cultural imagination. Simon Armitage, with equal parts enthusiasm and trepidation, as well as a humor all his own, has taken on Britain’s version of our Appalachian Trail: the Pennine Way. Walking “the backbone of England” by day (accompanied by friends, family, strangers, dogs, the unpredictable English weather, and a backpack full of Mars Bars), each evening he gives a poetry reading in a different village in exchange for a bed. In Walking Home, Armitage reflects on the link between freedom and fear as well as the poet’s place in our bustling world.