Shortlisted for the The Great Outdoors Awards - Outdoor Book of the Year 2020
Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2020
There are strange relics hidden across Scotland's landscape: forgotten places that are touchstones to incredible stories and past lives which still resonate today. Yet why are so many of these 'wild histories' unnoticed and overlooked? And what can they tell us about our own modern identity?
From the high mountain passes of an ancient droving route to a desolate moorland graveyard, from uninhabited post-industrial islands and Clearance villages to caves explored by early climbers and the mysterious strongholds of Christian missionaries, Patrick Baker makes a series of journeys on foot and by paddle. Along the way, he encounters Neolithic settlements, bizarre World War Two structures, evidence of illicit whisky production, sacred wells and Viking burial grounds.
Combining a rich fusion of travelogue and historical narrative, he threads themes of geology, natural and social history, literature, and industry from the places he visits, discovering connections between people and place more powerful than can be imagined.
- ISBN13 9781780276373
- Publish Date 21 May 2020
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 8 April 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Birlinn General
- Imprint Birlinn Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 224
- Language English