A Walk Across France

by Miles Morland

Book Overview

" A] humorous and effervescent memoir of reflection, revitalization and good wine." -- San Francisco Chronicle At age forty-five, Miles Morland left his high-paying job at the London office of a Wall... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044990945X
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.2" x 0.7" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

British couple hikes from Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

This charming book tells the true story of a hike across France. Miles Morland and his French wife make this trip both to commemorate his retirement at age 45 and to try to mend their strained marriage. The author quits his high-pressure financial market job in London and takes a month long walk across France with his wife. They allow a month for the five hundred kilometer trip and set a grueling 20 to 30 kilometer per day pace for themselves. The author is strangely frugal for someone of his background. They stay in second-rate hotels in unfashionable parts of towns. They take meals in out of the way restaurants and are sullenly served by the haughty locals. His wife buys a pair of hiking boots to replace the uncomfortable blister-causing pair she brought from home, which they mail back to England. They take with them only the things that will fit into rucksacks they carry on their backs. This trip was a unique quest, more an ordeal than an adventure. Dogs, heavy traffic, and blistered sore feet torment them. I feel that they enjoyed themselves less than one has a right to expect on a month long vacation. An engaging read about a trip that I wouldn't want to try to duplicate myself.

Marvelously Motivating & Fun

I absolutley adored this memoir of Miles & Guislane Moreland's inspiring walk from sea to sea, Mediterrean to Atlantic across France. From the small bed & breakfast type inns to the larger hotels, the changing landscapes, and of course, the dogs(!) they encountered made for a far too quick of a read. I was enjoying their trip so much that I wanted their walk to go on for another 300+ miles! Makes one want to go on a walk as well, to the point of looking forward to blisters, afternoon exhaustion, and picnics of wine and cheese. And the insight gained by living a simpler, but far more satisfying life.

forget self-help, go for a walk!

READ THIS BOOK! Forget self-help and buy this! If you are in need of a laugh, an inspiring marriage to aspire to, motivation to get off your arse and exercise despite years of misuse and have never been to France or have been but can't be there now... then .....READ THIS BOOK.You might also learn abit too.

an inspiration; couldn't put it down

I found this to be a wonderful blend of the physiological challenge of undertaking such a walk and the emotional challenge of doing so with a partner and in a foreign land. Morland slips into recollections of his former life ("Shouting Down the Phone" in stocks and bonds, and pasting together a cracked marriage) just at the right moments, like daydreams that swoop down and fly away with your mind without warning. I was as driven as they were to reach the Atlantic, and I read the book more quickly than any other in recent years. And Morland's introspective look at career vs. heart goals was inspiring. I was ready for an open-ended sabbatical before I read this; now I'm hellbent.