Waypoints: A Journey on Foot

At the age of twenty-seven, afraid of falling into a life he doesn't want, Robert Martineau quits his office job, buys a flight to Accra and begins to walk. He walks for a 1,000 miles through Ghana, Togo and Benin, to Ouidah, an ancient spiritual centre on the West African coast.

As he travels alone across the varied landscape of rainforest, savannah and mountains, Martineau meets shamans, priests, historians, archaeologists and kings. Through the process of walking each day, and the lessons of those he encounters, Martineau starts to build connections with the natural world and the past - and, at last, to find the meaning that he craves.

This is a spellbinding book, exploring the psychology of walking, pilgrimage, solitude and escape.