From Source to Sea

Pick it up: If you like gambolling along a river bank or at least the idea of it. If you need a book that will help you slow down, will make you think about putting those walking shoes to use, preferably on a stretch that is more 'nature' and less 'concrete'.

Tom Chesshyre is a journalist and a travel writer who, in 2016, decided to walk the length of the Thames from its source at Trewsbury Mead in Gloucestershire, to the point where it joins the North Sea. Chesshyre was not an experienced long-distance walker when he set off on this particular journey, and he had no idea what to expect of himself or of the walk.

A journalist with a nose for a good story, he finds something of interest to write about at every point along this 215-mile walk and the reader falls in step beside him as he discovers the peculiar joy of long-distance walking, and learns about the river that he’s lived close to all his life.

He's accompanied on some stretches of the walk by friends and family members, but for the most part, he walks alone, musing on the river and the countryside. The book has a leisurely pace, and it draws you into it, into sleepy, green places, friendly people who live along the river, pubs that are hundreds of years old, churches, manors, castles, and other landmarks that have a variety of historical and literary associations.

There’s plenty of history along the way, from invasions by the Romans and the Vikings, to the signing of the Magna Carta, births and deaths of kings and queens, the building of bridges and under-river tunnels, and there are trips to museums and churches and other places of note like Hampton Court, Eton college, Windsor Castle and the Tower Bridge.

Like a true nerd, he carries with him, a backpack full of books. Along the way there are places of interest related to a variety of writers - Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, George Orwell, William Morris and of course, Jerome K Jerome. It is impossible to talk about a journey along the Thames without thinking about Three Men in a Boat.

The narrative is enlivened by a gentle sense of humour and the writer’s ability to laugh at himself and his companions. The writing is immersive and it does what any good travel book should do - it makes you want to get a backpack and set off on a long walk.