Waypoints

Martineau, Robert

£16.99

Unhappy in his office job, Robert Martineau craves an experience that will shake his feeling of inertia. Aged 27, he buys a flight to Accra, and begins to walk. He walks 1,000 miles through Ghana, Togo and Benin, to Ouidah, an ancient animist centre on the West African coast. Martineau walks alone across desert, through rainforests, over mountains, carrying everything he needs on his back, sleeping in villages or on the side of paths, travelling shrine to shrine. Along the way he meets shamans, priests, local historians, archaeologists and kings. He begins to confront the lines of slavery and exploitation that binds his home to theirs. Through the process of walking each day, and the lessons of those he walks among, Martineau starts to find the freedom he craves, and to build connections with the natural world and the past.

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Publish Date: 01/04/2021

Description

A spellbinding travel book, exploring the psychology of walking, pilgrimage, solitude and escape.

At the age of twenty-seven, and 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 1,000 miles through Ghana, Togo and Benin, to Ouidah, an ancient spiritual centre on the West African coast.

Martineau walks alone across desert, through rainforests, over mountains, carrying everything he needs on his back, sleeping in villages or on the side of paths. Along the way he meets shamans, priests, historians, archaeologists and kings. He begins to confront the lines of slavery and exploitation that binds his home to theirs. Through the process of walking each day, and the lessons of those he walks among, Martineau starts to find the freedom he craves, and to build connections with the natural world and the past.

In an extraordinary account of an adventure, and the inner journey that accompanies it, Martineau discovers how a walking pilgrimage can change a person.

Additional information

Weight 402 g
Dimensions 222 × 141 × 25 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

288

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

916.604 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K