A Journey on Foot

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

‘An extraordinary, dreamlike journey through West Africa’ Adharanand Finn

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.

As he travels alone across 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 he craves.

‘Marvellous… A book about how to travel’ Jay Griffiths, author of Wild

‘[Martineau’s] story, beautifully written, of how his pilgrimage of sorts changed him forever’ Evening Standard