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The History Of England Written In Stone. Literary Canterbury With Anna Sayburn Lane

Some places are so dense with history that stories emerge from every stone. Canterbury in Kent, England, is rich with literary and religious history and you can walk in the footsteps of pilgrims who have visited the city for almost a thousand years.

Anna Sayburn Lane is an award-winning short story writer, novelist, and journalist inspired by the history and contemporary life of London. Her latest book is The Crimson Thread, a mystery set in Canterbury, England.

Show notes

Literary history of Canterbury
How Canterbury Cathedral has the history of England written in its stone
Unusual and beautiful aspects of the cathedral
Other interesting places in Kent, particularly for book research
William Blake and his uncompromising artistic passions
Creating an amateur sleuth who is a walking tour guide and an academic
Recommended travel books

You can find Anna Sayburn Lane at AnnaSayburnLane.com

Walk The South Bank Of The Thames From Tower Bridge To Westminster. London, England

Places, Walking

South Bank is one of my favorite walks in London. You pass places of historical importance and architectural beauty, as well as iconic cultural locations, plus great places to eat and drink alongside the River Thames while people-watching in this fantastic city. I set my Brooke & Daniel crime thriller trilogy in this area and I do this walk whenever I’m in London.

If you walk the route from end to end without stopping, it will only take you about an hour or so to do the 5km along the Thames Path. But if you make the most of everything along the way, you could be busy for a week or more. It’s a great way to orientate yourself if you’re new to the city where so many get the Tube or a taxi when it’s easier and often quicker to walk.

London, South Bank Of The Thames on a bright day. Panoramic image taken from the Tower bridge. Photo licensed from BigStockPhoto — London, South Bank Of The Thames on a bright day. Panoramic image taken from the Tower bridge.

Start at London Bridge Station which is a major transport hub for overground and underground trains. There are many different exits but it’s easy enough to find the river!

The Shard is next to the station. You can pay to look out over the city at The View From The Shard, which is worth it on a glorious day.

The Old Operating Theatre is also near the station, Europe’s oldest operating theatre, pre-dating anaesthetic and antibiotics.

An Ocean-Gazing People. A Gentle Country. Portugal With Louise Ross

Podcast

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Sometimes we find home in a place where we don’t even speak the language. Louise Ross talks about discovering Portugal, a gentle country with ocean-gazing people, and recommends places to visit, as well as an attitude to self-reinvention.

Louise Ross is the author of Women Who Walk and The Winding Road to Portugal. She’s an Australian currently living in Portugal where she explores the immigrant and expatriate journey through her writing and her podcast, Women Who Walk.

Show notes

The similarities between Australia and Portugal as ‘ocean gazing’ cultures
Cultural differences between Portugal, Australia, and the US
Portuguese food and wine as an undiscovered gem
Historical, cultural, and religious places to visit in Portugal
Natural sites around Lisbon
Finding community as an expat
Making a space away from home feel like home
Movement and walking as a metaphor for reinvention
Recommended travel books about or set in Portugal

You can find Louise Ross at LouiseRoss.com

Open Road: A Midlife Journey Through The US National Parks With Toby Neal

Podcast

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How can travel help us as we search for a new direction in mid-life? Why does nature offer us insight into ourselves and experiences that go far beyond the physical? Toby Neal talks about her experience of the US National Parks.

Toby Neal is an award-winning USA Today best-selling author of mysteries, thrillers, and romance, as well as travel memoir under T. W. Neal. She’s also a mental health therapist and the author of Open Road: A Midlife Memoir of Travel Through the National Parks of the USA.

Show notes

Why mid-life is a time to reassess what you want to do with your life — and how travel can be a catalyst for change
Some of the beautiful places in the US National Parks
Spiritual aspects of being in nature when the veil is thin
The physical and mental challenges of travel — and dealing with fear and anxiety along the way
The comfort of the familiar when traveling
Recommended travel books

You can find Toby Neal at TobyNeal.net and on Instagram @authortobyneal

You can also listen to our discussion about Wild and Beautiful Hawaii in episode 11.

Walk The South West Coast Path From Lyme Regis To Seaton, England

Walking

Although this walk is part of the South West Coast Path, it is mostly within the wooded Undercliff National Park. It’s also surprisingly challenging and took much longer than expected for the distance (7 miles/11 km in 4.5 hours) so I thought I’d share the journey. You can walk either way and get the 9A bus back to whichever end you started at.

It’s well sign-posted all the way.

South West Coast Path sign Photo by JFPenn

The first mile out of Lyme Regis is through fields and up behind the cliffs. You’ll pass a little fence with portrayals of the women who made Lyme Regis famous in the world of Paleontology and Geology, Mary Anning being the most well-known.

Mary Anning on a fence on the SW Coast Path. Photo by JF Penn

After about a mile, you enter the Axmouth-Lyme Regis Undercliffs National Nature Reserve. The woodland has grown over cliff rockfalls over many generations and forms part of the Dorset and East Devon World Heritage Site, protected for its biodiversity.

If Only I Had More Time. A Motorcycle Journey Through Britain with Mark Probert

Podcast

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Good travel books are not just about a physical journey or a place. They are also about the emotional side of travel and the feelings we experience along the way.

In this interview with Mark Probert, we discuss his motorcycle journey through Britain following the path of writer John Hillaby 50 years after the original book — and how the passing of time impacts our choices around travel, especially at a time when we cannot take it for granted as we did pre-pandemic.

Mark Probert is the author of Another Journey Through Britain about a motorcycle road trip through the back lanes of Great Britain.

Show notes

Riding the length of Britain on a motorbike
The pros and cons of motorbike travel
Changes to parts of Britain over decades
Enjoying food specific to local areas (like cheddar in Cheddar)
Does reporting on travel change your experience of it? And does that matter?
Reflections on the passing of time
Recommended travel books

You can find Mark Probert at MGProbert.com

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