A Road for All Seasons

"Harry Bucknall leads us through the multicultural history of our island, with its diverse history and extraordinary quirkiness. Up fell and down river, across walls and dykes, from Iona to Dover, you are in safe hands as he steers a course of over 6,000 miles. A Road for All Seasons is a joy." Julie Summers

"The kind of travel book that makes you want to lace up sensible boots and set off immediately" - The Halpern Hotlist

A journey of 6,518 miles, that filled 14 notebooks and encompassed all 4 countries of the United Kingdom, travelling through 42 out of its 95 counties, visiting 23 cities; requiring 75 trains, 60 maps, 26 cars, 16 buses, 9 ferries, 4 tubes, 4 uber taxis, 4 black cabs, 2 DLR, 2 vans, a canal boat, a probation service minibus, an intercontinental articulated lorry, a 1953 Morris Oxford and a pair of size 9 boots ...

A tumultuous period in British politics left writer Harry Bucknall questioning whether he really knew the place he called home. Propelled by a growing desire to better understand his island nation, Harry decided to undertake a pilgrimage of sorts; he embarked on a series of four walks across Britain that would mirror the changing seasons, covering a distance of nearly 1,600 miles.

From fresh and heady spring through to the gloriously crisp winter months, Harry journeyed across Britain visiting cities, towns and vast swathes of the countryside from Mull to Sunderland and Aberystwyth to Lowestoft, meeting a host of diverse and charismatic characters along the way as he strove to uncover the beating heart of the nation.

Uplifting, joyous and charming, A Road for All Seasons is a vivid, social and cultural snapshot of 21st-century Britain. Focusing as much on the beauty of the fertile land as the people who inhabit it, it explores a unique culture, its folklore both past and present, as well as the wealth of the nation's history and heritage. Exquisitely written and filled with delightful people and places, this is Harry's ardent tribute to the British Isles.