'Informative and entertaining. Gordon is a fine companion to have in your rucksack for a hike in the Pyrenees.'
– Adventure Travel magazine
‘Very well researched and full of lots of useful and practical information for those setting out on the trail. The author’s personal account gives a good sense of what the walker can expect on different sections.’
– Walking World
‘If we could traverse this barrier that divides Spain from France, so could any other reasonably fit person who loves to walk among mountains.’ This was the thought that struck Gordon Wilson and his partner, Angharad, when they met a fellow and somewhat younger trekker in the high Pyrenees. This book encourages and enables you to do so.
Space For Wonder: A Guide To Trekking The Mountain Frontier Of The Pyreness is fully illustrated with over 100 photographs, while hyperlinks to route maps, accommodation and other items of interest provide essential complements to the text. The book provides a wealth of practical advice on travel, accommodation, traveling light, footpaths, maps, poles, GPS and other trekking aids. Detailed day-by-day route descriptions lead you into fantastic mountain scenery, wild, lonely places, and to witness nature raw in tooth and claw. The book also leads you into the Pyrenees of people and their sometimes heroic, sometimes tragic, histories on both sides of this political frontier between France and Spain. You engage with Basque and Catalan cultures and mountain livelihoods, as well as French and Spanish. You have the company, shared experience, fun and laughter of others who are doing the same. Above all the book encourages you to think beyond putting one foot in front of the other, in other words to wonder.
Space For Wonder is thus unique among guidebooks to the Pyrenean traverse in that it offers a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is much more than simply slogging through each day. Although you may end some long days feeling footsore and weary, the point is to enjoy yourself. If you’ve been contemplating a long, wild walk that is full of beauty and interest, then Gordon’s blend of practical advice with folkloric storytelling and anecdote may be just what you need to make that aspiration an enjoyable reality. The book is intended for any reasonably fit person of whatever age who enjoys hiking and is grabbed by the idea of trekking along this fascinating mountain frontier from one coast to another. Gordon and Angharad have now performed the feat twice – some stretches three or more times – and that in their 50s and 60s.
Gordon Wilson is a Pyrenees fanatic who has been hiking in these mountains for 20 years. He is also a keen hiker in his native United Kingdom. Now retired, he spent the first half of his working life as a hell-raising journalist and the second half at the United Kingdom Open University where he was Professor of Environment and Development. He and his partner live in Yorkshire, England.
– Adventure Travel magazine
‘Very well researched and full of lots of useful and practical information for those setting out on the trail. The author’s personal account gives a good sense of what the walker can expect on different sections.’
– Walking World
‘If we could traverse this barrier that divides Spain from France, so could any other reasonably fit person who loves to walk among mountains.’ This was the thought that struck Gordon Wilson and his partner, Angharad, when they met a fellow and somewhat younger trekker in the high Pyrenees. This book encourages and enables you to do so.
Space For Wonder: A Guide To Trekking The Mountain Frontier Of The Pyreness is fully illustrated with over 100 photographs, while hyperlinks to route maps, accommodation and other items of interest provide essential complements to the text. The book provides a wealth of practical advice on travel, accommodation, traveling light, footpaths, maps, poles, GPS and other trekking aids. Detailed day-by-day route descriptions lead you into fantastic mountain scenery, wild, lonely places, and to witness nature raw in tooth and claw. The book also leads you into the Pyrenees of people and their sometimes heroic, sometimes tragic, histories on both sides of this political frontier between France and Spain. You engage with Basque and Catalan cultures and mountain livelihoods, as well as French and Spanish. You have the company, shared experience, fun and laughter of others who are doing the same. Above all the book encourages you to think beyond putting one foot in front of the other, in other words to wonder.
Space For Wonder is thus unique among guidebooks to the Pyrenean traverse in that it offers a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is much more than simply slogging through each day. Although you may end some long days feeling footsore and weary, the point is to enjoy yourself. If you’ve been contemplating a long, wild walk that is full of beauty and interest, then Gordon’s blend of practical advice with folkloric storytelling and anecdote may be just what you need to make that aspiration an enjoyable reality. The book is intended for any reasonably fit person of whatever age who enjoys hiking and is grabbed by the idea of trekking along this fascinating mountain frontier from one coast to another. Gordon and Angharad have now performed the feat twice – some stretches three or more times – and that in their 50s and 60s.
Gordon Wilson is a Pyrenees fanatic who has been hiking in these mountains for 20 years. He is also a keen hiker in his native United Kingdom. Now retired, he spent the first half of his working life as a hell-raising journalist and the second half at the United Kingdom Open University where he was Professor of Environment and Development. He and his partner live in Yorkshire, England.
