Charging Around

' A delightful, original, amusing tour of some of the UK' s less explored places' – Chris Mullin Having crossed a continent by train and sailed around the world by container ship, Clive Wilkinson has always had a penchant for slow travel. As his eightieth birthday approaches, he and his wife Joan set out on a new expedition: to tour the edges of England by electric car. How hard could that be? Given the parlous state of the country' s charge-point infrastructure back in 2018, the answer turns out to be ' very' . In a 1,900-mile odyssey through fading seaside towns, rainswept hilltop passes and England' s only desert, each day' s driving for these unlikely pioneers is overshadowed by a cloud of apprehension. Will they make it to the next charge point? Will it be in working order? Will someone else be using it? You could only undertake such a trip with a calm temperament and robust sense of humour. Fortunately Clive has both. With a relentless curiosity for history, geography and, above all, people, he and Joan explore the reality of life on England' s periphery – the ' left behind' areas that, by voting for Brexit, changed the course of British history – making new friends with every mile.