Adrift In Caledonia
Boat-Hitching for the Unenlightened
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- £1.99
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
One clear morning in May, Nick Thorpe left his Edinburgh flat, ducked off the commuter route and hitched a ride aboard a little white canal boat, heading west towards the sea. It was the first mutinous step in a delightful boat-hopping odyssey that would take him 2500 miles through Scotland's canals, lochs and coastal waters, from the industrial Clyde to the scattered islands of Viking Shetland.
Writing with characteristic humour and candour, the award-winning author of EIGHT MEN AND A DUCK plots a curiously existential voyage, inspired by those who have left the warm hearth for the promise of a stretched horizon. Whether rowing a coracle with a chapter of monks, scanning for the elusive Nessie, hitting the rocks with Captain Calamity or clinging to the rigging of a tall ship, Thorpe weaves a narrative that is by turns funny and poignant - a nautical pilgrimage for any who have ever been tempted to try a new path just to see where it might take them.
Part travelogue, part memoir, ADRIFT IN CALEDONIA is a unique and affectionate portrait of a sea-fringed nation - and of the drifter's quest to belong.
Customer Reviews
Adrift in Caledonia
Adrift in Caledonia is a great mix of travelogue and 'Amateur' Zen Philosophy. There was also a healthy dose of humour & self deprecation as the author sought to find himself.
There are many great one liners and quoutes in the book such as:
"His T-shirt bore the philosophical question: If a man speaks in a forest and no woman hears him is he still wrong? This is an adaptation of " If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it,did it really happen?"
My favourite though is " I believe in the buoyancy of the human soul", which seems to epitomise the inherent optimism and cheerfulness of most of the characters portrayed in the book.
Above all the book is well written with a great sense of place and people.