As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

[jsalt]

As I walked out one midsummer morning in the mid-seventies, at the same age as Laurie Lee was in the mid-thirties, I had his book with me as I set off on my own travels. 40+ years later I am re-reading it. What wonderful images his prose portrays of Spain before the Civil War. If you have ever stayed in one of those old buildings with a courtyard in the centre, now an albergue, you may sit there in the enveloping cool . . . close your eyes . . . and imagine how it must have been 80 years ago. Laurie Lee’s descriptions of the inns he stayed in are beautifully written. He walks through Zamora (on the Via de la Plata), Valladolid (on the Camino de Madrid), and Seville. You can almost picture in your mind the shimmering wheatfields and the intense, intense heat of midsummer.
A classic.
Jill

 

[HedaP]

Loved Laurie Lee. In my thirties and well beyond my main travel inspiration came from either Dervla Murphy or Paul Theroux. Paul Theroux because his travels were achievable. Dervla Murphy because hers were the stuff that dreams are made of. Despite having no chance of walking the Hindu Kush in winter with a donkey and a 6 year old, she remains my favourite author to this day.
Thanks for the memories, Jill

 

[Stroller]

Splendid book! Homage to Catalonia is also worth a read. Try Bruce Chatwin or Robert Byron for something somewhat different but well written. I'm unlikely to follow them but interesting places.

 

[yaying]

@jsalt though i cant relay and honestly started liking reading a bit oldy... all of the sudden a sweet fragrance book i smelled imagining 40+years old paper...i love the scent!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Jill, I have never heard of Laurie Lee, but you have piqued my curiosity. I just googled his books and plan to check my library first before ordering this book on Amazon.

 

[pablo.m]

“I felt it was for this I had come: to wake at dawn on a hillside and look out on a world for which I had no words, to start at the beginning, speechless and without plan, in a place that still had no memories for me.”
― Laurie Lee, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

 

[Stroller]

A Rose in Winter is also by Laurie Lee and worth a read.

 

[Doogman]

The Laurie Lee autobiographical trilogy (Cider With Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, A Moment of War) are classics. The latter two are about his travels in Spain. The first one is about growing up in a small village in the Cotswolds.

Another favourite is "South From Granada" by Gerald Brennan. A great and detailed description of life in a small Spanish village after the First World War.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Splendid book! Homage to Catalonia is also worth a read. Try Bruce Chatwin or Robert Byron for something somewhat different but well written. I'm unlikely to follow them but interesting places.

Are all these recommendations in English? If not, I'm out of luck!

 

[Kanga]

All in English.

 

[grayland]

Thanks Jill.
This is a great thread with great resources offered!

 

[onwayhome]

Thanks for reminder of my favourite Laurie Lee book. Its difficult nowadays to imagine the extent of his adventure, a lot of it on foot- playing his violin for pesetas as he travelled down through Spain. I particularly remember his poetic descriptions of the impact that hallucinatory searing summer heat on a boy from rural Gloucestershire more used to lush green country lanes.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Jill, I have never heard of Laurie Lee, but you have piqued my curiosity. I just googled his books and plan to check my library first before ordering this book on Amazon.

Be careful - reading it might make you revise your packing list:

(He) carried a small rolled-up tent, a violin in a blanket, a change of clothes, a tin of treacle biscuits, and some cheese.

 

[Tincatinker]

and he'd eaten the treacle biscuits before he'd even got to Southampton What happened to the cheese is never recounted but I don't suppose it survived a year in London. His pack was even lighter by the time he got to Spain

 

[jsalt]

And I'm sure he soon ditched the tent, as that is never mentioned in all the times he sleeps outside .

That leaves the blanket, the violin, and a change of clothes .

 

[OzAnnie]

As I walked out one midsummer morning in the mid-seventies, at the same age as Laurie Lee was in the mid-thirties, I had his book with me as I set off on my own travels. 40+ years later I am re-reading it. What wonderful images his prose portrays of Spain before the Civil War. If you have ever stayed in one of those old buildings with a courtyard in the centre, now an albergue, you may sit there in the enveloping cool . . . close your eyes . . . and imagine how it must have been 80 years ago. Laurie Lee’s descriptions of the inns he stayed in are beautifully written. He walks through Zamora (on the Via de la Plata), Valladolid (on the Camino de Madrid), and Seville. You can almost picture in your mind the shimmering wheatfields and the intense, intense heat of midsummer.
A classic.
Jill

Thanks Jill
I haven’t read a travel book for some time. I hadn’t heard of Laurie Lee either ., but I’ve just ordered online - two of the books mentioned ..
Annie

 

[Tincatinker]

If you have ever stayed in one of those old buildings with a courtyard in the centre, now an albergue, you may sit there in the enveloping cool . . . close your eyes . . . and imagine how it must have been 80 years ago.

I'm minded of the municipal in Mansilla de las Mulas. Its been a few years now but I recall going through a door and rooms to left & right, one of which at least was a common room and where you met the hospitalera and did the stuff: and then out into a courtyard, full of pilgrim laundry and cats, and various rooms and buildings off it.

At the time it reminded me of a few Riads in Morrocco and a Posada in El Burgo, near Ronda, called Los Arrieros where, the livestock mired the cobbles while we slept up on the balconies. And where in the 1970's, a few hundred pesetas got me food, wine, a bed (and a few flea bites) stale bread, coffee and Brandy for breakfast - and the sound advice that only a 'loco' would go walking for pleasure.

And that memory brought me to another book to recommend to the rambling inclined: North from Grenada, by Roy Nash. If you want to know how to recognize that you've strayed into a closed military zone in Spain (hint: its all the rabbits and deer) try Roy. And if you want to know why, sometimes, guide books come in handy - try Roy.

And a final thought for a night of a Full Moon, a Blue Moon, and a Blood Moon...

This is at least the third recent thread about books, blogs and stories - why aren't we walking?

 

[VNwalking]

This is at least the third recent thread about books, blogs and stories - why aren't we walking?

Because it's not time yet.

And a final thought for a night of a Full Moon, a Blue Moon, and a Blood Moon...

It was quite sometthng over here (especially the going red part, which I didn't have a good enough camera for)!

 

[Bradypus]

This is at least the third recent thread about books, blogs and stories - why aren't we walking?

Some of us are! I just spent a fortnight walking on the Via de la Plata - finishing off a camino I started last year. Partly to prove to myself that my arthritic knee still works well enough for long-distance walking. The day after returning home I booked a flight to Osaka for a two-month trip to walk the Shikoku 88 temple circuit and perhaps one of the Kumano Kodo routes too. I fly out from London on Wednesday. Winter is an excellent time to walk for those of us who like a quiet time

 

[yaying]

why aren't we walking?

At my younger years this questions frustrated me and I ended up 99% messed up getting what I want, been to but still felt so far...as I got older patience sharpened and every tiny step tingling cracking my excitement... my eyes may never see it by my hearts vision it.

 

[Glenshiro]

I have never heard of Laurie Lee

I nearly fell off my chair when I read this - and then I checked and saw that you live in Illinois. Laurie Lee is an iconic (if not always reliable with the facts) figure in postwar English literature for both his poetry and prose. Cider with Rosie, his account of growing up in the rural west of England between the wars, was for many years a set text for 16-year-old schoolchildren studying English. He died in 1997, in the village in Gloucestershire where he had grown up, aged 82. A friend of mine, in the area on a camping holiday in the 1980's, met him in the local pub, and Lee recounted how he had been asked several times by visitors to the area to "show them Laurie Lee's grave."

 

[Gareth Griffith]

I remember reading his account of crossing the Pyrenees into Spain and being arrested as a spy because no one would be daft enough to do that in winter!
i have also been to Slad, the village he grew up in, and drank in his local pub. He used to phone up the landlord from the garden to order more beer.

 

[piggyhinton]

My grand dad ran the pub in the village during Laurie Lee period, my family has a get together every year at the pub. My grand dad is buried in the same church yard across the road, there is 2 old photos in the bar of grand dad and family. Next time I walk the Way, I must take time to walk in the footsteps of Laurie Lee, has anybody got a list of the places he visited

 

[jsalt]

Cider with Rosie, his account of growing up in the rural west of England between the wars, was for many years a set text for 16-year-old schoolchildren studying English.

I grew up near the Cotswolds, about 30 miles from Stroud, where Laurie Lee went to school. I did read “Cider With Rosie” when I was about 16, but I can’t remember if it was a set book at school, or just that it was popular at the time. I think it is time to re-read that one too! I re-discovered “As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning” in a local second-hand bookstore quite by chance. So glad I did.
Jill

 

[jsalt]

Next time I walk the Way, I must take time to walk in the footsteps of Laurie Lee, has anybody got a list of the places he visited

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I grew up near the Cotswolds, about 30 miles from Stroud, where Laurie Lee went to school. I did read “Cider With Rosie” when I was about 16, but I can’t remember if it was a set book at school, or just that it was popular at the time. I think it is time to re-read that one too! I re-discovered “As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning” in a local second-hand bookstore quite by chance. So glad I did.
Jill

And I thought you were from South Africa.

 

[jsalt]

And I thought you were from South Africa.

I was born and grew up in England. Left home (one midsummer morning ) and several years later ended up in South Africa, where I fell in love and stayed . I have been in South Africa over 40 years now, became a citizen (so I could vote), and it is now my home and where my heart is.
Jill

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I was born and grew up in England. Left home (one midsummer morning ) and several years later ended up in South Africa, where I fell in love and stayed . I have been in South Africa over 40 years now, became a citizen (so I could vote), and it is now my home and where my heart is.
Jill

Sounds very romantic. You could probably write your own book.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I was born and grew up in England. Left home (one midsummer morning ) and several years later ended up in South Africa, where I fell in love and stayed . I have been in South Africa over 40 years now, became a citizen (so I could vote), and it is now my home and where my heart is.
Jill

In your avatar, are you walking with a Maasai?

 

[jsalt]

In your avatar, are you walking with a Maasai?

Yes, his name is Baraka. This was in Zanzibar.

 

[piggyhinton]

View attachment 39142

Thanks a million I must put that on my bucket list, seeing as I have parkinsons, I mustn't put it off too long!

 

[Desert Bruce]

I have never read any of the authors mentioned in this thread. I am trying to find them in audible book format in order to listen while out walking. There are a lot of Paul Theroux books available; would anyone recommend one to start me off?
I'm not having much success find Laurie Lee, but I think I'll start with Cider With Rosie.

 

[Stroller]

Try "The Old Patagonia Express","The Mosquito Coast" and "The Great Railway Bazaar". Possibly his best known and all good reads. Hope you enjoy them.

 

[Desert Bruce]

Thank you Stroller. I have down loaded "The Great Railway Bazaar." I also found "Cider with Rosie" read by the author himself, its wonderful to hear him.

 

[Pellicano Solitudinis]

Most of the books here are about Spain and/or travel, but I'd like to recommend Ellis Peters' The Pilgrim of Hate. It's one of her Brother Cadfael novels, set in 12th-century England. Flocks of pilgrims descend on Shrewsbury to celebrate the feast of St Winifred. Crowded accommodation, emergency foot care, dodgy "pilgrims" who prey on others, making a pilgrimage with a disability, finding love along the way, questions about the genuineness of relics and whether it matters, and even a couple of miracles...

 

[Kanga]

Good to see this thread resurrected. Some of my favourite authors mentioned. I'd add John Hillaby for his wonderful whimsical nature observing style - a long distance walker who first inspired me.

 

[trecile]

Speaking of pilgrimage books - several years ago, before the Camino was in my consciousness, I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Wonderful book, and I do remember a chapter about blister care.

 

[SioCamino]

This is one of my favourite books, first read years before I had heard of the Camino. Anyway .... just spotted that its on the Kindle Deal of the Deal today in the UK site of Amazon, kindle edition 99p. The deal usually expires at midnight so about 3 hours left!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

George Borrow's "The Bible In Spain" is a 19th century travel classic, written by an enthusiastic Englishman with the somewhat suicidal job of selling Bibles in Catholic Spain. His travels take him along several of the routes followed by Laurie Lee a century later, including a section of Camino de Santiago and the holy city itself... in a Spain that is downright medieval compared to today! Very interesting reading. More here: http://georgeborrow.org/places/spain.html

 

[Tincatinker]

Borrow's "Wild Wales" is a good read for those who think packing for a Camino is a challenge. "A change of linen, an umbrella, a bible and 5 Sovereigns", was George's recommendation. Reb didn't mention that it was a Spanish translation of King Jame's bible that Borrow was flogging. Some of us like to work hard for a living

 

[henrythedog]

I re-read time and time again the trilogy by Patrick Leigh-Fermor, starting with ‘between the woods and the water’ a journey on foot in the mid 1930’s from the Hook of Holland to the Bosporus. Laboured - but in my view - exceptional prose about a time which has now long gone.

 

[domigee]

Jill, I have never heard of Laurie Lee, but you have piqued my curiosity. I just googled his books and plan to check my library first before ordering this book on Amazon.

Start with ‘cider with Rosie’

 

[domigee]

As I walked out one midsummer morning in the mid-seventies, at the same age as Laurie Lee was in the mid-thirties, I had his book with me as I set off on my own travels. 40+ years later I am re-reading it. What wonderful images his prose portrays of Spain before the Civil War. If you have ever stayed in one of those old buildings with a courtyard in the centre, now an albergue, you may sit there in the enveloping cool . . . close your eyes . . . and imagine how it must have been 80 years ago. Laurie Lee’s descriptions of the inns he stayed in are beautifully written. He walks through Zamora (on the Via de la Plata), Valladolid (on the Camino de Madrid), and Seville. You can almost picture in your mind the shimmering wheatfields and the intense, intense heat of midsummer.
A classic.
Jill

On the VdlP, in Zamora I think, we met a young guy who had just finished University and was planning on following in Laurie Lee’s footsteps, but in reverse (or something like that!).
He was very disorganised, had no (well, very little money) but on listening to him and his dreams I thought ‘what a wonderful young person!’. We bought him dinner and wished him well.
Inspiring.
I Laurie Lee btw!

 

[Tincatinker]

I re-read time and time again the trilogy by Patrick Leigh-Fermor, starting with ‘between the woods and the water’ a journey on foot in the mid 1930’s from the Hook of Holland to the Bosporus. Laboured - but in my view - exceptional prose about a time which has now long gone.

Ah, dear "Paddy", try Artemis Cooper's biography for some insight into that poesic prose.

 

[henrythedog]

Ah, dear "Paddy", try Artemis Cooper's biography for some insight into that proesic prose.

I think I’ve got everything in book form that he published including ACs autobiography.

I sense that he would be charming and entertaining company for a while -until your money or patience ran out. He was certainly not burdened with self-doubt!

I love his writing, because it is so precise and considered but my wife cannot bear it - too many adjectives.

 

[Glenshiro]

Travel writers are not always the most accurate historians.

In A Moment of War, Laurie Lee recounts how, during his time in Spain, when he joined the International Brigade to fight in the Spanish Civil War, he:

• was imprisoned as a suspected spy
• had love affairs with two different Spanish women
• killed an enemy soldier in hand-to-hand combat.

In fact, he spent a total of nine weeks in Spain before being sent home as unfit to fight. (He suffered from epilepsy.) He never went anywhere near the front, much less took part in combat. His romantic episodes were almost certainly equally fictional.

 

[henrythedog]

Travel writers are not always the most accurate historians.

In A Moment of War, Laurie Lee recounts how, during his time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, he:

• was imprisoned as a suspected spy
• had love affairs with two different Spanish women
• killed an enemy soldier in hand-to-hand combat.

In fact, he spent a total of nine weeks in Spain before being sent home as unfit to fight. (He suffered from epilepsy.) He never went anywhere near the front, much less took part in combat. His romantic episodes were almost certainly equally fictional.

you’re quite correct. If you read much by Bruce Chatwin you're reading a mixture of fact, embellished fact and pure fiction. Even my favourite Patrick L-F gilded the lily.

 

[jsalt]

Decided on the spur of the moment to walk across the meseta again now, July 2024, mid-summer, and thinking of taking Laurie Lee's book with me to read . . .