" 'Off the Wall Walking'
is simply delightful; for its quirky humour and real humanity, for the
candour and sheer excellence of its words.This is a book that doesn't
need a journey of a thousand miles; it's written at the spritely pace
of each single step, 'living at the level of the sentence' as Tobias
Wolfe puts it."
~ Crysse
Morrison, author, Writing
Magazine columnist http://crysse.blogspot.com/
"I love his play on words, his
observations, the way he abstracts the philosophical from the everyday
and his humour. It all comes together brilliantly. It has the potential
to be a Bill Bryson follow on."
~ Pamela Hogan, writer and Life Coach
"Like this author, I do a lot of
musing as I stride along. Yet I don’t miss much along the
way. Neither does he. He doesn’t miss a single thing.
Everything he sees, including the interesting people he meets
… gets woven into the narrative. Characters, architecture,
history, food, Nature, the present and the past …
it’s all there. And along with it, the author’s wry
and lively commentary on his own inner process. As we accompany
Laurence on his journey, with its disasters and detours, its surprises
and synchronicities, we realise along with him that many of
life’s most memorable moments turn out to be the unplanned
and unexpected ones."
~ Marian Van Eyk McCain, Co-Editor, GreenSpirit Journal, author of The
Lilypad List: 7 steps to the simple life http://www.lilypadlist.com
"I am really enjoying your book. I was reading until nearly 2 a.m. last night.
It is unputdownable. It reminds me of Bill Bryson's books and Eric
Newby's."
~Hazel
Williams, Hartland Writers Circle
"I received my copy on Friday 11 Jan. The same evening I settled down by a log
fire with a single malt and relived my trek of May 2007. The book is brilliant.
I can relate to some of those incidents which you encountered. Your book is a
MUST for anyone who has completed the walk and I will be telling my colleagues
in the rambling club, but I will suggest they purchase their own copy. Many
thanks for a riveting account of your 'adventure'. I eagerly await the
sequel."
~Alf Giliker, Hadrian's Wall Path walker
"I have
thoroughly enjoyed dipping in and out of the book and find it very 'moreish'
every time I read it.
Your book has been passed around my colleagues, who
have all enjoyed it."
~Jonathan Manning, Editor, Country Walking
magazine
"My younger son gave me a signed copy of your book for
Christmas. I am just writing to say how much I enjoyed it. Indeed, I read it in
just two sessions during Christmas week. I found your descriptions of the
various 'distractions and diversions' and encounters with sundry folk along the
way very interesting - and ,of course, your thought-provoking 'Rules'. Many
thanks for putting pen to paper."
~Tony Adams, Hillwalker
“For an insight into the adventure,
excitement and achievement of walking the trail, we love Off-the-Wall Walking by Laurence Shelley.”
~ website:
www.livefortheoutdoors.com
“Not just ‘a different kind of journey’ but quite
a different kind of travel book. I suppose one shouldn’t expect a run of the
mill travel journal from a poet. Indeed, Laurence Shelley amuses and entertains
the reader with the trials and tribulations of his trek along the Hadrian’s Wall Path, but he also transcends the physical
and delves much deeper, inviting the reader on an inner journey. That sounds
awfully worthy I suppose, but the book is very witty with an easy breezy
style.”
~Allison Rowe, Manager,
Waterstone’s, Carlisle.
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