Walkingfrom London to Istanbul let travel writer Nick Hunt linktogether hidden pieces of our world, and led him to theconclusion that journeys on foot can show us so much morethan we might expect. Travel writer Hunt has publishedthree books about walking in various parts of Europe: and . He joined Jim Mora on to discuss what travelling does to oursouls.
In published in , Huntexplored traditional ideas of pilgrimage through threestages, which he classified as initiation, departure andreturn. He said the latter is the most neglected, yet themost important. Ironically, he admits to having a badsense of direction: "I've got no intuitive sense ofdirection at all .
.. I think maybe that's one reason why Ilike walking, even though I do get lost a lot.
"Theexperience of walking into a city is so different fromgetting a bus or a train because you know where you camefrom and you have a sense of how the outskirts of the cityconnect to the centre. I find it deeply confusing whenyou're suddenly kind of parachuted into the middle ofsomewhere - you've got no idea how to get out, or how toimagine getting out. "So I think I have my feet on theground more when I've walked it.
"I kind of navigateby asking ...
I think it's a way of meeting people. Ifyou're travelling, if you're in an unknown place, it givesyou a point of contact with people even if the practicalinformation they give doesn't help you atall." On turning 30, Hunt realisedthat a long-held dream of walking across Europe to Istanbulwou.
