Reblogged from John Bainbridge at Walking the Old Ways:

Here’s an extract from my walking autobiography Wayfarer’s Dole, recalling how all this walking really started…

The other day, thinking back on my many rambles, I remembered the time I deserted from the staid world of responsibility and took to the roads. The occasion marked an important stage along the pathways into roaming and vagabondage.

I was sixteen when I walked out of my home in Teignmouth to do the usual train journey to the technical college in Torquay, where I was studying – not from choice – retailing and business studies. I say studying… in fact I did very little work, dreaming away at the back of the class, more interested in surreptitiously reading novels than trying to understand the finer points of a balance sheet. Mind, I still passed the exams. God knows how!

Continue reading at Walking the Old Ways