Walking Home: writing themes

Image credit Leeds University Library

Although some parts of the second Walking Home book proposal are included in the final version of the book (Armitage’s recollection of exhausted Pennine Way walkers reaching Marsden when he was a child, for example), entries in his walking notebook suggest that the project was still fluid at the beginning of the walk.

At the back of the notebook, along with lists of equipment, Armitage has listed potential ‘writing themes’. One is a suggestion that stages of the Pennine Way could be mapped to the stages of Odysseus’ journey in Homer’s Odyssey.

As with the earlier book proposals this list sets out ways to approach the journey through writing, but it is less formal and not written to appeal to a publisher.  By comparing this list made at the beginning of the journey with the notes made en-route and the published text we can see how the physical, logistical and personal demands of the Pennine Way shaped the final book.