This is the sixth podcast in the series, and this time I’m joined by travel writer Tom Chesshyre. Tom has made a career out of travelling to interesting places, meeting people and then sensibly turning the experience into books, which is a rather more organised version of my own approach of taking several hundred photographs and hoping that a coherent narrative eventually presents itself. It’s good to talk to a professional about these things.
Tom is the author of fourteen travel books, with journeys taking him everywhere from North Korea and the Maldives to rather more familiar adventures around Britain. His walking books include From Source to Sea, covering a 215-mile walk along the Thames, Lost in the Lakes, based on a 379-mile circuit of the Lake District centred on its sixteen principal lakes, and his latest book, Wild Peaks, which follows a 364-mile journey from Manchester, around the Peak District and onwards to Sheffield. There’s a full list of Tom’s books at https://www.tomchesshyre.co.uk/books/.
I very much enjoyed recording this episode and reading Tom’s books. I’ve always been interested in how being open to adventure can lead to unexpected experiences and encounters with fascinating people who have countless stories to tell. We touch on that, as well as walking and pubs, during the episode. As a reminder, these podcasts will be moved to the new LDWA digital platform when it launches in early 2027 and there’s a podcast with Richard May about that project.
The conversation was also a reminder that good travel writing, like a good walk, is often as much about communities, pubs, chance conversations and becoming slightly lost as it is about the scenery.