The Natural Navigator - Tristan Gooley

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-Navigator-Tristan-Gooley/dp/0753541882

Picked up this because I saw an article on Atlas Obscura about it, basically. Plus ashlyme had just got horrendously lost in a field. Probably one in England. And I was wondering if this could help them in their quests of discovery in what I like to refer to as "the Upper Cotswolds" (Solihull). It is a very good book with a lot of detail in it about how to look at trees, geology, water features and the stars to find your way about. I liked some of the interesting stuff on star mathematics. And the fact that it emphasised cross referencing all these various methods to find you're way about. AS usual, it was a library loan, but I'd be strongly tempted by the pocket guide.

Trying not to Try - Edward Slingerland

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trying-Not-Try-Effortlessness-Spontaneity/dp/0857863487

Not sure why I thought this one was a good idea - it was one of those random reservations that you stick on the list and then jumps out at you from the library. I had to google the title to make this post to be honest, so you can probably guess where this is going - do what I did, save yourself some reading, skip to another entry.

Seriously, I don't think this was badly written. I suspect I don't have too much of a problem with spontaneity but either way I got bored and read something else instead. Make of that waht you will...

The South Country - Edward Thomas

https://www.amazon.co.uk/South-Country-Nature-Classics-Library/dp/0956254519/

I'd been meaning to read this for ages. When I went to the Lost Words exhibition at Compton Verney, there was a copy knocking around and that reminded me to stick it on the reservation list. It's a lovely poetic account of the explorations of the strip of land that's basically now below the M4, pretty much as far across as Witlshire. There's more of a focus on the rural characters rather than just the landscape - this makes me think a little of Laurie Lee. In some ways there's not a lot to say about the older rural rambling travel books - it made me want to visit the places, and in that must be a success. And it painted pictures in my head.

One thing it did remind me to do was to go back and read The Country Child, by Alison Uttley, which utterly delighted, enthralled and inspired me as a little girl. So an all round good read, not too mawkish. Go for it if it's your kind of thing - I may well get my own copy.