The greatest walks in literature

The sun is shining and holidays are back! Well, sort of. So what better way to enjoy the great outdoors after a tough winter than to begin an epic journey on foot.

Walks, particularly lengthy ones, can be found throughout literature, offering writers the opportunity to send their subjects on emotional journeys as well as physical ones. Here, we've rounded up the best fiction and non-fiction books featuring long walks, to give you inspiration and keep you company. 

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Arguably a journey that could have been much shorter (why did Gandalf's giant birds not just fly Frodo to his destination?), the hobbit's journey to cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom saw him and his band of companions take in the Elven kingdoms of Rivendell and Lothlorien and the mines of Moria. Even after they split, the fellowship of the ring carried on with its epic walks, through Rohan and to Gondor (with the occasional help of a horse), or through Shelob's Lair to Mount Doom. Either way, there was a lot of walking involved.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

If you're finding your daily walks dull or uninspired, take comfort in the fact that you're not walking through the world of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Set in a post-apocalyptic society, McCarthy's novel is about a father and his young son who make their across a landscape that has been ruined, by an event which destroyed much of civilisation. 

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