Waypoints

Waypoints

A Journey on Foot

Summary

A spellbinding travel book, exploring the psychology of walking, pilgrimage, solitude and escape.

'An extraordinary, dreamlike journey through West Africa' Adharanand Finn

At the age of twenty-seven and afraid of falling into a life he doesn't want, Robert Martineau quits his office job, buys a flight to Accra and begins to walk. He walks 1,000 miles through Ghana, Togo and Benin, to Ouidah, an ancient spiritual centre on the West African coast.

As he travels alone across rainforest, savannah and mountains, Martineau meets shamans, priests, historians, archaeologists and kings. Through the process of walking each day, and the lessons of those he encounters, Martineau starts to build connections with the natural world and the past - and, at last, to find the meaning he craves.

'Marvellous... A book about how to travel' Jay Griffiths, author of Wild

'[Martineau's] story, beautifully written, of how his pilgrimage of sorts changed him forever' Evening Standard

Reviews

  • A story of tenacity, told with humility, in a West Africa experienced deeply at the pace of a walk. I loved this book - its thoughtfulness, turn of phrase and lightness of touch as the author escapes one life to rediscover another.
    Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

About the author

Robert Martineau

Robert Martineau is co-founder of TRIBE, a nutrition company, and TRIBE Freedom Foundation, a charity fighting human trafficking. Waypoints is his first book. He lives in London.
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