The North Road

This new book by Rob Cowen is coming out in April and looks to be excellent. 

I have spent a good chunk of my life driving up and down the A1, particularly certain stretches at certain times in my life. The stretch between Newark and the M18 near Doncaster is a stretch I've driven along probably 1000 times. I used to cycle down it in my youth, to Clumber Park near Nottingham/Worksop. I also travelled that way down to London at times, and between Peterborough and the Black Cat roundabout; then there were the Northern journeys up to the A66 junction (on early morning journeys to the Isle of Skye in my youth), and also all the way up to Newcastle, Berwich or even Edinburgh on lots of occasions.

From the publisher:

At the heart of this book is a highway. The A1; The Great North Road. A 400-mile multiplicity of ancient trackway, Roman road, pilgrim path, coach route and motorway that has run like a backbone through Britain for the last 2,000 years.

In this genre-defying and profoundly personal book, Cowen follows this ghost road from beginning to end on a journey through history, place, people and time. Weaving his own histories and memories with the layered landscapes he moves through, this is the story of an age, of coming to terms with time past and time passing, and the roads that lead us to where we find ourselves.

Written in kaleidoscopic prose, The North Road is an unforgettable exploration of Britain’s great highway.

Looking forward to it.

Order it from Fox Lane Books - not Amazon....