Beyond the Footpath

A practical and inspirational guide to modern pilgrimages: the art of mindful walks to a place of meaning.

In these frantic and unsettling times, more people are seeking meaning, stillness and a greater connection with the natural world. Modern pilgrimages satisfy this need. Walking mindfully to a special place goes beyond rambling to something deeper. By leaving behind our noisy lives, setting off quietly and with purpose, then simply putting one foot in front of the other, we discover more about ourselves and the land we inhabit.

Beyond the Footpath blends the inspirational and the practical with useful information, mindful and creative exercises and suggestions of destinations for your own mindful walks or pilgrimages. Walking with an intention adds purpose and focuses the mind, and Clare Gogerty shows us how the the aim of a pilgrimage is to reach a significant place and come to an understanding of yourself and of the landscape you have walked through.

Beyond the Footpath is sure to spur any reader to pull on their walking boots and step out on to their own pilgrim's way.

About the Author

Clare is an author, journalist and award-winning editor with considerable experience in consumer magazine publishing. She edited Coast magazine for six years (during which time the title won a PPA Award for magazine of the year and she was nominated for four BSME editor of the year awards), she has also edited the National Trust magazine and Grand Designs magazine. Other titles she has worked for include Tatler, In Style, The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard and Esquire.

Currently she is associate editor of The Simple Things magazine, writing and commissioning features on travel, homes and gardens. She combines this with writing books -- The National Trust's Book of the Coast, three guidebooks for the National Trust, and Hidden Villages of Britain for Batsford publishers. Clare has an interest in ancient sites, a love of trees, herbs and gardening, and an enthusiasm for folkore and for keeping the eight solar festivals that led her to druidry, which she continues to practise.