The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (48 page)

karst
Limestone landscape marked by numerous abrupt ridges, fissures, sinkholes and caverns.

kist
(Scots) A chest.

knap
To strike or work flint.

kora
A circumambulatory pilgrimage whose goal is not arrival but the transcendence, by means of a passage through sacred geographies, of the attachments and inattentions that constrain awareness of a greater reality.

lacustrine
Of or pertaining to a lake or lakes; lake-like.

laminated
Arranged in layers; of fluids, a series of layers sliding over one another without mixing.

lazy beds
A ridge-and-furrow method of arable cultivation. In Gaelic,
feannagan
.

lenticular
Lens-shaped (as in ‘lenticular clouds’).

lias
A blue limestone rock, rich in fossils.

ling
Sandy heathland.

lithic
Of, or pertaining to, stone.

littoral
Existing or taking place on or near the shore.

luff
To sail nearer to the wind.

lunulae
Crescent-shaped marks.

machair
(Scots Gaelic) Coastal grassland, usually overlying shell sand and often rich in flower varieties.

mafic
Designating the dark-coloured minerals of igneous rocks, which are predominantly ferromagnesian in character.

mani
In Tibetan Buddhism, mani stones are slates, rocks or pebbles inscribed with the six-syllable mantra ‘
Om mani padme hum
’.

marram
A tough and densely spiky grass which grows on coastal dunes.

massif
A prominent range or group of mountains.

megalith
A large stone, especially one forming all or part of a prehistoric monument.

Mesolithic
The ‘Middle’ Stone Age. Datings of the Mesolithic period differ depending on location, but in a European context the Mesolithic lasted roughly between the end of the last glacial period and the beginning of
Neolithic
agriculture, or – very roughly –
c
.9000
BC
to
c
.4000
BC
.

micro-terrains
Small-scale aspects and features of a landscape.

misprint
An irregular step, or a failure to
register
in an animal which normally does so.

moraine
A mound or ridge consisting of debris that has been carried and deposited by a glacier or ice sheet, usually at its sides or its extremity.

mycelia
The network of fine filaments constituting the tissue of a fungus.

nap
The texture of a surface, especially concerning the direction in which hair, grass or other fibres are predominantly lying.

Neolithic
The ‘New’ or ‘Later’ Stone Age, characterized by the use of ground or polished stone implements and weapons, and later by the development of an agricultural rather than a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, with a consequently greater presence of permanent tracks and paths. In a European context, the Neolithic is generally agreed to give way to the Iron Age around 2000
BC
(
see also
Mesolithic
)
.

oneiric
Dream-like.

onomasticon
A vocabulary or lexicon of proper names.

orrery
A model, usually clockwork in mechanism, designed to represent and perform the relative motions of the earth, moon and planets around the sun.

ortholith
A rocky outcrop, or (archaeologically) a stone that has been raised into an upright position.

peninsula
A piece of land that is almost, but not wholly, surrounded by water.

peregrini
The name sometimes given to early Celtic Christians who travelled widely, often upon the sea, as an expression of religious devotion.

periplus
An account or narrative of a circumnavigation or other voyage; a manual of navigation (plural forms being
peripli
or
peripluses
).

petroglyph
A rock carving; a sign inscribed on stone.

phragmites
A genus of reeds whose members have flat linear leaves and strong erect stems.

Pleistocene
The geological epoch spanning the period of the world’s recent glaciations, from 2,588,000 years
BP
to 11,700 years
BP
.

portolan
A set or book of sailing directions, illustrated with charts.

Pre-Cambrian
The period of earth history from
c
.4.6 billion years ago to
c
.542 million years ago: around 88 per cent of geological time.

press
The means of marking a page with metal or wooden type.

psychogeology
The study of the interplay of mind and geology; the shaping of thought by earth and rock.

pugmark
The footprint of an animal.

qasr
(Arabic) A stone tower.

quill
The shaft of a bird’s feather, or something – usually a pen – made from it.

reaver
A robber or bandit; usually those robbers who raided the Scottish–English border between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

recto
The front leaf or upper side of a page of paper (
see also
verso
).

register
The placing of the hind foot into the track made by the forefoot (of, for example, a deer, cat or fox). In a ‘clean’ register two tracks appear as one.

sarha
(Arabic) A walk or wander that leads to some kind of revelation or spiritual renovation.

sarsen
A large block or boulder of sandstone found on a chalk down (
see also
wether
).

scapula
The shoulder blade; adjectivally (scapular), having the form of a shoulder blade.

scarp
The steep face or slope of a hill.

scree
The mass of small stones and pebbles that forms on a steep mountain slope. ‘Talus’ in American English.

selkie
A seal, or in folklore, a spirit that assumes the form of a seal.

selvedge
Field boundary, but also the edge of a piece of woven material finished so as to prevent unravelling.

senderismo
(Spanish) Walking, hiking or path-following.

serac
A bulging tower of ice on a glacier.

shieling
A pasture to which livestock are driven for grazing, usually during the summer months; a hut or shelter constructed near such pasture.

sierra
(Spanish) A range of hills or mountains, especially those which are sharp or jagged.

sillion
The thick curve of soil turned over by the plough; in ground with a high clay content this ‘furrow slice’ can appear to shine.

sinter
Of particulate materials: to coalesce into a solid mass under the influence of heat without liquefaction.

skerry
A small sharp rock island.

slot
The track or trail of an animal, especially a deer.

spar
In sailing, a general term for masts, booms, yards and gaffs.

stance
In the language of droving, a place where drovers would halt their cattle and spend the night.

stramash
An uproar, a state of confusion.

stravaig
(Scots) To wander aimlessly, unguided by outcome or destination.

stupa
A Buddhist monument.

sway
The wavering or deviation of tracks from the median line, for example when an animal is tired, injured or heavy with young.

tain
The reflective backing on mirror glass which makes reflection possible but limits the viewer’s onward gaze.

thwart
A seat across a boat.

toponym
A place name.

topophilia
The love of place, or of a particular place.

tracking
In hunting, to follow by the footprints of, or to trace the course or movement of. In cold printing, the action of adjusting the spacing between letters and words.

transhumance
The seasonal movement of grazing animals to and from pasture.

trim
The most advantageous set of a ship in the water, and/or the most advantageous adjustment of a ship’s sails.

tumulus
An ancient mound, usually a burial mound.

ungulate
Having the form of a hoof; or, of animals, hoofed.

uroboros
The circular symbol of a snake or dragon bending round to eat its own tail.

vane
The web of a feather.

verso
The reverse of a page; the side of a leaf or page presented to the eye when it has been turned (
see also
recto
).

vertex
A junction of two or more lines.

volute
Adjectivally, forming a spiral curve or curves.

wadi
(Arabic) A ravine or valley which becomes, in heavy rain, a watercourse; the river that runs through such a valley.

wether
Boulders of sandstone that lie on top of chalk downs (
see also
sarsen
).

Wunderkammer
(German) A cabinet of curiosities, a treasure chest, literally a ‘wonder-room’.

yard
The
spar
from which sails are set; the crosspiece of a mast.

zawn
(Cornish) A fissure or cave in a coastal cliff.

ziggurat
A staged tower of pyramidal form in which each successive storey is smaller than the one below it, so as to leave a terrace all around.

Acknowledgements

I thank first those who have shaped this book most. Miguel Angel Blanco, Steve Dilworth, Nick Hayes, Finlay MacLeod, Leo Mellor, Jon Miceler, David Quentin, Raja Shehadeh and Ian Stephen have been inspiring companions on and off the path. Peter Davidson, Walter Donohue, Julith Jedamus, Julia Lovell, Rosamund & John Macfarlane and Kate Norbury read versions of the book with invaluable care and attention. My editors Simon Prosser and Paul Slovak, and my friend and agent Jessica Woollard, have been variously patient, encouraging, supportive and editorially brilliant. I have been most fortunate in the people with whom I have worked at Penguin: my copy-editor, Caroline Pretty; John Gray, John Hamilton and Claire Mason, the book’s designers; and Anna Kelly, Joe Pickering, Anna Ridley and Ellie Smith.

For help in the walking and thinking of this book, I am very grateful to Bram Arnold, Ivan Bicknell, Ronald Blythe, Anne Campbell, Stanley Donwood, Chris Drury, Richard Mabey, Lily & Tom Macfarlane, Andrew McNeillie, Rod Mengham, Jeremy Noel-Tod, Jules Pretty, Daniel Richards, Gordon Roberts and Tim Robinson.

Thanks are also due, for many kinds of help along the way, to Ruth Abbott, Ellah Allfrey, Tatiana Argounova-Low, Patrick Arnold, Jeff Barrett, Keith Barron, John Beatty, Bella Bigsby, Steven Bode, Tim Brennan, Julia Brigdale, Andrew Brockbank, Amanda Canning, Jonathan & Keggie Carew, Jules Cashford, Adrian Cooper, Jennifer Gough Cooper, Linda Cracknell, Guy Cuthbertson, Jane Davidson, Roger Deakin, Tim Dee, Joan & Beka Dilworth, Sorrell Downer, Robin Duckett, Ed & Will, Martin Elphick, Michael Englard, Chris Evans, Gareth Evans, John Fanshawe, Kitty Fedorec, Alec Finlay, Alan Franks, John Freeman, Robin Friend, Hamish Fulton, Sinéad & Charlie Garrigan-Mattar, Naomi Geraghty, Tom Gilliver, Sophie Gilmartin, Jay Griffiths, Alexandra Harris, Jonathan Heawood, Matthew Hollis, Phil Howell, Michael Hrebeniak, Michael Hurley, Kevin Jackson, Tom King, Patrick Kingsley, Pat Law, Emily Lethbridge, Rachel Lichtenstein, John Llewelyn, Matt Lloyd, Stephen Logan, Richard Long, Hayden Lorimer, Laurent Loursen, Raphael Lyne, James Macadam, Andy Mackinnon, Malcolm Maclean, Rory Maclean, John MacLennan, Norma Macleod, Sara Maitland, Philip Marsden, Rick Minter, Bob Mizon, Polly Monroe, Janet Moore, Guy Moreton, Ellis Morgan, Colin Myers, Lucy Newlyn, Donald & Lucy Peck, Edward & Alison Peck, Tim Richardson, Chrisella Ross, Diyanne Ross, David Rothenberg, Jasmin & Titus Rowlandson, Pru Rowlandson, Lucia Ruprecht, Jim Rutman, Tom Service, Merlin Sheldrake, Geoff Shipp, Martin Simonson, Iain Sinclair, Michael Skelly, Richard Skelton, Jos Smith, Rebecca Solnit, Anna Stenning, John Stubbs, Kay Syrad, Orla Thomas, Tony Travis, Laurie Tuffrey, Robin Turner, Liesbeth Van Houts, Cristina Viti, Elena Vozmediano, James Wade, Dan Walwin, Stephen Watts, Natalie Whittle, Deborah Wilenski, Christopher Woodward, Ken Worpole and Patrick Wright.