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"From Pub to Pub" is a personal account of England's renowned 200 mile Coast to Coast Walk, which extends from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. The trek embraces, among other things, three national parks.
Cummins examines the Coast to Coast as a form of eco-tourism and as a "pilgrimage." What compels a person to spend two or three weeks trekking across rugged wilderness for distances of up to 24 miles per day? Is it spiritual, cathartic, therapeutic or simply a personal challenge? Or is it a quest for meaning in a highly technological and fast-paced world that denies us the slightest amount of tranquility and no opportunities to connect with our environment, our history, and each other?
Related to this is the social bonding that occurs. Pubs are where people convene to relax, share their walking experiences, and contemplate tomorrow's adventures. They are, indeed, "public houses" and loci of local culture.
In England, walking occupies a special place in the cultural consciousness. Cummins examines this uniquely British phenomenon and how it has led to the development of long distances walks as one aspect of eco-tourism. Finally, throughout the book, he takes readers into every pub on the Coast to Coast and shares with them a pint.
About the author
Bryan Cummins, PhD, is an anthropologist who has conducted archival and field research in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France and taught for McMaster University's Department of Anthropology for 25 years. He lives in Ontario, Canada.
