By Shank and by Crank

By Edmund Vale7 chapters15 images

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Contents

• A Welsh Walk (opens in a new tab)

  A four-day, roughly 110-mile solo walk from Leominster to Llanfairfechan in November 1912, through Kingsland, Wigmore, Clun and Montgomery, then across the snowbound Berwyn hills past Llanwddyn and Bala to the Roman-road pass called the Gap of Two Stones, ending at the writer's 'Fairy Godmother's' house.
• Anglesey Coastwise (opens in a new tab)

  An expedition round the Anglesey coast in February 1914, nominally to find a house-boy, taking in Rhosneigr, the river Crigyll and its smuggling legends, and Four Mile Bridge, with the search ending in a boy hired from Bootle instead of an Anglesey native.
• A Franco-Belgian Walk (opens in a new tab)

  A walking approach to Amiens Cathedral in March 1911 with a college companion nicknamed Jay, starting from Rochefort station in the Belgian Ardennes, boating through the underground grottoes of Han-sur-Lesse, and ending with the first sighting of the cathedral rising from the plain.
• A Japanese Walk (opens in a new tab)

  A solo walk toward the volcano Asama Yama in August 1912, from Shimonita through Moto Juku to a thunderstorm-bound night's hospitality at the village of Hatsudoya, ending with the first view of the smoking volcano from the Ridge of Wami Tongi.
• By Crank with Dog Roc (opens in a new tab)

  A cycling journey with a red Irish setter named Roc from Chinnor in the Chilterns to Cwm Bychan in Ardudwy in June 1922, passing through Thame, a Romany encampment, and the pass of Bwlch-y-Fedwen, recounting the legend of the Wild Red Men of Mawddwy and ending below Cadair Idris at the Gap of the Chilly Door.
• The Silent Way (opens in a new tab)

  A May 1923 journey along the tow-path of the Grand Junction Canal from Paddington Basin toward Rugby, describing the painted narrowboats and canal-dwelling families of the waterway, and the barge-painting traditions encountered at Uxbridge and Branston.
• A Grand Meander (opens in a new tab)

  The first part of a December 1923 round of visits, alone and later with a companion called Kay, from London toward Wales via Yeovil, Midsomer Norton and Bristol, crossing the Black Mountains by Carmarthen Van and the Van Pool to Llanddeusant in search of a remembered ham.