Our Reading List

Turning Questions Into Something Useful

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Aquí teniu el post en Català. 

With more than 14,000 questions bouncing around our heads, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

To keep our sanity in check, we have to turn the list of questions into a pragmatic guide of expected results and possible outcomes.

At times, this is tough to do. There are specific things we must patiently work through in a certain order. Many other things, however, will evolve organically as we expand our general working knowledge and tackle each aspect of the trip. Life, after all, is a big excuse to keep learning, and this trip will undoubtedly give us an education in things we never considered before now.

Thankfully, we’re not the first to go for a long walk. That means we have tons of information readily available and many people’s brains we can pick to help us shape a sensible and realistic way forward. In a couple Internet clicks, we have all flavors of how-to guides, videos and data to browse. There are tons of essays rich with personal stories from intrepid adventurers and everyday Joes, and tales of failure and success spanning centuries and circumstances. Many people we know know someone or read something about someone who did something like what we’re setting out to do, and they have added invaluable details to our research library.

Our Summer Reading List

As a result, we have books in the kitchen nook where we eat breakfast, in the living room on the coffee table, next to our bed and in our e-reader, which moves from room to room and travels with us away from home. Our number of digital bookmarks also has grown exponentially, and so has our list of contacts and reference materials.

We likely won’t be able to read all these pages before we go, but we are making a concerted effort to absorb as much as we can. Each source offers something worth reflecting on, and could influence our response to constantly changing events and our ability to intuitively act on the fly.

 

World atlas
The world atlas, our all-time favorite book and travel inspiration

 

Here are a few books we have queued up to bridge the gaps between the questions we have and the useful things we’ll need to know as we set out. Maybe they’ll help you, too, as you start imagining your next trip.

How-to guides
  • 98.6 Degrees, by Cody Lundin and Russ Miller
  • Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival, by Dave Canterbury
  • The Complete Walker IV, by Colin Fletcher
  • Fixing Your Feet: Prevention and Treatments for Athletes, by John Vonhof
  • Outdoor Life: The Ultimate Survival Manual: 333 Skills that Will Get You Out Alive, by Richard Johnson
  • Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips: 153 Amazing & Inexpensive Tips for Extremely Lightweight Camping by Mike Clelland
Adventure-Seekers and Long-Walkers
  • Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, by Andrew X. Pham
  • Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume 1, by Isabella Lucy Bird
  • A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, by John Muir
  • Tracks: One Woman’s Journey Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback, by Robyn Davidson
  • Viure Per Sentir-se Viu, by Albert Bosch
  • A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson
  • Walking Europe From Top to Bottom, by Susann Margolis and Ginger Harmon
  • Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
  • The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir’s Greatest Adventures, by Lee Stetson
  • You’ve Gone Too Far This Time, Sir!, by Danny Bent
Route-planning references and trails to train on:
  • Atlas 2000: La Nueva Visión de la Tierra, by Plaza and Janes (an always-present inspiration for most the trips we take)
  • Google Earth
  • GR-92 Sender de Gran Recorregut Portbou-Ulldecona, by Josep M. Jerez
  • Wikiloc
  • Xarxa Catalana de Senders de Rutes Tematiques, by Josep M. Jerez

We’d like to thank, and congratulate, all these authors. Not only did they have the courage to start out on adventures like these, but they also had the tenacity to put their experience down on paper and share it with others.

Information and a long reading list, though, will only get us so far. How we put our learnings into practice in the real world will be the true test. We’ll keep you posted as we move from the questioning stage to trial testing.

Do you have a favorite book about walking? Share it with us in the comments section below. Thanks!

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