Coasting: Running Around the Coast of Britain – Life, Love and (Very) Loose Plans

Product Information

Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). His journey would be back through the pages of our history, a semi nostalgic look back at his own childhood and a contemporary take on the state of our nation under the rule of Thatcher in the early 1980’s and the effect that the outbreak of war with Argentina over the Falklands Islands would have on our outlook as a people.

For me it was an escape from Trumpism into Thatcherism, because Raban was a keen observer of England at the tipping point from Industrial Revolution to tourism and a global economy. The two authors’ journeys, incidentally, bumped up against each other in Brighton; a somewhat awkward encounter, described rather differently in each book. I really felt like I got to know Elise and worryingly, she is so inspirational, I've signed up for a marathon! The idea of 'coasting' is well demonstrated, and the book has a pace of it's own, of the sea, and of the time in which it was written.This should be essential reading for those who cannot comprehend why Brexit happened – who talk of lies believed as if those who disagree with their point of view are somehow lacking in cognitive ability, who rail against politicians without digging deeper to understand what matters to those who vote for them. Those are the markers in time but they are not really that relevant, they help give context to how he is writing about things and what those things meant at that time. Coasting round Britain single-handed in an antique two-masted sailing boat, Jonathan Raban conducts a masterly exploration of England and the English at the time of Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War. It's a book that certainly has its merits, but personally, I was seeking a stronger narrative thread to keep me fully engaged.

I enjoyed this and found it somewhat inspiring, but it was also very negative at times and wasn’t quite what I expected.Reading Coasting is like listening to a friend tell a tale down the pub that you can’t quite believe.

But it is his keen observations and lyrical descriptions—however sad—that compel the story and the reader on the tide of the book. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Really recommend this book to anyone who loves reading/listening to people going on long distance travel. Elise Downing, with absolutely no ultra-running experience, unable to read a map and having never pitched a tent alone before, set off to run 5,000 miles around the coast of Britain, carrying her kit on her back.Occasional binge drinking alongside of a breakup with an abusive boyfriend features prominently in the narrative. Paul Theroux described his journey, made mainly by rail, in The Kingdom by the Sea which I read when it was published, and Jonathan Raban, who chose to sail around the country in an old two masted sailing boat, recounted his travels in Coasting, which became something of a travel writing classic, and which I have only just got round to reading. I recently walked in the Brecon Beacons, finding 50 people eating lunch at the highest point, others having loud conversations that echoed around the hills and others playing loud music on their phones.