Walking Britain

Ed and Will are the two lads behind the amazing  “A Walk Around Britain” project, which is intent of discovering Britain, the British people and traditions while walking and singing their way around the British Isles

Photo courtesy of Ed and Will 

Ed and Will’s musical walking adventure started six years ago, when they walked from Winchester to Canterbury, along the Pilgrim’s Way for three weeks. “Throughout Britain there is a growing passion for walking. We’ve noticed a wide and significant increase in people making and enjoying long walks,” say the duo, whose longest walks around Britain which have up to this point lasted a staggering nine months, none stop. They seem to have a special relationship with nature and for them, these walks are not just walks. “Walking is character-building. Every time you step out it puts you in a direct shared context with the greater reality of life on Earth, making you part of the landscape.” After six years of trekking round the country, “having experienced it’s benefits, we see the terrific importance of these simplest acts, walking and living lightly,” they say. “With this understanding, dedicating to long musical walks in Britain has made good sense,” contemplating, “what else could there possibly be to do?”

They keep a journal of their amazing trips on their impeccably written website, where you can also listen to their music, a gift for those who enjoy traditional British folk songs. The two friends, who originally met during their school days, are convinced that “Britain wants to be walked upon. This is an intensely kind land, with an incredible heritage of networked public footpaths and bridleways.” It’s not only the British land that fascinates them, but also the British people, whom they say “are strongly in touch with the fundamental human tradition of hospitality.”  From their point of view, “little is more reassuring, in 21st Century British culture, than throwing your safety into the hands of strangers, and finding your faith met”. 

In 2007 they walked for nine months from their hometown of Canterbury, to Lands End and back along to Somerset. “Walking in Britain is made more appealing by her small local landscapes, both physical and cultural. You don’t need to travel many miles to encounter huge diversity”. And it is true that walking in Britain has historical precedents, especially taking into account the distance from one village to the next, which is never too long. The boys say that their passion for walking “is simply a reaction to these undeniable observations”. 

As well as long walks, they have embarked on shorter walks, like the one from Canterbury to Tunbridge Wells in April last year, or the one from Oxford to Glastonbury three years ago. They say that, “walking is a way to move through a landscape as a crucial part of it, you can investigate, observe and participate with your surroundings”. On their walks they obviously spend most of their time together and admit that they find “issues with each others’ company,“ saying, “there are few better ways to come to terms with yourself, than by the mirror of a close companion.” Music has helped too. When trying to forget about contention between each other on the road, they sing in harmony together. “We have discovered that the traditional folk-songs of Britain are as welcome and important today as they were hundreds of years ago” they state, adding, “making two voices merge to a single tonal flow of harmonic music, while telling an ancient story really helps relax individual ego-laments. It is better than shaky explanations or tortured self-examination”. Their album, ‘Songs’, is 42 minutes of uplifting harmonies and touching voices, by Ed, Will and Ginger. They managed to record their album themselves while at home in Kent, during 2009. 

Photo courtesy of Ed and Will

Ed studied Art after he left school and spent many years in a Ska-Punk band called Ye Wiles, while Will studied English Literature at Bristol, and The History of Propaganda in Kent. After spending so much time walking around Britain, the more time they have dedicated to promote and sustain the project, saying, “trying to put out information and stories to more people, to inspire folks and encourage them to get outside walking, and to sing the good old songs.” When they’re not walking the length and breadth of Britain, they spend their time in other leisurely pursuits, “selling old books and wild-food, decorating festivals, busking, gigging and selling our album.” 

When on the road, they often find that “the line between an experience being terrible, or wonderful, is usually only down to timing.” They have many tall tales which could make anyone question the safety of a simple walk when it comes down to the unpredictable British weather. “Whilst crossing the South Downs in a freak tornado, (with lightning crashing down all about, buffeted by insane winds) we were too intent on survival to really enjoy ourselves. But afterwards, the extremity of the situation turned quickly to joy, and made it all the more glorious,” they explain. Another occasion when the guys feared for their lives was when they were flooded out of a cave in Wales. “Losing valuable electronic devices felt terrible at the time, from the immediate viewpoint of lost money and convenience,” they recall, “but as this forced us to stay in a nearby drier cave for another week, laboriously preserving all books and surviving technology, we had time to really explore the locality, and even to invite friends to visit!”

Even when the weather threatens to dampen their adventurous spirit, there is always still time for a little romance. However, their habitually transient experiences makes it all the more difficult, “like meeting an amazing girl makes saying goodbye much harder, or finding a community of people, with whom it’s a pleasure to work and share things, makes moving on a cruel necessity.” However, what’s most amazing of all is the absurd generosity the boys receive from people they’ve never met before. “We had no idea that such a seam of natural welcome would be so prevalent and common,” they note. After speaking with them, one can’t help but understand their enviable lifestyle and utopian approach to the English  countryside and nature, to the point that they have become an inseparable part of it.

Photo courtesy of Ed and Will

While on foot, they have also discovered “the massive width of culture, tradition and folklore, and the willingness of people to teach what they know, and learn what they don’t.” Their adventures are endless: from borrowing a donkey and a cart in Cornwall,  to being invited to spend six months in Welsh woodlands, to building temporary homes and learning about coppicing and traditional woodland management. But what is truly amazing is appreciating how much they love promoting their unique lifestyle and embarking on their walks. “The joyful potential of dawn to the deep fatigue of sunset, the mind full of new smells and aches and wonder. It’s cooking on a fire, making shelters, finding the history of the land written in stone and monument, gathering wild-food and herbs, learning about the hedges and the trees, and the wildlife of the islands, that brings the great joy,” they say. Above all, they point out that “the cultivation of a deep personal relationship with the landscape, and the growing sense of home, and comfort, and abundance, is the richest reward.”

Great landscapes, fantastic adventures and traditional folk music; what else can you ask for? It seems impossible that all of these opportunities are just a few steps away. But it can be done. Ed and Will are doing it. And it’s out there to explore, just a little way down the road.