Interview with author Judy Smith
Judy Smith has been a keen walker all her life and is the author of many walking books, including pub walks, walks for children and walks in many regions of France.
Here Judy talks about her approach to writing and her pleasure in walking.
1 How do you go about researching and writing up a walk?
A big question! It’s alright if you are familiar with the area, because all you have to do is check that what you think you know is correct (doubts creep in when you start to write things down). But often you need to find an interesting walk in a place you know little about or maybe have never been to before. A good map is the first essential (although not every path you see on it will be walkable), followed by a visit to the local Tourist Office for all the information they can supply on the area, including any local walks that have already been published. Armed with that lot you can pick and choose paths that lead you past interesting places, so that at the end of the day there will hopefully be something to write about. And then just do the walk, taking a dictaphone to record every detail as you go and a sighting compass to identify features of the landscape you don’t immediately recognise. Despite all that, it’s usually necessary to go back for a second time for some detail or other. And sometimes you have to modify the route – or even scrap it altogether.
2 What constitutes an interesting walk for you?
When walking for pleasure I am most bowled over by distant views and I get obsessed with identifying faraway mountains, or villages in a valley way below me. But when devising a walk to be published, I also think of having a well-defined destination or having some other precise reason for taking it – and I relish finding a story attached to some part of the walk, to make it all the more memorable.
3 Are places or people more memorable for you?
It all depends. I like walking alone so I can appreciate the ‘places’ and I like walking with a group so I can enjoy the ‘people’. But in the latter case I’m usually talking so hard I miss a lot!
4 What is the longest walk you’ve done?
The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. My husband Eric and I set out from in le Puy-en-Velay (in the Auvergne) in September 2005 and walked to Santiago and then on to Fisterra on the north-west tip of Spain – a journey of almost exactly 1000 miles in total. But being latter day pilgrims, we allowed ourselves one concession – we broke the journey at the mid-point (Pamplona) and returned to complete it in the spring of 2006. Of course, had it been the Middle Ages, we’d have then walked back as well. And we’d probably have had to deal with a few wolves and brigands on the way!
5 Do you ever get tired of walking?
Simply, no! Unless you mean tired at the end of the day, to which the answer is certainly, yes!
6 What is it about Brittany that particularly attracts you?
The superb coastline, the wild mountains, the abundance of megaliths, but more than anything, the magic of this most Celtic of Celtic lands. Merlin watching over the Valley of No Return at dusk, a heart-shaped hole in the wall of the castle where Tristan and Isolde landed, the drowned city of Ys beneath the Bay of Douarnenez, the rock from which smoke rises as the devil fries his pancakes, trees that heal, menhirs that bring bad luck to those who gaze on them, rocks that conceal treasure, saints that procure marriages and the rest – all have me completely under their spell!
7 Which of your books has given you the most pleasure?
Definitely Holiday Walks in Brittany, now published as Walking Brittany (by Red Dog Books). It was the first time I’d had the opportunity to write about France, and although the walking had to be packed into about 6 weeks, it was a treat to devote every long day to rambling in my very favourite region. Writing about it afterwards saved my sanity in a year endowed with more than the average number of family crises.
8 What are your current walking projects?
Our current personal project is to walk all Britain’s National Trails. With family commitments and all the writing, there’s not been a lot of time for walking for fun and we feel we’ve missed out a bit on the classic walks in this country. So it’s the Ridgeway in April and Offa’s Dyke Path later in the year, followed by ??? (we’re still debating it). Other than that I’m writing a book of Teashop Walks in Shropshire, trying to devise a series of Family Walks (and a Mini-Mountain Challenge) for the local Walking the Way to Health team, and promoting the short-distance Stepping Stones Walks for the local Ramblers Association. In the longer term we’re going to have to return and make another pilgrimage to Santiago. There are many different routes...
