One man and a mule - Hugh Thomson

For centuries mules were moved to transport goods across Britain. Strong, sturdy and able to carry a good 80 kg of weight, they made ideal walking companions - as long as you didn't ask them to do anything they didn't want to do! Now Wainwright Prize winning author Hugh Thomson will revives that ancient tradition using his long experience of walking with mules across the Andes and of the benefits and quirks that come from doing so.

Taking his cue from Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels With A Donkey - the bestselling travel book of the 19th century - Thomson takes his mule, Sancho, across England from the Yorkshire Moors to the Lake District, using the old drovers roads and mule tracks that have largely passed into disrepair. These wild parts of the North of England used mules extensively in the past and by recreating that experience, Hugh has gained an insight into the forgotten men who were the muleteers for the mines and cattle that were scattered across the hills of Yorkshire and Cumbria.

Telling the stories of the people he has met along the way today, Thomson animates and brings to life that landscape in a way few other contemporary travel writers attempt. Combining his trademark insight and wit with lyrical intensity about landscape and history, In One Man and A Mule, Hugh Thomson continues to build on his portrait of Britain and the way we live now.