Nick Hunt is the great-nephew of mountaineer and explorer Colonel John Hunt, leader of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, so travel and exploration are in his genes. This book describes Nick's psychogeographical journey on foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. His journey was inspired by his predecessor and hero, traveller and pyschogeographer Patrick Leigh Fermor who describes the same journey 78 years earlier in the 1930s in his trilogy A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water and The Broken Road, published posthumously. Interestingly both Hunt and Leigh Fermor complete their journies by following the Rhine and Danube rivers, which links with my current body of work on the River Witham. I read Leigh Fermor's books a couple of years ago so was delighted to come across this one recently. Although still reading it, I came across this passage, which particularly resonated with me: '.......I understood that the delight of walking lay in the accidental finding of things, letting small wonders reveal themselves shyly, at the speed of travel. Research (of his journey beforehand) only spoiled the mystery of what lay around the corner'. This, to my mind is what psychgeography is all about.
Another link between this book and my body of work is that of German photographer Andreas Muller-Pohle who photographed his Danube River Project 2005/06 largely by getting into the river and photographing it from within. This is something I have considered with my project: buying some chest waders (and a waterproof case for my compact) and getting into the Witham and photographing it. This has been inspired by looking at some angling pictures from the Witham, which must have been taken this way and fellow OCA student Shaun Clarke who has photographer the River Isar in Munich from within it.
Hunt, N. (2014) Walking the Woods and the Water, London, Nicholas Brealey Publishing
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