Charlie Connelly

And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years Of British And Irish History

The landscape of Britain and Ireland is filled with history. We can’t walk five yards up the street without tripping over the stuff. The thing is, with the pace of life these days we miss most of it as it flashes past the car window between Little Chefs. Do we even realise that we’re following the same path as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, or that we’re driving past the exact spot where King Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow?

As a lover of both history and the British countryside, Charlie Connelly decided to rectify this, and set out on a series of walks that recreate famous historical journeys. En route he retells the story of the original trip while discovering who and what now inhabit these iconic routes.

Walking in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Charlie journeys alongside Boudicca’s ghost in Norfolk, relives Bonnie Prince Charlie’s flight to Skye disguised as Flora MacDonald’s maid and takes the same 32-mile round trip as the starving Louisburgh famine walkers. He suffers broken toes, becomes trapped in the Scottish Parliament and encounters dead poets and a surprisingly high number of mad old women in woolly hats.

Told with Charlie’s customary charm and wit, And Did Those Feet will reveal the historical secrets hidden in the much-loved coastal, country and urban landscapes of Britain.