Monday 7 October 2013

Review: Curiocity E - Escaping London



"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

Despite the famous opinion of the historic dictionary writer and Londonophile Samuel Johnson, most Londoners from time to time do feel the need to escape the bustle and buzz of the city - and the latest edition of Curiocity is all about ways of doing so. It is called Escaping London.

Curiocity, as I've blogged about before, is a series of maps showing unusual things you can find in London and each edition is themed around a letter of the alphabet. This one is E for Escape. The map shows a 13-mile pilgrimage you can walk from London Bridge to the beautiful Red House in Kent (pictured above), which was the home of Pre-Raphaelite William Morris.

The London Pilgrimage was created in collaboration with The National Trust and goes past historic sites such as The Cutty Sark, Charlton House and Sevendroog Castle in Oxleas Wood. There is an accompanying audioguide, which can be downloaded to a smartphone.

On the reverse side of the map are little articles showing other ways of escape. These include gardens, woods and nature reserves for peace and quiet, cathedrals and statues of pagan gods for a spiritual sojourn, and even the unlikely resting place for the Holy Grail - albeit a movie prop version.

Henry and Matt, the creators of Curiocity, said: "'Escaping London' is all about pilgrimage and features fantastic writing from Robert Macfarlane, Mark Mason, Peter Watts and many others. Have you ever quested for the Holy Grail through Piccadilly, made a devotional journey to Lord's or cuddled Dante's Wombat? Now you can."

You can buy Curiocity E here: http://www.curiocity.org.uk/buy-online/ or order it through Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.curiocity.org.uk/buy-online/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/07/review-curiocity-d-london-dissected.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/03/curious-city-unusual-evening-in-london.html
Curiocity E: Escaping London
Curiocity C: Celestial London
Curiocity D: London Dissected

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