Walking the Border: A Journey Between Scotland and England

In this book Ian Crofton makes a journey on foot from Gretna Green in the southwest to Berwick in the northeast, following as close as possible the Anglo-Scottish Border as it has been fixed since the union of the crowns in 1603. Much of the line of the Border runs through a wild, overwhelmingly unvisited no man’s land – the sort of trackless waste perfect for keeping two belligerent peoples apart? During the course of his journey Ian Crofton considers a number of questions how ‘natural’ are borderlines? Sometimes they follow physical barriers, sometimes an arbitrary line on a map, the compromise made by some committee of distant diplomats.

Reviews of Walking the Border: A Journey Between Scotland and England

'An altogether engaging book' – Scotsman 'Although this book is pegged to a particular political and historic event – the recent Scottish referendum – it has virtues and insights that transcend the circumstances of its writing … Crofton has kept neat limits to his exploration of border culture. I would encourage him to go deeper as well into this surrealist hinterspace. It is a Mad God's Own Country … excellent' – Stuart Kelly, Guardian 'The book is all the better for that easy pace, and its anecdotal style is complemented by some quirky photographs' – Scotland Outdoors 'compelling' – Scottish Field