Chris Townsend embarks on a 700-mile walk along the spine of Scotland, the line of high ground where fallen rain runs either west to the Atlantic or east to the North Sea. Walking before the Independence Referendum of 2014, and writing after the EU Referendum of 2016, he reflects on: nature and history, conservation and rewilding, land use and literature, and change in a time of limitless potential for both better and worse.
Chris Townsend is probably the world's best known long-distance walker who also writes. His many previous books include Out There, winner of ORPG Outdoor Book of the Year 2016, Rattlesnakes and Bald Eagles, and Grizzly Bears and Razor Clams, all published by Sandstone Press.
"700 miles of rough, untracked wildness where the waters flow west on one side and east on the other. In walking along the spine of Scotland he has discovered the country's heart."
– Cameron McNeish, author of There's Always the Hills
"Not simply a long-distance walker but a fine writer who can evoke both the physical and mental journeys such undertakings entail."
– Richard Else, author of Wainwright Revealed
"Along the Divide treads that skilful line between serious, important landscape writing and a damned good tale that you can kick back and read for the pleasure of reading."
– Alex Roddie, The Great Outdoors
"An absolute treat."
– Helen Todd, Walk Magazine