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My Midsummer Morning: Rediscovering a Life of Adventure
A Financial Times Summer Book of 2019
Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his very limits – busking his way across Spain with a violin he can barely play.
In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee arrived in Spain. He had never been overseas; had hardly even left the quiet village he grew up in. His idea was to walk through the country, earning money for food by playing his violin in bars and plazas.
Nearly a century later, the book Laurie Lee wrote – As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning – inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made him fall in love with Spain – the landscapes and the spirit – and with Laurie's style of travel. He travelled slow, lived simply, slept on hilltops, relished spontaneity, and loved conversations with the different people he met along the hot and dusty road.
For 15 years, Alastair dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee’s footsteps, but could never get past the hurdle of being distinctly unmusical. This year, he decided to go anyway. The journey was his most terrifying yet, risking failure and humiliation every day, and finding himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the road and of his own life. But along the way, he found humility, redemption and triumph. It was a very good adventure.
Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his very limits – busking his way across Spain with a violin he can barely play.
In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee arrived in Spain. He had never been overseas; had hardly even left the quiet village he grew up in. His idea was to walk through the country, earning money for food by playing his violin in bars and plazas.
Nearly a century later, the book Laurie Lee wrote – As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning – inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made him fall in love with Spain – the landscapes and the spirit – and with Laurie's style of travel. He travelled slow, lived simply, slept on hilltops, relished spontaneity, and loved conversations with the different people he met along the hot and dusty road.
For 15 years, Alastair dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee’s footsteps, but could never get past the hurdle of being distinctly unmusical. This year, he decided to go anyway. The journey was his most terrifying yet, risking failure and humiliation every day, and finding himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the road and of his own life. But along the way, he found humility, redemption and triumph. It was a very good adventure.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published July 23, 2019
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579 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
November 18, 2019
In the mid-1930s a young man called Laurie Lee arrived in Spain. For most of his life, he had not been out of the village of Slad where he grew up. He had worked for a while in London, but this new country was a revelation. He walked across the country playing his violin to earn a little money to enable him to eat.
Humphreys is an adventurer who has been around the world on a bike (as written about in Moods Of Future Joys and Thunder and Sunshine), crossed seas and deserts and many other things. He has also pioneered the micro-adventure, which is a small and cheap adventure that still pushes your boundaries and get you out into the wider world. But since getting married, having kids and ending up with something that he never would get, a mortgage, he was missing the challenge of something bigger.
Lee’s simple travel has long inspired others, including Alastair, and he had the idea of doing a modern-day version of the same trip discovering inland Spain and sleeping out under the stars. But he needed a violin first. Oh, and more importantly, some lessons to be able to play it and earn some money. He finds a teacher online who declares her musical inspiration to be heavy metal and classical and heads to a music shop and buys the cheapest instrument that he can find. Arriving for his first lesson he discovers an Australian lady who has a very different life to his, he has seven months to learn how to play. The first screeches send shivers down his spine; it was then it dawned on him that he might not earn enough to eat!
A few months later Humphreys was sitting on the harbour wall in the port of Vigo, in northwest Spain. It was time for the adventure to begin. He left his small pile of change on the bench to ensure that he knew he was starting with absolutely nothing as he began his walk. Later on that day he would hopefully earn the first money of his walk…
This is the fourth of Humphreys books that I have read now and like all of his others, it is an enjoyable read. He finds the Spanish people warm and generous and falls in love with the country. He swims in rivers, suffers the heat of the day, helps a postman deliver letters in exchange for a lift as he wanders from the coast to Madrid before heading south. I liked the way he links his trip back to Lee’s journey AS I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. The Spain that Humphreys is walking through though is a very different country than that of the 1930s which was teetering on the brink of a civil war.
It is not a superhuman effort like his cycle trip, but he does push his own boundaries by playing the violin to earn his keep. He thinks the world of his wife and children, but this book and walk is as much about his need to be out there doing something. Getting that balance between responsibility and adventure is very difficult and he is striving to find that in here. I must admit that I have resisted the temptation to go and watch the videos of Humphreys playing his violin though…
Humphreys is an adventurer who has been around the world on a bike (as written about in Moods Of Future Joys and Thunder and Sunshine), crossed seas and deserts and many other things. He has also pioneered the micro-adventure, which is a small and cheap adventure that still pushes your boundaries and get you out into the wider world. But since getting married, having kids and ending up with something that he never would get, a mortgage, he was missing the challenge of something bigger.
Lee’s simple travel has long inspired others, including Alastair, and he had the idea of doing a modern-day version of the same trip discovering inland Spain and sleeping out under the stars. But he needed a violin first. Oh, and more importantly, some lessons to be able to play it and earn some money. He finds a teacher online who declares her musical inspiration to be heavy metal and classical and heads to a music shop and buys the cheapest instrument that he can find. Arriving for his first lesson he discovers an Australian lady who has a very different life to his, he has seven months to learn how to play. The first screeches send shivers down his spine; it was then it dawned on him that he might not earn enough to eat!
A few months later Humphreys was sitting on the harbour wall in the port of Vigo, in northwest Spain. It was time for the adventure to begin. He left his small pile of change on the bench to ensure that he knew he was starting with absolutely nothing as he began his walk. Later on that day he would hopefully earn the first money of his walk…
This is the fourth of Humphreys books that I have read now and like all of his others, it is an enjoyable read. He finds the Spanish people warm and generous and falls in love with the country. He swims in rivers, suffers the heat of the day, helps a postman deliver letters in exchange for a lift as he wanders from the coast to Madrid before heading south. I liked the way he links his trip back to Lee’s journey AS I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. The Spain that Humphreys is walking through though is a very different country than that of the 1930s which was teetering on the brink of a civil war.
It is not a superhuman effort like his cycle trip, but he does push his own boundaries by playing the violin to earn his keep. He thinks the world of his wife and children, but this book and walk is as much about his need to be out there doing something. Getting that balance between responsibility and adventure is very difficult and he is striving to find that in here. I must admit that I have resisted the temptation to go and watch the videos of Humphreys playing his violin though…
December 5, 2020
I enjoyed MMM as I like nearly all travel stories. The problem for me was that in his journey not much really happened that justified a book and it inevitably compares unfavourably with the Laurie Lee book that Alastair Humphreys was inspired by. Still, he writes well and it is a nice, easy read.
August 10, 2019
This book follows neatly from Alastair's previous travelogues, relating the latest chapter in the life of a modern-day adventurer-explorer-writer. In this story we follow the author as he mediates a long-running internal dispute between the restless wanderer and the married father, all in the context of an admittedly silly adventure – busking across Spain in spite of zero musical prowess. The resulting lessons are anything but silly, and will no doubt strike a chord (sorry) with the many readers who will also be struggling with the polarised forces of freedom and commitment embodied by the open road and the school run. Looking forward, as always, to the next chapter.
June 2, 2019
Looking to launch on a big escapade or trying to figure out how to balance a full life with a drive for adventure? You'll find both in this thought-provoking read.
Honest, revealing, funny, and inspiring all wrapped into one fine book. I tore through it and have SO many highlighted paragraphs to revisit and ponder.
Honest, revealing, funny, and inspiring all wrapped into one fine book. I tore through it and have SO many highlighted paragraphs to revisit and ponder.
July 18, 2019
My Midsummer Morning: an honest review
First things first, I’m not being paid to write this review. I did receive a free copy of the book from the organiser of my book club, but not in exchange for anything.
The book.
Okay, I didn’t read the blurb (as I often don’t before diving in), so it wasn’t what I expected. I thought it was going to be a book about waking up one day and realising what adventures are waiting for you on your doorstep. Like microadventures!
With this in mind, I was really surprised when I started reading the book. Not the adventure I had expected at all, BUT, if you like reading travel or adventure books with that raw, honest and element of self-discovery, this is the book for you.
It reminded me how therapeutic walking and nature really can be - I’m thinking Wild by Cheryl Strayed (which I desperately want to read again after finishing this book) and The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff. And it was refreshing to read this kind of therapeutic adventure from a male perspective.
Everyone goes through hard times in life and transitional phases, but it’s only truly the brave who open up and share their experiences with the world.
Must read book!
First things first, I’m not being paid to write this review. I did receive a free copy of the book from the organiser of my book club, but not in exchange for anything.
The book.
Okay, I didn’t read the blurb (as I often don’t before diving in), so it wasn’t what I expected. I thought it was going to be a book about waking up one day and realising what adventures are waiting for you on your doorstep. Like microadventures!
With this in mind, I was really surprised when I started reading the book. Not the adventure I had expected at all, BUT, if you like reading travel or adventure books with that raw, honest and element of self-discovery, this is the book for you.
It reminded me how therapeutic walking and nature really can be - I’m thinking Wild by Cheryl Strayed (which I desperately want to read again after finishing this book) and The Pants of Perspective by Anna McNuff. And it was refreshing to read this kind of therapeutic adventure from a male perspective.
Everyone goes through hard times in life and transitional phases, but it’s only truly the brave who open up and share their experiences with the world.
Must read book!
December 21, 2019
The writing is more mature than "Thunder Sunshine." It is more expressive and sounds better. But some of the fun of the other book was its brashness.
Is busking across Spain a gimmick? Sure, but so are most of what society agrees to call "adventures." To me, Humphreys's life-changing epiphanies at the end rang more false than the initial gimmick.
As Humphreys himself admits, the trip was disappointingly uneventful. Things worked out well, without any crises. He doesn't meet too many interesting people, and this is partly deliberate. He avoids social interactions because without any money he can't pay his share (for drinks, a restaurant, etc.).
Every travel book has to find a balance of content between day-to-day descriptions of what was done, descriptions of the places, anecdotal interactions with locals, as well as the author's thought at the time, and before and after. After a promising start, I thought this book fell over into too many of the author's thoughts about adventure, family, life. It isn't bad, but this could have been written anywhere and doesn't need the "adventure." And this kind of self-indulgent content seems like a better fit for a blog than for a book. It gets better again toward the end.
> A daily stipend would have diluted everything. The insecurity of needing to busk was what made the journey. Had I carried a cushion of money, the music would have become nothing but a game or an affectation. Instead, it was my work, and it was critical. That made all the difference. I earned these coins. By the sweat of my face, I earned this bread. I earned these miles.
> Because I had no money I had pretended that I wanted to rest rather than go out. But Marcos had insisted. "I want you to meet my friends. Don't worry: I am buying the beer"
> I was trying to stop running away and choosing instead to head somewhere worth walking towards. I was learning to grapple with an adult life full of compromise. I saw my situation with more gratitude now: I had a home, rewarding work, enough money, and the two best kids in the world. From faraway Spain, I could look at my ordinary life with the sense of wonder I used to reserve for waking on a mountaintop in a distant land.
> There, in front of me, a viper basked on the footpath. It was the colour of summer dust, with a stark, dark zigzag, and orange eyes. I admired the sinuous movement as it smoothly retreated from me. I admired my calmness for not panicking. Then, rounding the next corner, I saw a curved stick lying on the path and jumped out of my skin.
> For too long I had thought adventure was life. But, actually, life is the adventure.
Is busking across Spain a gimmick? Sure, but so are most of what society agrees to call "adventures." To me, Humphreys's life-changing epiphanies at the end rang more false than the initial gimmick.
As Humphreys himself admits, the trip was disappointingly uneventful. Things worked out well, without any crises. He doesn't meet too many interesting people, and this is partly deliberate. He avoids social interactions because without any money he can't pay his share (for drinks, a restaurant, etc.).
Every travel book has to find a balance of content between day-to-day descriptions of what was done, descriptions of the places, anecdotal interactions with locals, as well as the author's thought at the time, and before and after. After a promising start, I thought this book fell over into too many of the author's thoughts about adventure, family, life. It isn't bad, but this could have been written anywhere and doesn't need the "adventure." And this kind of self-indulgent content seems like a better fit for a blog than for a book. It gets better again toward the end.
> A daily stipend would have diluted everything. The insecurity of needing to busk was what made the journey. Had I carried a cushion of money, the music would have become nothing but a game or an affectation. Instead, it was my work, and it was critical. That made all the difference. I earned these coins. By the sweat of my face, I earned this bread. I earned these miles.
> Because I had no money I had pretended that I wanted to rest rather than go out. But Marcos had insisted. "I want you to meet my friends. Don't worry: I am buying the beer"
> I was trying to stop running away and choosing instead to head somewhere worth walking towards. I was learning to grapple with an adult life full of compromise. I saw my situation with more gratitude now: I had a home, rewarding work, enough money, and the two best kids in the world. From faraway Spain, I could look at my ordinary life with the sense of wonder I used to reserve for waking on a mountaintop in a distant land.
> There, in front of me, a viper basked on the footpath. It was the colour of summer dust, with a stark, dark zigzag, and orange eyes. I admired the sinuous movement as it smoothly retreated from me. I admired my calmness for not panicking. Then, rounding the next corner, I saw a curved stick lying on the path and jumped out of my skin.
> For too long I had thought adventure was life. But, actually, life is the adventure.
September 26, 2020
Well, I finished it despite reservations. It kept me engaged enough for that then.
He came across as simultaneously self-flagellating and self-aggrandizing. Not a great mix. I ended up thinking he was a bit of a selfish twerp, who should, frankly just grow up and be a man. Sort of think he wanted to have his cake (his family and children) and to eat it (his travelling). Other people do both without whining, to be honest.
Also, his "adventure" just wasn't that interesting/exciting. So he busked across Spain. Meh.
If you want adventure read Alice Morrison book like Adventures in Morocco.
He came across as simultaneously self-flagellating and self-aggrandizing. Not a great mix. I ended up thinking he was a bit of a selfish twerp, who should, frankly just grow up and be a man. Sort of think he wanted to have his cake (his family and children) and to eat it (his travelling). Other people do both without whining, to be honest.
Also, his "adventure" just wasn't that interesting/exciting. So he busked across Spain. Meh.
If you want adventure read Alice Morrison book like Adventures in Morocco.
May 18, 2025
I picked this up when I was at the library looking at travel guides, and thought it might give me some ideas but it was so much more. An extreme athlete-adventurer, author, speaker bored with his suburban family life, decided to learn the violin to busk to survive for a month walking through villages of Spain. Whether you're into big, challenging adventures or micro adventures or just living adventurously, stretching yourself and being curious, this book has a lot of life lessons, touching moments and is well written. Glad I stumbled upon it.
January 5, 2021
Always enjoy reading Humphreys, he's got a great talent and a keen eye for intriguing detail. Would love to chat to him over a coffee, there were a few paragraphs where he seemed to be very humbly and honestly grasping for the bigger meaning to life, and yet not quite getting it. The biggest adventure of all seems to lie just outside of reach.
January 3, 2021
One of the best travel books I have ever read. Amazingly, it's not in a remote place nor the author survives extreme dangers... and yet, not being what ordinary readers of travel books expect, I think what it's written here is authentic adventure: how to become a good father, how to lead both a happy, meaningful family life and a life of adventure, and how to endure being out of your comfort zone by (poorly) playing the violin in public! Brilliant, honest and brave. Congratulations, Alastair!
December 14, 2019
I've read all of Alastair's adventure books, and this one has to be my favorite by far. Well written.
November 15, 2020
Always worth reading Alastair Humphries and this is an easy and enjoyable book, with plenty of helpful nudges to leave your comfort zone and live more adventurously. It was much more nostalgic and honest than his previous and I am unconvinced that he has entirely succeeded in achieving a healthy balance between family life and wanderlust.
December 28, 2019
Humphreys' book is a strange mixture of adventure/journey and in a sense a sad but necessary farewell to the adventuring spirit (or perhaps an evolution of it). The Humphreys of the Moods Of Future Joys and Thunder Sunshine was always a bit concerned that abandoning a girlfriend for a journey might have been an error, but the Humphreys in this seems a really tormented soul coming to terms with the fact that children really stymie the lifestyle he lived. As he does in several of his books, I often see texts and ideas through the lens of poetry and I was constantly reminded of Cavafy's poem The City on the futility of fleeing from place when the problems are your own:
The City
You said: “I’ll go to some other land, I’ll go to some other sea.
There’s bound to be another city that’s better by far.
My every effort has been illfated from the start;
my heart—like something dead—lies buried away;
How long will my mind endure this slow decay?
Wherever I look, wherever I cast my eyes,
I see all round me the black rubble of my life
where I’ve spent so many ruined and wasted years.”
You’ll find no new places, you won’t find other shores.
The city will follow you. The streets in which you pace
will be the same, you’ll haunt the same familiar places,
and inside those same houses you’ll grow old.
You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t bother to hope
for a ship, a route, to take you somewhere else; they don’t exist.
Just as you’ve destroyed your life, here in this
small corner, so you’ve wasted it through all the world.
The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy
I was glad he seemed to have finished more at peace with himself and more Eliot:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
The City
You said: “I’ll go to some other land, I’ll go to some other sea.
There’s bound to be another city that’s better by far.
My every effort has been illfated from the start;
my heart—like something dead—lies buried away;
How long will my mind endure this slow decay?
Wherever I look, wherever I cast my eyes,
I see all round me the black rubble of my life
where I’ve spent so many ruined and wasted years.”
You’ll find no new places, you won’t find other shores.
The city will follow you. The streets in which you pace
will be the same, you’ll haunt the same familiar places,
and inside those same houses you’ll grow old.
You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t bother to hope
for a ship, a route, to take you somewhere else; they don’t exist.
Just as you’ve destroyed your life, here in this
small corner, so you’ve wasted it through all the world.
The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy
I was glad he seemed to have finished more at peace with himself and more Eliot:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
September 30, 2022
Loved this book. It’s central theme, struggling to reconcile a previous adventurous and selfish life with new fatherhood, resonated strongly with me. Finished it in a couple of days, which is rare indeed on holiday with a toddler…!
October 2, 2019
A rather tedious account of self-inflicted poverty and self-centeredness. Struggled to finish it...
May 7, 2025
This is Humphreys' record of his imitating the hike made by the writer Laurie Lee , from Vigo in north western Spain to Almuñécar on the south eastern Mediterranean coast of Spain, which formed the basis of his celebrated memoir "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning". His book only gets Humphreys as far as Madrid, when he decides to call it a day and return to familial obligations back home in the UK. He has taken just over a month to do this abbreviated hike. In the book, the reader is subjugated to his musings on his own personal search for "adventure" and we are regularly reminded of his "feats" - cycling round the world; hiking alone across the Indian sub-continent; being part of a four-man crew to row the Atlantic Ocean; hiking across the frozen plateaux of Greenland - as he waxes lyrically and repetitively about the beauty and scents of the Spanish countryside, the spectacular night skies, the tolerance of the locals who drop coins in his violin case to stop his abysmal fiddle playing, the invigorating effect of jumping into cold mountain pools etc, etc ... In many respects he is a perfect embodiment of that strange creature the "adrenaline junkie". What is surprising about the record of this latest escapade is the detail of the life he left behind in the UK in 2012 and how different it is from what Laurie Lee had left behind in 1934. Compare the two.
Laurie Lee had left London at the age of 20 to go to Spain, after leading a nomadic life from his birthplace in Stroud. His skill set allowed him to play the fiddle, work in an accountant's office as a clerk, doing work as a manual labourer with a roving eye and sometimes being "supported financially" by ladies who had the means to do so. And one sentence in Spanish.
Alistair Humphreys did his hike at the age of 39. He was and still is married to an amazingly tolerant wife who had her own career as an accountant. At the time of his hike, he had a daughter of four and a son of two. There is no mention of what his parents or his -in-laws thought of this project. Before doing the hike, he could not play the fiddle but "took some lessons" so that he could play five tunes to an abominable level - his idea was to busk for his food as Lee had done. He was also a successful author having published seven travel books. So a steady income stream helped the family cope with his absence. And he had one sentence in Spanish.
The similarities between the two are dazzling.
I quibble with the use of the word adventurer to describe him. Is he really like those people such as Francis Drake and Ferdinand Magellan, who did not know what awaited them when they set sail westwards from Europe? Is he really on a par with John Hanning Speke and Richard Burton who went through unexplored Africa to seek the source of the river Nile? Or Cortez's and Pizarro's exploitation of the natives of Central and South America. All these explorers were looking for wealth in uncharted parts of the world. Humphreys' major concern was not to starve to death by relying on rubbish fiddle skills or having an accident that could stop him from walking - although there are episodes in the book where he seems to put himself in harms way by taking risky detours from his planned route. He also had the benefit of a mobile phone and a camera to take the odd picture that would help sell the subsequent book. Not quite the same level of danger as seeking the city of Eldorado.
I'll admit that, to the man's credit, he does a lot of his activities for charity but that's not the traditional role of an adventurer. That does not make him any different from the thousands of people who run the London Marathon and carry something unspeakably heavy on their back in order to achieve something for charity.
What I really disliked about him was the reckless, self-indulgent way he set this hike up just to satisfy this burning need for adventure. He needs to understand how lucky he is. Sometimes the real hero is the bloke who can only get work on the night shift at an internet warehouse who lives in an area of the UK that is not overwhelmed with job opportunities and who has a wife and two kids to support and can only look forward to a day trip to the coast to paddle feet in the Irish Sea. I wonder if that's enough of an adventure for them?
Finally, spare a thought for those genuine, Spanish, vagabond, troubadours whose pitch this bony, red-haired fiddle player of very limited skill has invaded and nicked the money on which their very existence relied. I wonder how many of them would exhibit a tolerance of this foreign interloper of their pitch and livelihood. No mention of them in Humphreys' travelogue either.
Laurie Lee had left London at the age of 20 to go to Spain, after leading a nomadic life from his birthplace in Stroud. His skill set allowed him to play the fiddle, work in an accountant's office as a clerk, doing work as a manual labourer with a roving eye and sometimes being "supported financially" by ladies who had the means to do so. And one sentence in Spanish.
Alistair Humphreys did his hike at the age of 39. He was and still is married to an amazingly tolerant wife who had her own career as an accountant. At the time of his hike, he had a daughter of four and a son of two. There is no mention of what his parents or his -in-laws thought of this project. Before doing the hike, he could not play the fiddle but "took some lessons" so that he could play five tunes to an abominable level - his idea was to busk for his food as Lee had done. He was also a successful author having published seven travel books. So a steady income stream helped the family cope with his absence. And he had one sentence in Spanish.
The similarities between the two are dazzling.
I quibble with the use of the word adventurer to describe him. Is he really like those people such as Francis Drake and Ferdinand Magellan, who did not know what awaited them when they set sail westwards from Europe? Is he really on a par with John Hanning Speke and Richard Burton who went through unexplored Africa to seek the source of the river Nile? Or Cortez's and Pizarro's exploitation of the natives of Central and South America. All these explorers were looking for wealth in uncharted parts of the world. Humphreys' major concern was not to starve to death by relying on rubbish fiddle skills or having an accident that could stop him from walking - although there are episodes in the book where he seems to put himself in harms way by taking risky detours from his planned route. He also had the benefit of a mobile phone and a camera to take the odd picture that would help sell the subsequent book. Not quite the same level of danger as seeking the city of Eldorado.
I'll admit that, to the man's credit, he does a lot of his activities for charity but that's not the traditional role of an adventurer. That does not make him any different from the thousands of people who run the London Marathon and carry something unspeakably heavy on their back in order to achieve something for charity.
What I really disliked about him was the reckless, self-indulgent way he set this hike up just to satisfy this burning need for adventure. He needs to understand how lucky he is. Sometimes the real hero is the bloke who can only get work on the night shift at an internet warehouse who lives in an area of the UK that is not overwhelmed with job opportunities and who has a wife and two kids to support and can only look forward to a day trip to the coast to paddle feet in the Irish Sea. I wonder if that's enough of an adventure for them?
Finally, spare a thought for those genuine, Spanish, vagabond, troubadours whose pitch this bony, red-haired fiddle player of very limited skill has invaded and nicked the money on which their very existence relied. I wonder how many of them would exhibit a tolerance of this foreign interloper of their pitch and livelihood. No mention of them in Humphreys' travelogue either.
January 31, 2022
This should have been better, a voyage of discovery and depth. Instead, it came off as petulant posturing with some begging tourism thrown in. Harsh? Yes, but I so wanted to shake the author by the end of it, and tell him to suck it up, buttercup, and stop wishing for the days when you had no responsibilities.
Blurb:
Here I was at last. I had imagined this moment for years. I had worked hard to make it this far, spurred on by the anticipation of how happy I would be. Yet now that it was beginning, I felt only afraid and lonely. I breathed deeply to calm myself. The air here smelled different from home - warm and dry. I looked beyond the pine trees and the red tiled roofs, over the blue bay, and on to the distant, forested hills. They looked so quiet and safe. But I could not leave. At least, not yet. Before I escaped this town there was one task I must do, the burden that was scaring me. I needed to play my violin. (back cover)
Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his very limits - busking across Spain with a violin he can barely play.
In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee travelled to Spain. His idea was to walk through the country, earning money for food by playing his violin in bars and plazas. The book he wrote about his journey - "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning" - inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made Alastair fall in love with Spain - with the landscapes and the spirit - and with Laurie's style of travel: he travelled slowly, lived simply, slept on hilltops, and enjoyed conversations with the people he met along the hot and dusty road.
For 15 years Alastair had dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee's footsteps, but could never get past the hurdle of being distinctly unmusical. The thought of busking in public, and depending on the violin to earn money, terrified him. But so too did the looming prospect of middle age, growing up and settling down. So eventually he decided to go anyway. Although Alastair has cycled around the world and rowed across the Atlantic, this journey was perhaps his most daunting yet. Risking failure and humiliation every day, he made himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the road and of his own life. And along the way, he found humility, redemption, direction and rediscovered a life of adventure.
I'm not convinced that he found humility. I'm not convinced that he found redemption. I am sure that he found that he needs space, and time away in an environment where he can move on and be alone. All well and good, but he is no longer in the first flush of youth, with no responsibilities, and is finding that having a family can be difficult. So, he runs away from it. Only for a bit, but he does. He seems to be looking forward to the future with dread, and wanting to relive his glory days of adventuring. What about taking delight in the little moments? Alastair has undertaken this trip through Spain, but how long will the buzz from that last before he starts getting itchy feet again?
Interesting, but it was a much harder read than I was expecting, and definitely more self-centred and selfish.
Thanks to #ABoS A Box of Stories for giving me something that I wouldn't have otherwise read, but this is going to the charity shop pile.
Blurb:
Here I was at last. I had imagined this moment for years. I had worked hard to make it this far, spurred on by the anticipation of how happy I would be. Yet now that it was beginning, I felt only afraid and lonely. I breathed deeply to calm myself. The air here smelled different from home - warm and dry. I looked beyond the pine trees and the red tiled roofs, over the blue bay, and on to the distant, forested hills. They looked so quiet and safe. But I could not leave. At least, not yet. Before I escaped this town there was one task I must do, the burden that was scaring me. I needed to play my violin. (back cover)
Seasoned adventurer Alastair Humphreys pushes himself to his very limits - busking across Spain with a violin he can barely play.
In 1935 a young Englishman named Laurie Lee travelled to Spain. His idea was to walk through the country, earning money for food by playing his violin in bars and plazas. The book he wrote about his journey - "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning" - inspired Alastair Humphreys. It made Alastair fall in love with Spain - with the landscapes and the spirit - and with Laurie's style of travel: he travelled slowly, lived simply, slept on hilltops, and enjoyed conversations with the people he met along the hot and dusty road.
For 15 years Alastair had dreamed of retracing Laurie Lee's footsteps, but could never get past the hurdle of being distinctly unmusical. The thought of busking in public, and depending on the violin to earn money, terrified him. But so too did the looming prospect of middle age, growing up and settling down. So eventually he decided to go anyway. Although Alastair has cycled around the world and rowed across the Atlantic, this journey was perhaps his most daunting yet. Risking failure and humiliation every day, he made himself truly vulnerable to the rhythms of the road and of his own life. And along the way, he found humility, redemption, direction and rediscovered a life of adventure.
I'm not convinced that he found humility. I'm not convinced that he found redemption. I am sure that he found that he needs space, and time away in an environment where he can move on and be alone. All well and good, but he is no longer in the first flush of youth, with no responsibilities, and is finding that having a family can be difficult. So, he runs away from it. Only for a bit, but he does. He seems to be looking forward to the future with dread, and wanting to relive his glory days of adventuring. What about taking delight in the little moments? Alastair has undertaken this trip through Spain, but how long will the buzz from that last before he starts getting itchy feet again?
Interesting, but it was a much harder read than I was expecting, and definitely more self-centred and selfish.
Thanks to #ABoS A Box of Stories for giving me something that I wouldn't have otherwise read, but this is going to the charity shop pile.
May 20, 2021
Alastair Humphrey is the definition of an adventurer. He has cycled around the world, sailed across Oceans and crossed deserts in search of that adventure thrill, the satisfaction to achieve something new.
In this book, however, Alastair struggles with a different kind of quest, how to live a more stable life, how to be present for his family and community without giving up his adventurer side, and his calling to pursue the unknown?
Derived from his concept of microadventures, he states that adventures don’t need to be expensive or complex to organize, but that we can and should be creative in finding ways to challenge ourselves and live a well-enjoyed life. With this philosophy in mind, he sets himself to learn the violin in just a few months and hike around Spain surviving on the money he earns by busking only.
In a very humble and honest way, he talks about the fears of putting ourselves out there and trying something new.
“As adults we rarely learn fresh skills or dare ourselves to change direction. We urge our children to be bold risk-takers, to show grit and open themselves to new experiences. We encourage them to try new things like musical instruments. But us grown-ups? We hide behind the way we’ve always done things. We become so boring! Adults are ashamed to be novices, and so we shy away from it. We draw comfort from being competent, even in narrow and unchanging niches. So we plateau and settle for the identity we have. We don’t stretch ourselves because that risks failure and pain.”
And about how to really be present and experience life.
“I have a tradition before falling asleep on long journeys: I choose my favourite bit of the day, and what I am looking forward to tomorrow (…) It helps me to fall asleep feeling optimistic, for the day’s last conscious thought to be positive before I surrender my brain to its unsupervised night of processing, filing and dreaming.”
“I wanted to learn - somewhat late - to enjoy today more than the thought of yesterday or tomorrow. It was time to recalibrate, to savour all I had rather than mourning what was missing. Satisfaction comes, literally, from appreciating that you have enough. Use the hours, don’t count them”
A very good and inspiring read that can make you see life in a more enjoyable way, a time and space to be filled with opportunities for micro and macro adventures, as long as you keep yourself open to embrace the new, be it crossing a desert or raising a family.
“For too long I had thought adventure was life. But actually, life is the adventure.”
In this book, however, Alastair struggles with a different kind of quest, how to live a more stable life, how to be present for his family and community without giving up his adventurer side, and his calling to pursue the unknown?
Derived from his concept of microadventures, he states that adventures don’t need to be expensive or complex to organize, but that we can and should be creative in finding ways to challenge ourselves and live a well-enjoyed life. With this philosophy in mind, he sets himself to learn the violin in just a few months and hike around Spain surviving on the money he earns by busking only.
In a very humble and honest way, he talks about the fears of putting ourselves out there and trying something new.
“As adults we rarely learn fresh skills or dare ourselves to change direction. We urge our children to be bold risk-takers, to show grit and open themselves to new experiences. We encourage them to try new things like musical instruments. But us grown-ups? We hide behind the way we’ve always done things. We become so boring! Adults are ashamed to be novices, and so we shy away from it. We draw comfort from being competent, even in narrow and unchanging niches. So we plateau and settle for the identity we have. We don’t stretch ourselves because that risks failure and pain.”
And about how to really be present and experience life.
“I have a tradition before falling asleep on long journeys: I choose my favourite bit of the day, and what I am looking forward to tomorrow (…) It helps me to fall asleep feeling optimistic, for the day’s last conscious thought to be positive before I surrender my brain to its unsupervised night of processing, filing and dreaming.”
“I wanted to learn - somewhat late - to enjoy today more than the thought of yesterday or tomorrow. It was time to recalibrate, to savour all I had rather than mourning what was missing. Satisfaction comes, literally, from appreciating that you have enough. Use the hours, don’t count them”
A very good and inspiring read that can make you see life in a more enjoyable way, a time and space to be filled with opportunities for micro and macro adventures, as long as you keep yourself open to embrace the new, be it crossing a desert or raising a family.
“For too long I had thought adventure was life. But actually, life is the adventure.”
December 18, 2020
I often don't get along with adventure/travel books, but this was surprisingly enjoyable.
The subtitle could just as easily read "How I took steps towards being less of an asshole". Humphreys is refreshingly honest about the privilege of his life and the inherent problems of being insistent about "adventuring" at the cost of having a family. He really bares it all - including the ugly parts - and for that I can't help but respect him. Admitting that one some level he was angry at his family for stopping his life of adventure takes a lot of courage to admit, when it's such an unpleasant instinct to have. You don't often see real personal growth in these kinds of books.
Some parts of it he's only most of the way there - he acknowledges the inherent problematic nature of a privileged white guy bumming his way across the country looking for charity - but he still does it. I'm not sure how I ultimately feel about it, on the one hand he did at least make the effort of busking rather than just begpacking, but it's still awkward. I'm not convinced he quite gets all the way to a satisfying conclusion about it, but at least he acknowledges it. Similarly, with the adventure/family theme, he sort of gets to a point where he can have both, but only lightly acknowledges the burden he places upon others to do it - he was still away for a month leaving his wife to look after the kids. It may not be Antarctica, but it's still a month away from home. He still picked adventure over the school run to some extent. A complicated family compromise to reach, and not one I'd really feel comfortable prying into (except that by putting it into the book Humphreys does put it out there).
It's an interesting book, and at least has some stuff worth talking about (which is head and shoulders above most of the rest of this genre).
The subtitle could just as easily read "How I took steps towards being less of an asshole". Humphreys is refreshingly honest about the privilege of his life and the inherent problems of being insistent about "adventuring" at the cost of having a family. He really bares it all - including the ugly parts - and for that I can't help but respect him. Admitting that one some level he was angry at his family for stopping his life of adventure takes a lot of courage to admit, when it's such an unpleasant instinct to have. You don't often see real personal growth in these kinds of books.
Some parts of it he's only most of the way there - he acknowledges the inherent problematic nature of a privileged white guy bumming his way across the country looking for charity - but he still does it. I'm not sure how I ultimately feel about it, on the one hand he did at least make the effort of busking rather than just begpacking, but it's still awkward. I'm not convinced he quite gets all the way to a satisfying conclusion about it, but at least he acknowledges it. Similarly, with the adventure/family theme, he sort of gets to a point where he can have both, but only lightly acknowledges the burden he places upon others to do it - he was still away for a month leaving his wife to look after the kids. It may not be Antarctica, but it's still a month away from home. He still picked adventure over the school run to some extent. A complicated family compromise to reach, and not one I'd really feel comfortable prying into (except that by putting it into the book Humphreys does put it out there).
It's an interesting book, and at least has some stuff worth talking about (which is head and shoulders above most of the rest of this genre).
Read
February 3, 2021As a 16 year old or thereabouts, I first heard Alastair speak at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival and he absolutely blew me away. I had maybe heard of someone cycling round the world before, but I'd never heard of someone who spent four years doing it. When I thought of 'adventurers', the likes of Ranulph Fiennes and Captain Scott came to mind - fantastic stories but unrelatable. The man in front of me seemed, more or less, completely normal. And he'd done all of this amazing stuff, some of it pretty bonkers, but what a life to look back on.
'My Midsummer Morning' is the book from Alastair that I've been wanting to read for sometime. It's brutally honest, deeply personal and messy - it is all things human. Behind the amazing journeys, the charismatic talks, the films and books, there's just an ordinary person (albeit doing extra-ordinary things) and the book's potency is through Alastair's unblinking, and at times uncomfortable, honesty. It is both hilarious and sad, and as a text is his best writing yet.
One thing that struck me - and that he's good at talking about generally - is his sense of selfishness and guilt for leading the life that he does. In 'My Midsummer Morning', he very openly explores it. However, as someone who has followed his work over the years, I hope he realises how many people and lives he has had a positive effect on. It's his knack; to be endearing, relatable and inspiring. This, to me, feels like an incredibly unselfish act. Perhaps the guilt he feels in his day-to-day life is sometimes justified, but I couldn't help feeling that a little self-kindness may be needed and that credit is due where it is due.
I am now nearly 24 and I still haven't cycled to India yet. But Alastair has made me bloody want to.
'My Midsummer Morning' is the book from Alastair that I've been wanting to read for sometime. It's brutally honest, deeply personal and messy - it is all things human. Behind the amazing journeys, the charismatic talks, the films and books, there's just an ordinary person (albeit doing extra-ordinary things) and the book's potency is through Alastair's unblinking, and at times uncomfortable, honesty. It is both hilarious and sad, and as a text is his best writing yet.
One thing that struck me - and that he's good at talking about generally - is his sense of selfishness and guilt for leading the life that he does. In 'My Midsummer Morning', he very openly explores it. However, as someone who has followed his work over the years, I hope he realises how many people and lives he has had a positive effect on. It's his knack; to be endearing, relatable and inspiring. This, to me, feels like an incredibly unselfish act. Perhaps the guilt he feels in his day-to-day life is sometimes justified, but I couldn't help feeling that a little self-kindness may be needed and that credit is due where it is due.
I am now nearly 24 and I still haven't cycled to India yet. But Alastair has made me bloody want to.
July 3, 2019
Absolutely breathtaking.
I've read many and many adventure books and anthologies, but this book instantly became my most favorite one.
Alstair Humhreys brings the reader along on his walk across Spain and shares the journey in the most beautiful, true and vulnerable way. I felt as if I was right there, not even in the place but in the heart of the place itself as Alstair saw or felt and found it. I felt as if the realizations he came to suddenly made it through the pages and lent me their/his wisdom. I felt that I had to highlight some of the words and sentences that spoke to me, and there were many. I don't highlight in books, I don't write in books, unless they make such an impact that I know I want to be able to come back to the passages that left my heart fluttering and mind wondering for a long time. Before My Midsummer Morning, this happened only with one book. My My Midsummer Morning is now full of underlined sentences and highlighted words, just waiting for me to come back to them for their little pieces of wisdom or pure beauty when I need them...
I've read many and many adventure books and anthologies, but this book instantly became my most favorite one.
Alstair Humhreys brings the reader along on his walk across Spain and shares the journey in the most beautiful, true and vulnerable way. I felt as if I was right there, not even in the place but in the heart of the place itself as Alstair saw or felt and found it. I felt as if the realizations he came to suddenly made it through the pages and lent me their/his wisdom. I felt that I had to highlight some of the words and sentences that spoke to me, and there were many. I don't highlight in books, I don't write in books, unless they make such an impact that I know I want to be able to come back to the passages that left my heart fluttering and mind wondering for a long time. Before My Midsummer Morning, this happened only with one book. My My Midsummer Morning is now full of underlined sentences and highlighted words, just waiting for me to come back to them for their little pieces of wisdom or pure beauty when I need them...
July 14, 2024
An absolutely beautiful, joyful, book detailing an experienced adventurer's slightly more gentle, though no less terrifying, mission to walk across Spain, funded solely by busking on his violin. It was inspired by Laurie Lee from his work As I walked out one midsummer morning - which will likely feature as my next read! There was the constant battle detailed honestly by Alistair about his past and ambition and drive for adventure and how that warred with his feeling of being caged in and trapped in his dream family life with loving wife and two healthy children. He felt that he has abandoned who he is to take on a life with family and feels constantly bereft of adventure. This lead to misery and depression and strained relationships. However this walk helped therapise Alistair to change his perspective and improved his sense of worth and approach to adventure and family. As someone who constantly feels ambitious and often dreams of possibilities it can feel like I'm failing by just existing. Maybe I too, need to change my perspective!
July 28, 2019
I loved this book even more than I thought I would. I was expecting an entertaining travelogue that would motivate me to go on a trip of my own, and Alastair definitely delivered there. But I was happily surprised with how much time he spent discussing the challenges of balancing the “selfish” life of adventuring with aging, being married, working a job and having a family. He goes into great detail about his personal struggles with, what felt like, a life devolving into domestic mediocrity. It was encouraging to join him as he worked through his conflicting desires for happiness while he pivots from “living life for the next adventure” to “living an adventurous life”. I was expecting for this to be a laid back read, but instead spent much of the time highlighting and scribbling down notes. This is a great read for anyone who has wanderlust, and REQUIRED reading for anyone in a mid-life or transitional period.
December 31, 2020
I always enjoy Alastair's writing and maybe even more, I like listening to him reading his books.
This story however, I don't think is worth telling to the general public. I simply don't think it's interesting enough and the part where he tries to find himself again is just a very small backstory.
As a reader/listener there is no anticipation. No real reason to turn the page. I finished the book because I like his humor. Those small moments where he tries to be Messi kicking a cherry pit. Those moments made me chuckle and there are plenty.
But the story doesn't really resonate. And although I don't want to come over to negatively I sometimes had the feeling that this book was the result of the need to publish at least something.
This story however, I don't think is worth telling to the general public. I simply don't think it's interesting enough and the part where he tries to find himself again is just a very small backstory.
As a reader/listener there is no anticipation. No real reason to turn the page. I finished the book because I like his humor. Those small moments where he tries to be Messi kicking a cherry pit. Those moments made me chuckle and there are plenty.
But the story doesn't really resonate. And although I don't want to come over to negatively I sometimes had the feeling that this book was the result of the need to publish at least something.
April 18, 2023
This was a hugely enjoyable read as explorer Alistair Humphrey's follows in the footsteps of Laurie Lee from many decades earlier as he walks through Spain, chronicled in As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. Alistair has no money with him and, like Laurie, only a violin to be able to busk and earn money for food. Unlike Laurie, he has only recently learned to play and one can only admire his bravery as he stands in numerous town squares for hours on end, going through a gamut of emotions: fear, humiliation and jubilation when someone throws him a coin.
It is also a poignant exploration of responsibility, and how one's desire to be on the road fits in with the changing inner and outer landscapes of life, family, parenthood and marriage.
It is also a poignant exploration of responsibility, and how one's desire to be on the road fits in with the changing inner and outer landscapes of life, family, parenthood and marriage.
August 10, 2019
Travel is discovery. Of place, of the person. Alistair Humphreys has written a beautiful understated, thought provoking and considered book about a month long journey, walking from Vigo to Madrid, with nothing but a violin to busk with and earn money to sustain himself and his travels.
It is an honest appraisal of the dilemma of the adventurer, the traveller. Torn between satisfying the wanderlust that nags and pleads more and more time away from family and a home life that binds you to one place. A wholly different life. Can you lead both?
Following the footsteps of Laurie Lee, this is a book to savour. Beautifully written and full of rich imagery of a Spanish summer.
Wonderful.
It is an honest appraisal of the dilemma of the adventurer, the traveller. Torn between satisfying the wanderlust that nags and pleads more and more time away from family and a home life that binds you to one place. A wholly different life. Can you lead both?
Following the footsteps of Laurie Lee, this is a book to savour. Beautifully written and full of rich imagery of a Spanish summer.
Wonderful.
January 27, 2020
Such a wonderful adventure book. Certainly by my standards busking across Spain is an Epic adventure. However it’s is also something I could theoretically do. Which made it relatable.
The best part was Alastairs thoughts on a changing life. Of going from an adventurer to the adventure of being a husband and a dad. His struggles with his daily life in England not meeting that desire he has for adventure and realizing his idea of adventure needed to change.
“...stop dreaming about an ‘adventure of a lifetime’, and instead pursue a lifetime of living adventurously through a daily pledge to push myself a little, scare myself now and then, and remain curious.”
The best part was Alastairs thoughts on a changing life. Of going from an adventurer to the adventure of being a husband and a dad. His struggles with his daily life in England not meeting that desire he has for adventure and realizing his idea of adventure needed to change.
“...stop dreaming about an ‘adventure of a lifetime’, and instead pursue a lifetime of living adventurously through a daily pledge to push myself a little, scare myself now and then, and remain curious.”
November 23, 2021
My Midsummer Morning is not just a story of an adventure on the road. It is also a deep insight into the struggles of an individual as he is pulled into different directions, split between where he wants to be and where he ought to be. Alastair speaks to you, if you are someone who finds themselves dreaming of an adventure to satiate their hunger, only to ask for more every time. I loved the kind of realisation Alastair reaches towards the end and feel like there's someone answering the questions I have been asking for long. There are many more adventures to take in life, but I hope to return home in the end like the author does. Must read.
August 21, 2022
3.5 - I’ve followed Alistair since his annual updates of his round the world cycle in the Guardian. His self deprecating style is refreshing, relatable, and had me burst out laughing. I’d decided to read the Laurie Lee book first then jump to this. I expected a little more action (having watching his YouTube video of the trip), but hadn’t expected the self reflection of the struggles he’d found in settling down to a young family conflicting with his urge to travel. This was nicely build into the storyline. I felt there was a bit too much hero worship of Laurie Lee, and the many quotes was a bit tiring, but the book kept me engaged and interested, and laughing.
Read
January 27, 2024I was drawn to this book because it gave an intriguing twist to a travel memoir. The author sets himself the challenge of busking his way across Spain for a month. If people don't like his music, he will go hungry.
His writing is beautiful and he is adept at painting pictures with words. It soon becomes clear that he is walking to sort his life out, to come to terms with the fact that he has to choose between being a full-time, hardcore adventurer or a family man. He is very honest about the anguish that this dilemma is causing him and those he loves and gives us a real insight into why the travelling life is so addictive.
An excellent read.
His writing is beautiful and he is adept at painting pictures with words. It soon becomes clear that he is walking to sort his life out, to come to terms with the fact that he has to choose between being a full-time, hardcore adventurer or a family man. He is very honest about the anguish that this dilemma is causing him and those he loves and gives us a real insight into why the travelling life is so addictive.
An excellent read.
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