Chatwin clearly felt an affinity with these solitary adventurers who left civilization behind for the outer limits of the world. Indeed his own life was animated by the fiercely held belief he shared with the Sherpas of Tibet, who are “compulsive travelers” and who mark their tracks with cairns and prayer flags, “reminding you that Man’s real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot.”
