How long does it take to read The Old Ways?
A Journey on Foot
Robert Macfarlane, Robin Sachs
The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, Robin Sachs takes about 8 hours 4 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 4 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2012. 440 pages, about 121,000 words.
17 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 13 hours 27 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 4 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 3 minutes |
The page count is the median across 10 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
"In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and ritual. Told in Macfarlane's distinctive voice, 'The Old Ways' folds together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature. His walks take him from the chalk downs of England to the bird islands of the Scottish northwest, from Palestine to the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas. Along the way he crosses paths with walkers of many kinds--wanderers, pilgrims, guides, and artists. Above all this is a book about walking as a journey inward and the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes through which we move. Macfarlane discovers that paths offer not just a means of traversing space, but of feeling, knowing, and thinking."--Publisher description.
Subjects: Voyages and travels, Walking, Description and travel, Natural history, Trails, Travel