PRAISE FOR SLOW TRAINS AROUND SPAIN
"If you ever need convincing that it's better to take the train than to fly, this is the book that makes a persuasive case. Follow Tom Chesshyre as he meanders through rural Spain on local and regional train services, stopping off here and there in small communities that are normally by-passed by tourists. A fine read, and a book that will be valued as much by armchair travellers as by those actually planning on visiting Spain."
Nicky Gardner, hidden europe magazine
"In the spirit of Laurie Lee in As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, and in the manner of Philip Larkin chronicling his slow southward journey in The Whitsun Weddings, Chesshyre takes us on a wondrously hypnotic meander across Spain. His attention to detail and unwillingness to be rushed, either as passenger or author, make this a highly relaxing and subtly addictive read. What's more, if train travel is to play a bigger part in our travelling future, as many feel it might, Slow Trains Around Spain makes it feel like a future well worth embracing."
Glen Mutel, National Geographic Traveller
"A dawning new golden age of rail rightly extols 'flying by train': zipping city to city in a high-speed flash. Yet there will always be joy for those of us who adore life on steel rails in trundling by train. Shoogling, pausing, alighting, often. Chesshyre's book will show you the way, and it is a delight."
Tim Dunn, railway historian
"A book for our time as the renaissance of rail surges ahead throughout Europe, there can be few better places to see this in action than in Spain. But don't expect a book about timetables and connections and station neighbourhoods, this highly readable, well-researched travelogue is about how train travel opens up the world, allowing you to be spontaneous, taking you to unexpected places and situations, and as Chesshyre discovered in Alczar de San Juan it inevitably means you'll end up having a siesta then going to a bar, drinking a cerveza, and watching the world go by. It's a lovely read, take it with you on a long slow train journey; you'll be entertained and inspired."
Richard Hammond, Green Traveller
"Tom Chesshyre's new book trundles gently through Spain much like the trains he so loves. By turns humorous and sharply insightful, he affectionately paints a vivid portrait of a deeply divided and contrasting country, bringing to life its characters and landscapes like few other travel writers can. Always curious, witty and intelligent, his writing style and subject matter are deeply rewarding even cathartic. This is armchair travel at its satisfying best."
Francisca Kellett, travel writer
PRAISE FOR SLOW TRAINS TO VENICE
"He casually, and beautifully, bats away the earnestness of travel literature."
Caroline Eden, The Times Literary Supplement
"There is something nostalgic about the clatter of wheels and sleeper trains by the end, the reader will struggle to resist the urge to follow his lead."
The Economist
"Bristling with vitality, Chesshyre's new tome is a joyfully rudderless romp through Europe's railway system It's a work of brilliant geekery, but for the most part it's a love letter to the continent, a Eurocentric work for our Brexit-beleaguered times."
National Geographic, Top Ten Travel Books for Summer 2019
"Like the trains he travels on, Tom Chesshyre meanders through Europe and the result is entertaining and enjoyable."
Christian Wolmar, author of Blood, Iron and Gold: How the Railways Transformed the World
"At a time when European unity is fraying at an alarming rate, here comes Tom Chesshyre's travelogue to remind us of the virtues of connectedness. Better still, his explorations are made by train, and use the Continent's historic, unpredictable routes from the era before high-speed rail. A diverting and thought-provoking read."
Simon Bradley, author of The Railways: Nation, Network and People
"An engaging picaresque series of encounters and reflections on Europe as many of its countries struggle to find common ground amid the populist reaction to its dilemmas."
Anthony Lambert, author of Lost Railway Journeys from Around the World
"Beethoven with attitude, masochism in Lviv, the smell of cigarettes in the corridor, adventurous great-aunts who travelled on the roofs of crowded trains, Carniolan pork-garlic sausage, Jimi Hendrix in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum and, of course, the 13:49 from Wrocaw. Tom Chesshyre pays homage to a Europe that we are leaving behind and perhaps never understood. Che bella corsa! He is the master of slow locomotion."
Roger Boyes, The Times
"Meander through Europe in the excellent company of Tom Chesshyre, who relishes the joys of slow travel and seizes every opportunity that a journey presents: drifting as a flneur in Lille, following in the tracks of James Joyce in a literary exploration of Ljubljana, cosseted in luxury on a trans-Ukrainian express, all decorated with a wealth of detail and intrigue. As Tom discovers, it's not just Brexit Britain the whole Continent is in disarray. But at least Europe's railways still bind us together."
Simon Calder, The Independent
"One of the most engaging and enterprising of today's travel writers, Chesshyre has an eye ever-alert for telling detail and balances the romance of train travel with its sometimes-challenging realities but for all its good humour, the book impresses as a poignant elegy for the Europe which Britain once embraced."
Stephen McClarence, travel writer
"We love reading about train travel Pick up Slow Trains to Venice by Tom Chesshyre."
The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
PRAISE FOR FROM SOURCE TO SEA
"Chesshyre's book stands out from other accounts of walking the Thames Path in its contemporary (post-Brexit, pre-Trump) immediacy. A portrait of England and the English in our time, it is peppered with fascinating historical and literary markers. It's also a usefully opinionated guide to watering-holes and B & Bs from the sleepy Cotswold villages to the dystopian edgelands of the estuary."
Christina Hardyment, author of Writing the Thames
"Chesshyre cuts an engaging figure He has a true journalist's instinct for conversational encounters Kurdistani picnickers in the river meadows upstream of London, pub thugs in the badlands of the lower Thames, other Thames Path pilgrims he rubs up against along the way. He also demonstrates a nose for a juicy tale, from a Pre-Raphaelite mnage trois at Kelmscott Manor to the discreet nookie column in the Marlow Free Press. Chesshyre's journey is rich in history and thick with characters, fables and happenstance a highly readable and entertaining saunter along England's iconic river."
Christopher Somerville, author of Britain's Best Walks
"An enjoyable refuge from everyday life."
Clive Aslet, The Times
"I found myself quickly falling into step beside Tom Chesshyre, charmed by his amiable meanderings, pointed observations and meetings with strangers along the way but most of all Chesshyre champions the joys of a good walk through fascinating surroundings with beer and blisters at the end of the day."
