Ruta de l` Ermità, the Hermitage Trail in the Catalan Pyrenees on a contoured GPS compatible map at 1:25, 000 from Editorial Alpina which highlights alternatives for the hiking (105km), mountain bike (168km) & horse riding (120km) variants of the route. The map has contours at 10m intervals with relief shading & colouring to indicate vegetation. The course of the trail is highlighted in different colours for the hiking, mountain bike & horse riding alternatives. Also marked are other waymarked long-distance & local hiking trails. Symbols indicate hermitages & accommodation facilities along the route, as well as various types of accommodation possibilities in other locations on the map, including campsites & youth hostels, restaurants, shops with local handicrafts or food, equestrian centres, petrol stations & car parks, interesting natural sites, etc. The map has a 1-km UTM grid. Map legend

Includes:: English. The accompanying booklet, in CATALAN only, provides details of accommodation along the route, suggested stages, & other information about the area. To see the list of all the maps from Editorial Alpina covering long-distance hiking routes please click on the series link.

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Tolkien`s Middle-earth has endured cataclysmic wars & critical battles, causing great men & women to arise & shape the course of its history. In his latest book, best-selling author & Tolkien expert David Day examines the complexities surrounding Tolkien`s portrayal of good & evil, analysing the most celebrated heroes from the creation of the world of Arda until the end of the War of the Rings. This work is unofficial & is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate or Harper Collins Publishers. ...

The Heroes` Welcome is the incandescent sequel to the bestselling R&J pick My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You. Its evocation of a time deeply wounded by the pain of WW1 will capture & beguile readers fresh to Louisa Young`s wonderful writing, & those previously enthralled by the stories of Nadine & Riley, Rose, Peter & Julia. LONDON, 1919 Two couples, both in love, both in tatters, come home to a changed world. When childhood sweethearts Riley & Nadine marry, it is a blessing on the peace that now reigns. But the newlyweds & their old friends Peter & Julia Locke wear the ravages of the Great War in very different ways. Where Nadine & Riley do their best to forge ahead & muster hope, Peter retreats into drink & nightmares, unable to bear the domestic life for which Julia pines. ...

` Exquisite... a classic tour de force` The New York Times ` It struggled to keep itself aloft, to gain height. But then it suddenly gave up, & dropped as though it were breaking into many pieces` Early on a cold Sunday morning, forty-five-year-old Edgardo Limentani gets up to join a shooting party in the countryside surrounding the town of Ferrara. As the day passes, he contemplates his past, his disappointments & how he has got here. Like the birds he shoots, he realizes, he is trapped, broken, waiting alone for the final coup de grace. Then he sees a way out. The fifth book in Bassani`s Novel of Ferrara sequence, & his final novel, The Heron is a taut, poignant portrait of a middle-aged man`s reckoning with his life. ...

The 195 mile trail covers a large part of this beautiful, populous & rich county, incidentally one of the smallest counties in Engl&, only 634 square miles. It is a county of rich contrasts. In the north-east there are wide open panoramas over low hills & farm lands as seen in the area around Barkway. Standing on Therfield Heath you can look down on to the flat plains of Cambridgeshire. Then in the south west there are the steep wooded escarpments of the Chilterns. The route visits ancient market towns, the Cathedral City of St Albans & countless picture postcard villages nestling in an intimate landscape of farmland & woods. In 1801 Hertfordshire had a population of about 100, 000; now it is well over one million. It has never been a heavily industrialised area but it has seen its own industrial changes from malting & brewing, plaiting of straw for hats, paper making, industries associated with wool such as fulling (cleaning the woven cloth) & silk mills. Today technical industries & service industries dominate the industrial scene.A good introduction to the county, & how it developed from pre-history can be found in ” The Hertfordshire Landscape” by Munby (1977) & ” Hertfordshire, a Landscape History” by Rowe & Williamson (2013). People have settled the area since prehistoric times. Along the very ancient Icknield Way there is evidence of many waves of people. On Therfield Heath (see Leg 1) there is a long barrow of the Neolithic Age (2500 BC) & round barrows of the Bronze Age (1000 BC). There is evidence of the Beaker People in Hertfordshire. The hill forts of the Iron Age settlers gave way at the height of their power to the might of the Roman invasion. Many Roman roads go through Hertfordshire, e.g. Ermine Street & Watling Street, & our walk crosses the remains of the Roman town of Verulamium (St Albans). In the Dark Ages Hertfordshire was part of the shifting boundary between the English settlers (Angles & Saxons) & the later invaders, the Vikings. It was a long & turbulent time before the country became united. A good novel, which covers this period, is the ” Conscience of the King” by Alfred Duggan. In the Medieval period the great abbeys were founded & one can still be seen in St Albans (see Legs 4 & 5). Many fine Medieval churches can be seen on this walk & short detours will be worth your while to seek out some of these (unfortunately due to the presence of valuable historic items most country churches are now locked on weekdays). During the 16th to 18th centuries many country estates were established in Hertfordshire e.g. Hatfield House, Knebworth House & Ashridge House. Some of the houses have not survived but our walk will take you through parkl&, which reminds the walker of those estates. Walkers passing through Ayot St Lawrence will be going through such parkland & Ashridge still has its great house. It was first a monastery, then a great house, now a management college. The growth of London & the coming of industry saw some rapid development in the county in the 19th & 20th centuries. An example of this development was the Ovaltine factory at Kings Langley with the model farm to feed its need for eggs & milk. The factory & farms are all now sadly gone (see Legs 7 & 8). No major rivers flow through the county, however it is still famous for the large number of chalk streams & their associated wildlife (the River Lee or Lea, a tributary of the Thames has its source just north of Luton, flows though the county & is navigable up to Hertford). The Grand Union Canal passes through our county on its way north west (see Leg 7). The railways opened up Hertfordshire for industry & settlement & such towns as Hemel Hempstead & Watford grew from several hundred people to 80, 000 plus. Many of the great road routes, which fan out from London (such as the A1, A5, A6, A10 & M1) pass through our county. Finally we saw the first garden cities (Letchworth & Welwyn Garde ...

In Sparta, a city that masks age-old secrets & private enmities, a close-knit group are excavating. They are a potent & seductive mix: Natsuko, beautiful & mysterious; Jason, restless & menacing; Eberhard, commanding, aloof & fiercely intelligent. When Ben, lost & aimless, comes to Greece to escape private failures, he is inevitably drawn to them, thrilled by the idea of acceptance & excited by the dangerous games they play. But there is more to the group than Ben understands & he finds out too late that some things should remain hidden. He must decide where his loyalties lie
- before the decision is taken for him. Powerful & gripping, The Hidden is a novel of the secrets we keep, the ties that bind us & the true cost of following our desires.
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The gripping new psychological thriller featuring Javier Falcon, the tortured detective from ` The Silent & the Damned` & ` The Blind Man of Seville.` As Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon investigates a faceless corpse unearthed on a municipal dump, Seville is rocked by a massive explosion. An apartment block is destroyed, & when it`s discovered that its basement housed a mosque everybody`s terrorist fears are confirmed. Panic sweeps the city, more bodies are dragged from rubble, the climate of fear infects everyone & terror invades the domestic life of flamboyant judge Calderon & the troubled mind of Consuelo, Falcon`s one-time lover. With the media & political pressure intensifying, Falcon realizes all is not as it appears. But as he comes close to cracking a conspiracy, he discovers an even more terrifying plot
- & the race is on to prevent a catastrophe far beyond Spain`s borders.
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Worldwide bestseller Camilla Lackberg weaves together another brilliant contemporary psychological thriller with the chilling struggle of a young woman facing the darkest chapter of Europe`s past...for fans of Jo Nesbo & Stieg Larsson Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover a Nazi medal among her late mother`s possessions. Haunted by a childhood of neglect, she resolves to dig deep into her family`s past & finally uncover the reasons why. Her enquiries lead her to the home of a retired history teacher. He was among her mother`s circle of friends during the Second World War but her questions are met with bizarre & evasive answers. Two days later he meets a violent death. Detective Patrik Hedstrom, Erica`s husb&, is on paternity leave but soon becomes embroiled in the murder investigation. Who would kill so ruthlessly to bury secrets so old? Reluctantly Erica must read her mother`s wartime diaries. But within the pages is a painful revelation about Erica`s past. Could what little knowledge she has be enough to endanger her husband & newborn baby? The dark past is coming to light, & no one will escape the truth of how they came to be... ...

For many Westerners, Eastern Europe is about as appealing as a deodorant-free French armpit. That didn`t scare Francis Tapon because not only did he learn how to rough it by walking across America four times, but he is also half French, so he kind of smells too. Francis spent nearly 3 years travelling & backpacking in 25 Eastern European countries. It started with a 5-month trip in 2004. He returned in 2008 to spend 3 years exploring all the countries again. The Hidden Europe is Book Two of the Wander Learn Series. There are 25 chapters (one for each country). Each chapter: Examines an Eastern European country`s history, food, language, sites, stereotypes, & drinking habits. Covers Francis Tapon`s personal adventures in that country. Ends with a short summary of what practical things you can learn from that country. Francis Tapon yearned for a European adventure, but Western Europe seemed too tame & passe. So he travelled for 3 years visiting every Eastern European country
- all 25 of them. The Hidden Europe cleverly mixes insightful facts with hilarious personal anecdotes. It`s profound, yet light. Francis Tapon is a sharp observer who helps you distinguish a Latvian from a Lithuanian, while not confusing Slovenia with Slovakia. You`ll also learn: Why Baltic people are human squirrels. When & why Poland disappeared from Europe. Why Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia broke up. Why Hungarians are really Martians. How Slovenians learn languages so quickly. Why the Balkans is so screwed up. Why there`s much more to Romania than Dracula. Which Moldovan tradition saves marriages. What the future holds for Belarus, Ukraine, Russia. Why communism was a dream.. .and a nightmare. You`ll understand a side of Europe that is still mysterious & misunderstood even 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union. Francis Tapon is an ideal guide in a book that will become a classic travel narrative.
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Michael Manson`s short treatise of the Victorian suburb of St Andrews in Bristol evokes the spirit of the place. He digs below the Victorian landscape to reveal a history dating back hundreds of years. Michael Manson is the author of ” Bristol Beyond the Bridge” & ” Riot! The Bristol Bridge Massacre of 1793”. ...