” Whenever I was asked: ` Why did you go to Santiago?`, I had a hard time answering. How could I explain to those who had not done it that the way has the effect
- if not the virtue
- to make you forget all reasons that led you to become involved in it in the first place.” Each year, tens of thousands of backpackers (Christian pilgrims & many others) set out from either their front doorstep or from popular starting points across Europe, to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, others ride a bicycle, & a few of them travel as did some of their medieval counterparts, on horseback or with a donkey. In addition to those who undertake a religious pilgrimage, the majority are hikers who walk the way for non-religious reasons: travel, sport, or simply the challenge of spending weeks walking in a foreign l&. Also, many consider the experience as a spiritual adventure, with a view to removing themselves from the bustle of modern life. Jean-Christophe Rufin followed this ” Northern Way” to Santiago de Compostela by foot, on over eight hundred kilometers. Much less crowded than the usual pilgrimage route, this one runs along the Basque & Cantabrian coasts in Spain & through the wild mountains of Asturias & Galicia. Translated from the French by Malcolm Imrie & Martina Dervis

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A sweeping, breath-taking story of love & betrayal from the Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Tea Planter`s Wife Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, & her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a chequered past. The plantation casts a spell, but all is not as it seems. & when Elliot`s shocking betrayal is revealed, Louisa has only Leo to turn to...`A sweeping tale, beautifully written in a wonderful setting, heartrending yet ultimately uplifting. Gorgeous.` Katie Fforde` The sights, smells & atmosphere of Ceylon are beautifully depicted. This is Dinah Jefferies at her best` Lucinda Riley` Dinah Jefferies has a remarkable gift for conjuring up another time & place with lush descriptions, full of power & intensity` Kate Furnivall ...

The Sat-Nag is the in-car gadget that gets you nowhere fast! This mock-up Sat Nav is crammed with totally unhelpful & embarrassingly familiar offerings from a patronising voice such as In 100 metres turn left. No right, err, no left. Sorry, I never can tell my left from my right. Using a lenticular imaging, the Sat Nag has the appearance of a holographic screen highlighting roads such as Earache Avenue. Recommended suitability for ages 16 years & above due to strong language. ...

As the countdown to Mma Makutsi`s wedding begins, all is not as it should be at the No.1 Ladies` Detective Agency. While investigating unpleasant occurrences on a southern cattle-post, Mma Ramotswe, always on the side of the weak against the strong, has reason to reflect on Rule No.3 of The Principles of Private Detection: never lie to the client. Apprentice mechanic Charlie seems to be avoiding certain important responsibilities. & as Mma Makutsi`s big day approaches, her nemesis violet Sephotho is casting her net wider: by standing for election which could spell trouble for the entire nation. But as friends & family gather under starry African night skies, it turns out that even the most perplexing of apparitions
- & the most shocking of crimes
- may yield to rational explanation. &, of course, to Mma Ramotswe`s inimitable way with love, intuition & redbush tea.

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Before Stieg Larsson, there was Asa Larsson...” The Savage Altar” is a truly absorbing, atmospheric & fast-paced thriller featuring lawyer Rebecka Martinsson, a fantastic character in the mould of ” The Silence of the Lambs”` Clarice Starling. A church in the glittering frozen wastes of northern Sweden. Inside, a sacrifice: the body of a man
- slashed to pieces, hands severed, eyes gouged out. The victim`s sister, Sanna, is first to discover the body & immediately finds herself the police`s only suspect. Terrified & confused, she calls on a friend: got-shot city lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. Rebecka hardly wants to return to Kiruna
- the small town she fled in disgrace years ago. But Sanna is frightened & she needs a loyal friend to clear her name. Someone not scared to dig deep & find the true killer. Yet Rebecka is not especially welcomed into the closed-lipped community. She might know the town, the people & how suspicious they can be of strangers but she has still to find out how dark the town`s secrets have become in her absence. ”A chilling plot knee-deep in blood-spattered snow”. (Jim Kelly). ”A labyrinthine conspiracy, superlative storytelling”. (” Independent”).”A nail biting, suspense-filled mystery”. (” Sunday Telegraph”). Asa Larsson was born in 1966 & lives in Sweden. Her second novel, ” The Blood Spilt”, is available from Penguin now & she is the winner of Sweden`s best first crime novel award.

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For centuries before the arrival in Australia of Captain Cook & the so-called First Fleet in 1788, intrepid seafaring explorers had been searching, with varied results, for the fabled ” Great Southl&.” In this enthralling history of early discovery, Graham Seal offers breathtaking tales of shipwrecks, perilous landings, & Aboriginal encounters with the more than three hundred Europeans who washed up on these distant shores long before the land was claimed by Cook for Engl&. The author relates dramatic, previously untold legends of survival gleaned from the centuries of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, & Indonesian voyages to Australia, & debunks commonly held misconceptions about the earliest European settlements: ships of the Dutch East Indies Company were already active in the region by the early seventeenth century, & the Dutch, rather than the English, were probably the first European settlers on the continent. ...

Travel is one of our favourite activities. From the hustle of bustle of the mega-cities to sleepy mountain towns to the tranquillity & isolation of tropical islands, we love to get out there & explore the world. But globe-trotting also comes with its pitfalls. Wherever there are travellers, there are swindlers looking to relieve individuals of their money, possessions & sometimes even more. To avoid such troubles, & to get on with enjoyable & fulfilling trips, people need to get smart. This book shows you how. The Savvy Traveller Survival Guide offers practical advice on avoiding the scams & hoaxes that can ruin any trip. From no-menu, rigged betting, & scenic taxi tour scams to rental damage, baksheesh, & credit card deceits
- this book details scam hotspots, how the scams play out & what you can do to prevent them. The Savvy Traveller Survival Guide will help you develop an awareness & vigilance for high-risk people, activities, & environments. Forewarned is forearmed!
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The Sèvre Niortaise: La Rochelle to Niort in a series of guides from Editions Grafocarte/ Editions de l` Ecluse to France’s canals & navigable waterways with mapping showing facilities & navigational hazards along each route, general information on signals & regulations, & descriptions of places of interest. The guide covers the river itself as far as Niort, plus provides a maritime chart for the coastal waters between its mouth & La Rochelle. Also included is a street plan of central La Rochelle. Each guide provides mapping of the route showing locks, stop gates, mooring quays, tunnels, weirs, dangerous shoals, sand or mud banks, etc., as well as a wide range of facilities from drinking water & rubbish disposal to various types of shops, restaurants, pharmacies, shipyards & engine repair workshops, etc. The mapping is usually presented as vertical 28 x 8.5cm panels which, together with the annotations, occupy one whole page of the guide & so each cover 14km or more of the route. Also included as necessary are more detailed enlargements of main basins or photographs of bridges, shown usually as viewed from both directions. The text providing navigational information & tips as well as descriptions of places of interest & a general background are kept separate from the maps but, where possible, placed on the adjoining page to the relevant section of the route. The guides also provide general information on rules & regulations, plus illustrations of navigational signals. Each guide also has an index of locations along the route annotated with symbols indicating various facilities, accompanied where possible with contact details.* All of the text, explanations & the map legend are in French, English & German.** Please note:** The publishers’ name has changed from Editions Grafocarte to Editions de l’ Ecluse & the series name shown on each title is Fluviacarte of Navicarte depending on whether mapping of coastal waters is included. Various combinations of these names can be found"ed in other publications on French waterways. ...

If the Sun is the size of a Grapefruit, the Earth is a grain of s&, then the distance between the two is a London bus. Scale is intriguing. Scale is everywhere. Scale is our experience of the world, from our perception of time to physical distance to weights & measures. The human scale is 1:1, the point of reference. Everything is designed around it. Wealth is an example of scale, so is a sculpture, a building, a planet or a molecule. Scale is a universal & timeless subject. It`s a BIG subject. The Scale of Things brings together facts & figures in a visual way, embracing popular science, space, economics, politics, geography, nature, technology & architecture in an accessible & entertaining way. Fun & informative, it will change the way you look at the world around you. ...

Fresh from his world record attempt at the legendary Brooklands motor racing circuit, in which the Toy Stories team built a 2.7-mile circuit entirely out of Scalextric track, James May re-enters the world of Scalextric, Britain`s leading slot-car racing br&. Remembering many childhood hours spent recreating the thrills & spills of Goodwood, Silverstone & Brands Hatch, James examines the development & expansion of Scalextric from its true British roots to its international appeal today. He investigates the history of the br&, documenting the greatest sets & cars ever produced
- including Formula 1, rally, touring cars & Le Mans. James also looks at what it takes to be a Scalextric champion, the essential elements of good track design, how to customise your racer & gets technical with the difficulties involved in scaling a full-size performance car down to an accurate, working slot-car.
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