The Gathering Place: A Winter Pilgrimage Through Changing Times by Mary Colwell

REVIEWER: Ali Hull

BOOK: The Gathering Place: A Winter Pilgrimage Through Changing Times

(Bloomsbury Wildlife, 2023) 256pp, hardback, RRP £17.99 

Campaigner and nature writer Mary Colwell started her walk along the Camino in the autumn of 2020, when Covid restrictions and the increasingly bad weather meant that there were few other people doing the same journey. Walking to Santiago has become immensely popular over the past few decades, aided by a lot of books and the Martin Sheen film, The Way. Most of these tell of packed hostels, many companions, and a real sense of camaraderie: as she says, ‘Normally, over 300,000 people walk all or part of this ancient, 500-mile pilgrimage every year.’ For Mary, the experience was very different: ‘I had most of it to myself.’  

And at times it was clearly a very hard slog, not least because she starts off with boots that don’t fit. The resulting blisters and problems nearly make her give up altogether, and at one point, a bereavement also means she leaves the trail. But she comes back and she perseveres.  

As a campaigner, Mary’s main concerns are the environment, and the flora and fauna it supports. A few years ago, she walked from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast of England, to highlight the plight of the curlew, a journey written up in Curlew Moon. This time, in Spain, she looks more widely at the issues the world faces, and the sense of impending doom is often present in the book, mixed up with the horror of the Covid pandemic: she is walking at a time when it is not clear a vaccine will be found or will be effective. But despite those two shadows, the book is a joy to read, whether or not you ever intend to follow in her footsteps. Her interests range widely, and she writes knowledgeably but also in an engaging way. She cares about the people she meets, the places she visits, and the concerns she covers, and it shows. She also draws on diaries from other walks, particularly that in the footsteps of early conservationist, John Muir. If you can find a copy of her biography of him, it is well worth a read, as is her book on the issue of prey. 

Reviewer: Ali Hull 

Ali Hull is the Book Editor for Preach magazine, and has spent nearly thirty years working with words, as a writer, editor and writing coach.