Pilgrim Snail - Hardcover

Nimmo, Ben

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0708947956 ISBN 13: 9780708947951

Publisher: Ulverscroft, 2003

Synopsis

Inspired by the murder of the girl he loved while working for charity in Belize, Ben Nimmo set out to play tribute to her memory and raise money for her memorial fund by walking from Canterbury to Santiago de Compostela in Spain - with a trombone. So began a nine-month, two thousand mile odyssey across Europe. Weighed down by a mammoth rucksack (the Pack From Hell) and his trusty trombone, sleeping in the open, in caves and ruined castles, jamming in smoky French bars and rain-swept Spanish streets, Ben struggled on, supported by old memories, new friends and improbable encounters - and an indomitable sense of humor.

About this title

Review:

The impetus behind Ben Nimmo's mammoth walk from Canterbury to Santiago de Compostela in Spain as described in Pilgrim Snail was a sombre one: he wanted to pay tribute to the girl he loved, murdered while working for charity in Belize. But Nimmo's odyssey became a life-changing one, and reading about it is anything but a sombre experience. This fascinating record of his adventure conveys the peaks and troughs with maximum vividness. Nimmo's sole companion on his eventful trip was a trombone, and for the nine months (and 2,000 miles) of his journey he struggled against injuries, massive storms and even a phantom bear--all the time weighed down by his mammoth rucksack. But what makes Nimmo's picaresque narrative so diverting is the panoply of colourful characters he encounters: smugglers with courtly manners, monks who are rather too fond of the communion wine and even a hospitable anti-bloodsports neo-nazi with whom he shares a sandwich. Nimmo lays his head down in everything from ruined castles to bat-infested caves, and engages in such surrealistic pursuits as watching a chicken-worship ceremony in a Spanish cathedral and a game of boules played with square balls. All of this is conveyed in prose that veers from the caustically funny to the sharply evocative, and it's to be hoped that Nimmo picks up his trombone again if his travels make for such quirky and entrancing writing as this. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"Nimmo is delightful and engaging company. This is his first book, yet the prose is polished and the narrative taut, funny and cleverly paced". -- TheGuardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Ulverscroft
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0708947956
• ISBN 13: 9780708947951
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416