In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither
Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest
continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountai
n wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants,
disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarm
ing of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of
the external-frame backpack.
