It's not much of a spoiler to say that between May 1997 and October 1998 the author completed an epic journey from the southernmost point on the Italian mainland, Melito di Porto Salvo, to the northernmost point in Norway, North Cape. This second volume follows on from The Earth Beneath My Feet to complete the second half of the journey, through Germany, Denmark and Norway - with a couple of very brief diversions into a fledgling Czech Republic.  At over 300 pages it's a long read, but in reality it could be twice as long. It terms of timelines it offers a series of snapshots of an epic journey, picking out highlights and lows of a journey unimaginable today, but a journey that was as much spiritual and developmental as it was physical.

Andrew Terrill has a writing style that's totally immersive, taking the reader through not only the geographical expanses he traversed but the psychological trials of the journey. It's impossible not to say that the young man who walked out of the front door in Pinner, London in May 97 and the person who arrived at North Cape 17 months later were completely different people. The walk was, in many ways, simply a vehicle for the author's journey of growing up. The Earth Beneath My Feet started this process, but On Sacred Ground saw this development not only take on a greater importance but also saw the author increasingly recognise the process as time moved on. What's remarkable with On Scared Ground is that the physical and psychological journeys meld so seamlessly in this second volume. Each element has equal importance in the narrative, and each element leaves the reader getting further and further invested in his journey.

I was extremely fortunate to be able to review On Sacred Ground while I was making a similar journey from the Alps to northern Norway, though by train and bus, and it was a very welcome partner on my journey. When I reached the end, shortly before arriving at Narvik I almost mourned the fact. Put simply it had become a companion, a book that was both making me examine my own reasoning for trekking north and the very elements of my own life on the journey. I came away from reading it knowing more about myself than before I started either the book or my 8000km trip. There was so much in On Sacred Ground that was relatable, from the geography to the aspects of the journey that made it what it was. The numbers involved became somewhat secondary to the interactions with people along the way and their importance in the very fabric of the journey. Like Andrew I was travelling alone, but as with his experience, the interactions along the way were the most memorable elements. To be able to read it surrounded by the same physical environment was an absolute honour; the autumn colours of Norway in September, in particular, were so resonant. 

For a journey of 7000 miles it's surprising how little it matters to the author just where he is on the journey at any point. What matters is the nature of where he is. What matters is that he is somewhere, and that somewhere is where he wants to be. At times he feels lost, but emotionally rather than physically, and those moments are as important in the outcome as surviving a frozen lake crossing. "The Prize" of North Cape while always being the target becomes secondary to the experience, and eventually becomes something of an anti-climax. On the northern coast of Norway the author finds the appropriate level of solitude to give such a solitary journey a fitting end, but symbolically he retains one of the pebbles he'd carried from Melito di Porto Salvo. The journey may have finished, but the other journey would live with him way beyond North Cape.

There are many epic books of epic journeys, but few that so eloquently meld a journey of geographical discovery with one of self-discovery, and even fewer that do it with such brutal honesty. On Sacred Ground takes the reader through the whole range of emotions as the author winds his way forwards on unknown paths. It has the power to make you laugh out loud, to cry, to recognise your own questioning and to genuinely feel the highs and lows of another's journey. For me it's up there with Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet as a journey of enlightenment and  Simpson's Touching the Void in its self awareness. It's a classic of our age.  

On Sacred Ground was self published and can be purchased here.