Pathfinding
On Walking, Motherhood and Freedom
Published on 13. March 2025
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-78396-842-8 (ISBN)
Description
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'There is joy and freedom to be found in walking and parenting. Andrews has laid out an invitation that will leave you desperate to step outside.' Resurgence & Ecologist
The desire to walk is something that defines us, bringing joy, connection and freedom. But what happens to all this when we become mothers?
From the author of Wanderers, comes an urgent exploration of what it means to rediscover ourselves through the land we walk and the people we walk alongside.
___
In the wake of the complete metamorphosis of becoming a mother, Kerri Andrews determines to undertake a series of journeys on foot to understand what has happened to her.
Alongside a backpack full of supplies, Kerri carries with her the shadow of post-natal depression and the idea that maybe the hills are no longer for those, like her, who bear the mental and physical scars of childbearing and childrearing.
Yet, what she soon discovers are tales of mother-walkers that have long been neglected or hidden away. From Mary Wollstonecraft and Ellen Weeton to Kate Chopin, here are women whose urgent stories offer new ways of stepping into motherhood.
As Kerri traverses urban, rural and increasingly mountainous landscapes in the North West and Scotland, she is joined by women who have also experienced the profound changes that having children can bring to bodies and minds. Together, they explore the complicated ground of motherhood today - balancing enormous responsibility and upheaval with ambition, rage and hope - creating new paths as they go.
___
'Left me itching to lace up my boots and follow the call of the path.' Laura Pashby, author of Chasing Fog
'Bold, brave... I had the feeling, as I read, that Kerri Andrews might be clearing a path for us all.' Helen Jukes, author of Mother Animal
'Powerful and unflinchingly honest' Annabel Abbs, author of Windswept: Why Women Walk
'A seductive book that leads us as close to the nature and people of an intriguing place as words can.' Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree
'There is joy and freedom to be found in walking and parenting. Andrews has laid out an invitation that will leave you desperate to step outside.' Resurgence & Ecologist
The desire to walk is something that defines us, bringing joy, connection and freedom. But what happens to all this when we become mothers?
From the author of Wanderers, comes an urgent exploration of what it means to rediscover ourselves through the land we walk and the people we walk alongside.
___
In the wake of the complete metamorphosis of becoming a mother, Kerri Andrews determines to undertake a series of journeys on foot to understand what has happened to her.
Alongside a backpack full of supplies, Kerri carries with her the shadow of post-natal depression and the idea that maybe the hills are no longer for those, like her, who bear the mental and physical scars of childbearing and childrearing.
Yet, what she soon discovers are tales of mother-walkers that have long been neglected or hidden away. From Mary Wollstonecraft and Ellen Weeton to Kate Chopin, here are women whose urgent stories offer new ways of stepping into motherhood.
As Kerri traverses urban, rural and increasingly mountainous landscapes in the North West and Scotland, she is joined by women who have also experienced the profound changes that having children can bring to bodies and minds. Together, they explore the complicated ground of motherhood today - balancing enormous responsibility and upheaval with ambition, rage and hope - creating new paths as they go.
___
'Left me itching to lace up my boots and follow the call of the path.' Laura Pashby, author of Chasing Fog
'Bold, brave... I had the feeling, as I read, that Kerri Andrews might be clearing a path for us all.' Helen Jukes, author of Mother Animal
'Powerful and unflinchingly honest' Annabel Abbs, author of Windswept: Why Women Walk
'A seductive book that leads us as close to the nature and people of an intriguing place as words can.' Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree
Reviews / Votes
'What a bold, brave book this is. Andrews' journeys, written with eloquence, honesty and style, have the feeling not of escape so much as encounter - with the landscapes she moves through, and with the lives of walking mothers past and present. Through these encounters, Andrews seems to find new space for herself. I had the feeling, as I read, that she might be clearing a path for us all.' Helen Jukes, author of Mother Animal'Powerful and unflinchingly honest, Andrews probes the complexities of motherhood, ultimately finding hope and salvation in companionship, landscape and all those meticulously researched women in whose footsteps she walks.' Annabel Abbs, author of Windswept: Why Women Walk
'A compelling exploration of the creative ways in which mother-walkers have navigated matrescence. As Kerri Andrews leads the reader over hills and along the shore, she reveals how - through walking - she recovered and redefined a self subsumed by motherhood. This book left me itching to lace up my boots and follow the call of the path.' Laura Pashby, author of Chasing Fog
'A hugely important book, written with an honesty and a precision that is as welcome as it is rare. I was with her every step of the way.' Matt Gaw, author of In All Weathers
'Andrews' lyrical nature writing leaps off nearly every page-the dark grey clouds gathering on the horizon, the geological stripes on the Scottish mountains, the dappled sunlight shining through the trees ... Press this book into the hands of any mother and she will see herself on these pages, walker or not.' LoveReading
'Ultimately, this is a book about a love of walking - in high places of wanderlust, lowlands to allow for healing, or simply for the joy of getting outside ... If you feel like you've lost your way, amid the mountain narrative, Pathfinding may help you to place yourself once again.' The Great Outdoors
'I cried, I laughed, I reflected. It was a pleasure following along with Kerri's journey and I was right there with her. It reinforced how incredibly grateful I am to be a mum and have adventuring in my life.' Mountaineering Scotland
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'A seductive book that leads us as close to the nature and people of an intriguing place as words can.' Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree
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'This book brings welcome com-passion for the frailties of the human body, especially one that has endured pregnancy and birth ... Despite the pain and restriction, there is joy and freedom to be found in walking and parenting. Andrews has laid out an invitation that will leave you desperate to step outside.' Resurgence & Ecologist
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
321 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78396-842-8 (9781783968428)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Kerri Andrews
Pathfinding
One Mother's Journey from Wilderness to Freedom - from the author of Wanderers
Book
05/2026
Elliott & Thompson Limited
€14.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Additional editions
Kerri Andrews
Pathfinding
One Mother's Journey from Wilderness to Freedom - from the author of Wanderers
E-Book
03/2025
Elliott & Thompson
€10.49
Available for download
Person
Kerri Andrews is a writer, walker and academic with a PhD in women's literature. She is the author of Pathfinding: On Walking and Motherhood; Wanderers: A History of Women Walking and the editor of Way Makers: An Anthology of Women's Writing About Walking, as well as the first ever collection of Nan Shepherd's letters. She lives in Scotland with her two young children, but it was in the Yorkshire Dales that she discovered the delights of walking, before falling in love first with the Lake District and then the Scottish mountains. She is a member of Mountaineering Scotland and has so far climbed over 120 of Scotland's Munros.