Walking Home, By Simon Armitage

Penniless by design, the Yorkie bard set out in July 2010 to sing for his supper (and bed).

Hiking the wrong way down a cheerless Pennine Way, he earned his keep as a windswept troubadour by poetry-reading at pubs and homes, asking his listeners to bung cash into a whiffy sock.

Walking Home showcases his gifts as a comic craftsman in prose, with a flair for surprise and analogy that draws from the poet's side of his desk.

No Wordsworth, Armitage hates solitude and happily descends from the hills for repartee with eccentric fellow-ramblers.