Tom Chesshyre – Stanfords Blog

Guest post: Tom Chesshyre takes us all aboard for a midlife ride… to Istanbul and back

-by Tom Chesshyre.

You don’t have to be a backpacker on a gap year setting out to ‘find yourself’ to enjoy an Interrailing adventure in Europe. You’re still allowed a bit of self-discovery along the tracks later in life. Nothing wrong with that. Just hop on board and follow the classic route of the inaugural Orient Express in 1883 from Paris to Istanbul along the tracks taken by the great and the good during train travel’s golden age

THIS book began on a park bench in London’s Soho, not far from Stanfords’ excellent Covent Garden shop – in the company of an old university pal.

We were drinking Red Stripe lagers and discussing this and that: the state of the world (not so great), Britain (ditto), modern life in general and how we were faring with it (at the beck and call of emails and various other little electronic messages).

We had both just passed 50. We both felt the urge to ‘break free’ for a while. Circumstances (and tolerant people around us) would allow us to do this. We both enjoyed trains. We both loved Europe. And there they were: Europe’s train tracks, lying across the Channel waiting to be explored; cheaply, thanks to an Interrail promotion.

Book Launch: Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre

Last week we hosted the launch of our June Book of the Month Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre.

From London via Paris, Naples, Nuremberg, the Swiss Alps, Budapest, Athens and into the furthest corners of Eastern Europe across Romania and Bulgaria, join Tom Chesshyre on his fascinating journey to Istanbul and back

Ever dreamt of dropping everything and adventuring cross-country to the edge of Asia? That’s just what rail enthusiast Tom Chesshyre did, hitting the tracks for a 4,570-mile adventure on 55 rides, shadowing the old Orient Express route.

Interrailing was once the realm of young backpackers setting off to “find themselves” – and for many, it still is. But it’s also a joyful and eco-friendly twenty-first century adventure that’s open to us all, no matter our age or agenda. Dodging striking train drivers in Germany, getting stuck by the Bulgarian-Greek border, and negotiating tricky passport officials in Turkey is all part of the fun in this illuminating and meandering journey around Europe.

Month Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre is available now for £20.

All our copies are signed by the author while stocks last.

Book of the Month: Slow Trains to Istanbul

Our Book of the Month is Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre.

Ever dreamt of dropping everything and adventuring cross-country to the edge of Asia? That’s just what Tom Chesshyre did, hitting the tracks for a 4,570-mile adventure on 55 rides, shadowing the old Orient Express route.

Europe by rail awaits. The freedom of the lines awaits. Why not hop on board?

Author Biography

Tom Chesshyre is the author of eleven travel books, the latest telling the story of a 379-mile hike around the Lake District. He has travelled 40,000 miles around the world for his train books; most recently for Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000-Mile Adventure on 52 Rides. His book writing has also taken him across North Africa after the Arab Spring, round the “dark side” of the Maldives on cargo ships, along the length of the River Thames and on a journey through “unsung Britain” (in To Hull and Back). He worked on the travel desk of The Times for 21 years and is now freelance, contributing to The Critic and New European magazines. He lives in London.

Slow Trains to Istanbul is available now for £20

Watch Tom Chesshyre introduce his new book:

A walk in the park life…

Inspired by the scenery, hidden histories and encounters in his local park in London during the lockdowns – and with nowhere to go – Tom Chesshyre set off on a “voyage of the imagination” around parks he has enjoyed across the globe in his new book Park Life, a celebration of all things park:

It was somewhere between my tenth and twentieth weekly circumnavigation of Richmond Park, having not gone anywhere else much for months (other than my Sainsbury’s Local), that I began to slip into the rhythm of “park life”.

During that period from March 2020, I watched the landscape of London’s largest park (2,400 acres) subtly shift as green shoots of spring slowly emerged, the stark outline of ancient oaks seemingly sprinkled by heavenly herbs.

Slow trains coming…

by Tom Chesshyre

Tom Chesshyre took to Spain’s clickety-clack railway lines for a 3,000-mile adventure on 52 rides described in his new travel book and our Book of the Month for April, Slow Trains Around Spain. Here is a taster of his journey:

Book of the Month: Slow Trains Around Spain by Tom Chesshyre

Between soaring mountains, across arid deserts, parched plains and valleys of fruit orchards and olive groves, down glittering coastlines and along viaducts towering above plunging ravines – there is no better way to see Spain than by train.

In our Book of the Month for April, Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000- Mile Adventure on 52 Rides Tom Chesshyre hits the tracks to take in the UK’s most popular travel destination through carriage windows on a series of clattering rides beyond the popular image of ‘holiday Spain’ (although he stops by in Benidorm and Torremolinos too). Heading wherever the trains take him in a big S-shape around the country, Tom slips into the rhythm of the tracks meeting characters aplenty along the way. From hidden spots in Catalonia, through the plains of Aragon and across the north coast to Santiago de Compostela, his journey takes him onward via Madrid, the wilds of Extremadura, dusty mining towns, the cathedrals and palaces of Valencia and Granada, and finally to Seville, Andalusia’s beguiling (and hot) capital.

Gatecrashing Paradise – Misadventures in the real Maldives

So we’ve come to the last event on the last day of Stanfords Travel Writers Festival. Tom Chesshyre lifts the curtain on the real Maldives. Continue reading Gatecrashing Paradise – Misadventures in the real Maldives

The Slow Travel Panel

Our Slow Travel Panel was the perfect way to start a lazy Sunday morning at Stanfords Travel Writers Festival. Tom Chesshyre, Ed Gillespie and David Reynolds, with Bradt MD Adrian Phillips, explain why all the best journeys are to be slowly savoured. Continue reading The Slow Travel Panel

Harry Bucknall and Nick Hunt

Times journalist Tom Chesshyre chaired a lively conversation between Harry Bucknall, Like a Tramp, Like a Pilgrim, and Nick Hunt, Walking the Woods & Water. Continue reading Harry Bucknall and Nick Hunt