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End to End U.K. - A Thousand Miles of Time

I’m excited to say I’ll be riding horseback 1,000 miles end-to-end in the U.K. starting May 26th, 2010. My purpose is to draw together the many threads of my writing and thinking into a book about the human-natural world. I want to explore how people think about the land today by examining how we’ve thought about our place through time. I hope to come to understand the place land holds in the lives of Americans by looking through our filtering lenses of religion, myth, national identity, genealogy and genetics by comparing the place land held for us in the past. Since we are an immigrant peoples, I want to travel to where it began for many of us: the British Isles.

I choose Britain for a number of reasons. My family is British (with a name like Greer Chesher, how could it be otherwise?). My father’s family (Chesher) ventured from England to North America in the 1500s; my mother (Myers/Hawes) arrived from County Kent in 1948. These two family stories echo the English emigration to the U.S. as people sought land and opportunity, new lives and freedom. The first migration brought farming methods and livestock practices that would change American nature, human and biological. My families second migration, in the aftermath of World War II, gives rise to a story of place, my mother’s, mine and a search for roots, for beginnings, of family, ideas, change and of the future.
 
My best writing comes from immersion in place. I have visited England five times, each on a whirlwind tour by car, never with enough time to sink into place, to absorb it, feel it, translate it. So, in the spirit of slow travel and of my unknown but land-bound ancestors, I will ride horseback from the farthest south point in England, Lands End, to the farthest point north in Scotland, John O’Groats. On the way I want to explore the continuing consequences of humanity’s past environmental choices and ensuing mindsets in a place that influenced and spawned today’s American culture. I want to visit holy wells, green man festivals, cathedrals, prehistoric sites, universities, genealogists, historic and modern gardens, crannogs, highlands and islands in search of the once and future human-environmental relationship.
 
On my return to the U.S., I’ll write a book on these past, current and future trends, how people continue to relate to the land and are attempting to bring about change on a personal and community level. At the same time, I hope my journey will be an inspiration to others on how anyone, no matter their age, can bring adventure into their life and engage people in environmental and social issues.
 
I’m after a well-researched but compelling examination of our cultural, genetic, economic, social, and environmental past, present and future—brought to life through one person’s experience and a very long family history.
 
My hope is that this story will appeal not only to those who care about the land, but also to those interested in the tale’s other aspects like genealogy, England, Scotland, and adventure travel. I want to bring the sides to the center, so to speak, to draw those not usually interested in environmental news into the most important story of our time: our ecological decisions.
 
To do this, I need to raise a bit of cash (especially with the US - UK exchange rate!). If you'd like to help, please visit the contact page or click the Make a Donation button below. And, thanks!