The Way of the Hermit: My 40 years in the Scottish Wilderness

The Way of the Hermit is a memoir by Ken Smith, who has spent the past four decades living alone in the Scottish Highlands. He lives off the land, without electricity or running water, in a log cabin near Loch Treig. The book recounts his life, from his working-class origins to his time traveling in the Yukon, and reflects on the reasons he turned his back on society, the vulnerability of old age, and the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 30 May 2024
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month

A Thoreauvian account of solitary life in the Scottish Highlands.

Delightful - Kirkus Reviews

Ken Smith's advice for staying alive in inclement conditions could equally be applied to achieving hard-won dreams - Geographical

Ken Smith comes across as a thoughtful, resourceful, and above all humane man. Inspiring - BBC Countryfile Magazine

*****

Could you leave behind the bustle of modern society and spend your days immersed in nature?

In The Way of the Hermit, seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith recounts a life he has chosen to spend alone with the wilderness.

Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. He lives alone, with no electricity or running water. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as the lonely loch, where he lives off the land: he fishes for his supper, chops his own wood, and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit.

For the first time, Ken shares the story of his life. From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, to the formative years he spent traveling in the Yukon and finally how he came to be the Hermit of Loch Treig.

Looking back through decades of diary entries, Ken reflects upon the reasons he turned his back on society, the vulnerability of old age, and the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature.

The Way of the Hermit is a humorous, transcendent, and life-affirming memoir.

Weight: 208g
Dimension: 130 x 197 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781035009824