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The Only Way Is West
- A Once in a Lifetime, 500 Mile Adventure Walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago
- Narrated by: Joel Daffurn
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Categories: Travel & Tourism, Travel Writing & Commentary
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Summary
The international best seller.
What would you do if you're given a €20 note in Greece with an email address scribbled on it:
- Spend it?
- Slip the suspect counterfeit bill into an enemy’s birthday card?
- Send an email, hoping it will lead to you finding everlasting love?
Brad, a hopeless romantic, chose the latter.
Two years later, his love life remains a disaster and his career is misfiring. As he’s about to walk Spain’s fabled Camino de Santiago to ponder some profound life changes, Brad receives a reply. Incredibly, it’s from a woman who lives on the 1000-year-old pilgrimage trail, far away from where the money first crossed his palm. She invites him to sleep..."on her house".
Hiking 900km on the Road to Santiago to a blind date with the mystery €20 woman, he meets fellow pilgrims and natives who make him believe more than ever in the kindness of the human spirit, befriends a Hungarian who speaks English in song titles and has his raison d’être revealed to him by a barefoot Mayan mystic. Will he meet his happily-ever-after along the way too?
Buy this pacy, laugh-out-loud travelogue to find out now...
- Best seller in the UK - Humorous essays, travelogues, and religious travel categories.
- Best seller in the USA - Sports essays, ecotourism, and literary travel.
- Best seller in Canada - Humorous essays and travelogues.
- Best seller in Australia - Humorous essays and travelogues.
- Best seller in India - Religious travel.
Critic reviews
"An inspiring, touching, heartfelt and funny memoir that made me howl with laughter throughout. A wonderful read." (Kevin Hand, BBC London)
"This book would be a great read for anyone planning their own Camino, or for those who like adventure and travel memoirs written with honesty, emotion and humour." (French Village Diaries)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Only Way Is West
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Chris W.
- 30-07-20
So good I might have to listen to it again straight away!!
Couldn’t have loved this book more. Honest, frank and funny. So many people try so hard to be prophetic, but in just telling it like it is, Brad Chermside does so effortlessly... a wonderful journey that starts out as a wild goose chase looking for love, but turns into a truly and genuinely life-changing experience... you’ll never have wanted to walk the Camino more.
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- Kenny
- 05-06-20
Brilliantly written, uplifting book about the Camino, camaraderie and adventure
A refreshingly honest and inspiring book, that made me laugh out loud. Heartwarming and inspirational, loved it from start to finish. Recommend it to anyone interested in doing the Camino a little soul searching or just wanting to read a really good book!
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- tammy
- 18-05-20
Where are my walking shoes
I love books about dropping everything, throwing on a backpack, and walking until your feet are destroyed. Throw in a mystery date at the end of the road and you have a recipe for "can't stop listening". I can't wait for his next adventure.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mark B. Lepper
- 27-11-20
Not my favorite
It was ok as far as Camino memoirs go. Not my favorite and probably won't reread/listen again, like I have several others. The author seemed to like to make fun of people and objectify/sexualize women. I kept hoping there'd be some kind of epiphany, but the closest we get is when he is relaying a life changing conversation he'd had with someone the previous evening where he learned he needs to see the good in people, but minutes before he'd spent a lengthy time ranting and complaining and disparaging "plastic pilgrims." I listened to the whole thing because I was hoping for some redemption, but didn't witness any.
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- Mary Baldree
- 19-08-20
Inspiring and fun
I laughed. I cried. And I laughed and got tearful again! Thoroughly enjoyed! I listened while I walked and dreamed of doing the Camino someday!