I might not share Seldon's passion, but I can appreciate it and feel the importance that this walk traces a line that has a deep connection to the personal history of many European families.

A fascinating account of walking the length of the World War 1 Western Front following one soldier's experience and the idea of creating a lasting living monument to the fallen.

The route of his 1,000 kilometre journey was inspired by a young British soldier of the First World War, Alexander Douglas Gillespie, who dreamed of creating a ‘Via Sacra’ that the men, women and children of Europe could walk to honour the fallen. However, whether or not the romantic dream is achievable, the book is both informative and occasionally able to hit the emotional spot. A deeply informed meditation on the First World War, an exploration of walking’s healing power, a formidable physical achievement… and above all a moving enactment of a modern pilgrimage. He notes that he was head of two public schools and then ran a 'small university' which his father had helped set up in 1976.

Tracing the historic route of the Western Front, he traversed some of Europe’s most beautiful and evocative scenery, from the Vosges, Argonne and Champagne to the haunting trenches of Arras, the Somme and Ypres.

Intermixed in this is the agony and ecstasy of long walking journeys/ pilgrimages and what they reveal to and about us.

I can't say this reflects my own experience - when I was at school, the Second World War was far more prominent and engaging as a historical subject - but Seldon's passion for the horrific events of the period comes through strongly and I learned a huge amount. It was also notable that several times Seldon tells us how few people visited the various monuments and sites he came across - it does suggest that it is perhaps too late for this to be a project that will ever capture the imagination of massed pilgrims. A combination of introspective diary, war diary and travel writing, I'm not going to lie, it's made me interested in doing this walk. I haven’t read any other book by Anthony Seldon, but I think this must have been a very different undertaking for him personally than would have been his previous books, political analyses of former UK Prime Ministers. Someone younger, for whom one would imagine the walk is destined, might not have yet read one of the world’s greatest novels and now he’s spoiled the end for them.A timely , eloquent and convincing reminder that to forget the carnage of the past is to open the door to it happening again. As his journey involved a lot of walking along busy roads I thought it did not paint the Western Front Way in the best light and I hope its final route is a bit more rural.