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

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 travelling 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.

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

Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Imprint: Pan Macmillan UK
Publication date: 30/05/2024