Penelope's Route

Book excerpt: Nearly sixty years after Penelope Chetwode, wife of Poet Laureate John Betjeman, ventured into rural Spain on a borrowed mare, Karen Considine follows on horseback in her hoof-prints. Her guide and companion is Penelope’s book, ‘Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia’. Among the many changes, she finds the enduring spirit of the Andalusian people unaltered. Karen says, “I have been ‘exploring’ since I was around four-years-old, on foot and on horseback, always wanting to see what was hidden around the next corner and then ‘making maps’. My mother gave me Penelope Chetwode’s book when I was fifteen and I never forgot my determination to follow her ride one day. That day finally came when I retired, and I was off after her within the year.” “Beautifully written and truly captures daily Andalusian life.” Richard Dunwoody MBE, Retired steeplechase jockey