Who could resist such an adventure, if only on paper? The trouble is, however, that Bryson is not the most agreeable traveling companion. Bryson is fond of strange British place names such as Mousehole (pronounced mowz-ull), Irk Valley Junction, Oldham Mumps, Shellow Bowells, and Nether Wallop.īryson proposes to guide his readers on a tour of a land with “the most orderly cities, the handsomest provincial towns, the jauntiest seaside resorts, the stateliest homes, the most dreamily-spired, cathedral-rich, castle-strewn, abbey-bedecked, folly-scattered, green-wooded, winding-laned” country that has ever existed on earth.

He especially liked the idea of visiting a place named Cape Wrath. Bryson decided to take a trip along the “Bryson Line” and write a book about his journey. His latest book, The Road to Little Dribbling, begins with a question: What is the longest distance that a tourist in Britain can travel in a straight line?īryson studied a map and concluded that such a journey would begin at the seaside town of Bognor Regis and end in Scotland at Cape Wrath. He eventually married an Englishwoman, settled in England, obtained dual citizenship, and launched a successful career as a travel writer. Born in Des Moines in 1951, Bryson first visited England when he was only 20. Bill Bryson is a Midwestern writer who loves Britain.

Bryson little dribbling