I am still not sure whether I think this book was very good or average. It takes a fairly traditional plot – 2 mid 30s people (Marnie and Michael) who know they are lonely but disaffected with or by love, another more handsome man, misunderstandings, growing attraction, obstacles and finally getting it together – but the dialogue between the two is witty and sharp and who doesn’t love a slightly scruffy geography teacher?

They are brought together by a mutual friend on a walking holiday and so the book is divided into chapters with the headings of the walk – Day Two: Ennerdale Bridge to Borrowdale – which shows us the journey, not just of walking across the country but also the path to love. The landscape is beautifully described and the snippets of geology thrown in were also well-suited to the plot and characters. Told through the alternating narrators of Marnie and Michael, we get their view point and understand how they see themselves: Michael a little bit ridiculed by the way he looks, classic geography teacher with some seriousness built in, and Marnie with a protective wall of humour.

The story is an everyday falling in love, not a momentous, dramatic coupe de foudre, I think the scenery provides that, but a gentle, mixed-up finding of someone who suits us just fine and that I suspect is the point. I have read One Day by NIcholls but have to say I enjoyed the Netflix series more than the book itself. Perhaps it will be the same with this one. I am going to sit on the fence with this book -well, the dry stone wall.