Walking with Kipling – Archive

Walking with Kipling consists of nineteen short videos recorded between January and June 2025. I had to abandon the project for health reasons, but if any society member takes up the baton, I will be an avid viewer. [Ian Bell Editor]

June 2025 – The Camel’s Hump. Walking with Kipling 19. A Friday afternoon stroll to my local park – my excuse for such low-level activity being convalescence and therefore perhaps a suitable poem…
May 2025 – The Changelings. Walking with Kipling 18. A second visit to the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, this time walking from Bristol. An early start on a lovely day meant I was home for lunch despite spending nearly three hours travelling.
May 2025 – The Liner, She’s A Lady. Walking with Kipling 17. I suspect this will be the one and only time that I read a poem where Kipling set it – the other side of the harbour perhaps, but that’s where my brother lives, and Gosport looks good these days. Further, having spent the first 20 years of my life in Portsmouth, the accent must be authentic!
May 2025 – Au Revoir. Walking with Kipling 16. Glorious weather but hampered by a dodgy knee, the 2 mile “tourist” walk round the National Trust village of Lacock and River Avon did not quite work out as planned…
Apr 2025 – And Some Are Sulky. Walking with Kipling 15. The northern edge of Salisbury Plain above West Lavington, beneath a dramatic sky, I wandered for six miles…
Apr 2025 – Alnaschar and the Oxen. Walking with Kipling 14. Last week’s reading had to contend with a low flying aircraft, this week I steadfastly survive a curious bee and a Bristol bound GWR train.
Apr 2025 – Army Headquarters. Walking with Kipling 13. This is my local countryside walk, 4 miles from Melksham to Lacock in Wiltshire. Sunshine and Kipling.
Apr 2025 – Between the Gum-pot and the Shears. Walking with Kipling 12. Join me on an afternoon’s stroll on the western edge of Salisbury Plain and a Kipling poem beneath the Westbury White Horse – all in well under 3 minutes!
Mar 2025 – Alnaschar. Walking with Kipling 11. A first trip by train and a visit to the source of the River Thames in Gloucestershire–but a poem from 1880’s Lahore.
Mar 2025 – A Legend of Devonshire. Walking with Kipling 10. A first Kipling visit to The Wansdyke that runs across Wessex, here above the Vale of Pewsey – but a poem set in Devon.
Mar 2025 – Jane Smith. Walking with Kipling 9. A cold wind still blowing so I’ve returned to the relative shelter of the canal, this time heading into Devizes and climbing up the famous flight of 28 locks at Caen Hill.
Mar 2025 – The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo. Walking with Kipling 8. Canal path walking is not my favourite choice but is useful on occasions. This stretch of the Kennet & Avon skirting the village of Seend in Wiltshire was in excellent order and nice and quiet on a Monday morning.
Mar 2025 – Neighbours. Walking with Kipling 7. Three weeks missed because of a humdinger of a cold, but back on track again with a Saturday afternoon walk across the local Bowood Estate.
9 Feb 2025 – Appropriate Verses on an Elegant Landscape. Walking with Kipling 6. A seven mile walk along the Bristol to Bath Railway Cycle Path with a last minute change of poem…
2 Feb 2025 – I Have a Thousand Men. Walking with Kipling 5. Urchfont to Market Lavington along the north edge of Salisbury Plain plus some Kipling – all in less than 2 minutes.
26 Jan 2025 – Les Amours de Voyage. Walking with Kipling 4. Seven miles from Trowbridge Rail Station to Melksham via the Kennet & Avon Canal with a stop for a little Kipling.
19 Jan 2025 – The Lost Legion. My third Walking With Kipling poem (I could not use the second as Poem of the Week having used it – without the walk – the week before!) A longer video than I would wish – I meant to only read half the poem, but the geese had fallen silent and the sheep were so attentive. I will try and keep my videos to around 3 minutes.
Les Amours Faciles. This was the 2nd Walking With Kipling video, but having previously used the poem, I did not use it again as Poem of the Week.
12 January 2025 – Lichtenberg. A slightly delayed change for 2025 – having resolved to explore Wessex once a week this year, I’m combining my walks with Poem of the Week to create Walking with Kipling. I hope you enjoy my (always short) videos.
5 January 2025 – Bridge Guard in the Karroo. I really like this low-key video of the poem by Craftsman Shelley, I hope you will too.