After spending two decades in England, author Bill Bryson returned to the U.S., where he finds himself in a rut. A world-selling author he’s forever being asked ‘what next’ for his writing but struggles to know the answer.

He decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends. Stuck for inspiration for his writing he finds motivation for a new chapter in his own life by undertaking this very personal challenge, much to the objection of his close friends and family.

The book A Walk in the Woods is a best seller and it documents the journey he made with a friend after being begged by his wife not to travel alone. For anyone that’s stepped (willingly or uncertainly) outside their own comfort zone you’ll be familiar with the mixed sense of excitement, dread and anticipation of the future unknown. For Bill and his companion within less than a mile of their starting point, a groups of hikers overtake and pass them, and they begin to grasp the difficulty of their ambition.

But ambition is all that counts and even as children breeze by them the two men are motivated by their own strength of mind, laughter and down-right stubbornness. Even when they find themselves trapped on a small ledge having slipped off the trail in a fall they are finally rescued by a group of hikers and continue. Onwards.

The pair finally down tools after a grim and relentless hike through pouring rain to a wooden hut where they seek shelter. Engraved into a wall is the trail route they’ve been hiking for three months and they have completed only a third of the way. They decide to head home and it is back in the comfort of live that the postcards they sent themselves begin to trickle in. Bill pulls out his computer and begins to write again.

The result is his book A Walk in the Woods.

The movie is released on Friday 18th September in the UK starring Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Kristen Schaal, Nick Offerman, Mary Steenburgen and Emma Thompson. It’s had mixed reviews with one well known film critic describing it as “Amiable yet less compelling than any road trip movie starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte should be, A Walk in the Woods is ultimately a bit too pedestrian”.

We’ve no doubt the trip itself was anything close to pedestrian, so it’s too bad to hear the film might not quite cut it, but we’re inspired anyway to suggest some pedestrian-free and compelling hikes in 2016 that you can do yourself.

Click here to discover amazing walks, hikes and treks from a Siberia Arctic Expedition: Reindeer Migration with the Nenets to a Wild Walk in Palestine or Madagascar Trekking Expedition from Peak to Sea… these and much more