Bill Bryson’sA Walk in the WoodsmeetsMonty Python and the Holy\nGrail. With a donkey. Being larger than a cat, the donkey falls\ninto that category of animal that Tim Moore is at least slightly\nscared of. Yet, intrigued by epic accounts of a pilgrimage\nundertaken by one in three medieval Europeans, and strangely\ncommitted to historical authenticity, he finds himself leading a\nPyrenean ass named Shinto into Spain, headed for Santiago de\nCompostela. Nuzzling businessmen at a city-centre zebra crossing,\nor shuffling after some policewomen across a broiled and lonely\nplain, the pair bring a smile to every local face. Over 500 miles\nof extreme weather, agonizing bestial sloth and triple-bunk\ndormitories, it becomes memorably apparent that for the\nmultinational band of eccentrics who keep the Santiagan flame\nalive, the pilgrimage has evolved from a purely devotional\nundertaking into a mobile therapist’s couch. Ludicrous,\nheart-warming and improbably inspirational,Spanish Stepsis the\nstory of what happens when a rather silly man tries to walk all the\nway across a very large country, with a very large animal who\ndoesn’t really want to.

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