Anthony Blond
Dictionaries like the OED, encyclopaedias like the 1926 Britannica and guide- books like the Routards are my favourite reading. The Routards guides, many in English, now cover most countries, except Algeria, with accuracy, detail and charm. One needs no other. Last summer in Montana we relied on the Routard for the West and the Rocky Mountains. Don't be put off by the series' cover, of a homely young man with a moustache, sneakers and a backpack, look- ing as if he could do with a shower, for inside is a feast of subtle information for the fastidious as well as hitch-hikers. Each guide is annually revised and never simply Just reprinted; the young-looking editorial team have brought back the helpful intima- cy created by the fabulous Baedeker broth- ers — viz. in Le Guide Routard: Italie du Sud (Hachette, FF78) Salvatore who will drive you (if a girl) to a secret beach in Sicily on his red Vespa; remember to take a spare battery and bulb for the torch when ascending Stromboli — plus historical tit- bits like Gorky entertaining Lenin on Capri, Archimedes inventing the catapult at the siege of Syracuse. The 16 Guides Routards to France are crucial vade mecums for the enthusiast, who is told what room to book in the Auberge Saint Hubert in Lagrasse (Aude) and a decent place to eat in tourist-trappy Carcassonne (the Auberge de Dame Carcas), but their one volume on the hotels and restaurants of France will do, and when the Routard enthuses, go for it We arrived at the Restaurant Pierre Balthus at Grasse (15 covers) and found it shut, but when we brandished the Routard they opened up.
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