{"product_id":"2940013522473","title":"PAGAN PAPERS","description":"The Romance of the Road\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong the many places of magic visited by Pantagruel and his company\u003cbr\u003eduring the progress of their famous voyage, few surpass that island\u003cbr\u003ewhose roads did literally ``go'' to places -- ``ou les chemins\u003cbr\u003echeminent, comme animaulx'': and would-be travellers, having inquired\u003cbr\u003eof the road as to its destination, and received satisfactory reply,\u003cbr\u003e``se guindans'' (as the old book hath it -- hoisting themselves up on)\u003cbr\u003e``au chemin opportun, sans aultrement se poiner ou fatiguer, se\u003cbr\u003etrouvoyent au lieu destiné.''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe best example I know of an approach to this excellent sort of\u003cbr\u003evitality in roads is the Ridgeway of the North Berkshire Downs. Join\u003cbr\u003eit at Streatley, the point where it crosses the Thames; at once it\u003cbr\u003estrikes you out and away from the habitable world in a splendid,\u003cbr\u003epurposeful manner, running along the highest ridge of the Downs a\u003cbr\u003ebroad green ribbon of turf, with but a shade of difference from the\u003cbr\u003eneighbouring grass, yet distinct for all that. No villages nor\u003cbr\u003ehomesteads tempt it aside or modify its course for a yard; should you\u003cbr\u003elose the track where it is blent with the bordering turf or merged in\u003cbr\u003eand obliterated by criss-cross paths, you have only to walk straight\u003cbr\u003eon, taking heed of no alternative to right or left; and in a minute\u003cbr\u003e'tis with you again -- arisen out of the earth as it were. Or, if\u003cbr\u003estill not quite assured, lift you your eyes, and there it runs over\u003cbr\u003ethe brow of the fronting hill. Where a railway crosses it, it\u003cbr\u003edisappears indeed -- hiding Alpheus-like, from the ignominy of rubble\u003cbr\u003eand brick-work; but a little way on it takes up the running again with\u003cbr\u003ethe same quiet persistence. Out on that almost trackless expanse of\u003cbr\u003ebillowy Downs such a track is in some sort humanly companionable: it\u003cbr\u003ereally seems to lead you by the hand.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47163910357232,"sku":"2940013522473","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013522473_p0.jpg?v=1763581955","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013522473","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}