One of many remarkable aspects of Taiwan is the fact that unlike its neighbours, Japan and China, it has hardly been touched by English-language travel writers since Maclear Bate in the 1950s. In this book, Gary Heath sets out to remedy the shortcoming by hiking over 4000 kilometres through the mountains of Taiwan – and several smaller islands also governed from Taibei – on his own version of the Grand Tour. The account of his solitary journey abounds with descriptions of the local geology, geography and wildlife, and includes numerous encounters with aboriginal tribes.