Travel Departures: Travel bookshelf

AFTER the latest consignments from the big guidebook publishers, three offbeat books deserve honourable mentions.

A Short Trip in the Alentejo, written and published by Robert Wilson, is the sort of book that makes you long to visit the region it describes - even if you have no idea where it is. Alentejo turns out to be a corner of Portugal nuzzling up to the Spanish border, where the pace of life is reputedly so slow it has inspired the following joke: 'There's a race between a snail and an Alentejano - who wins?' 'The snail, of course.' 'No - the Alentejano; the snail was disqualified after two false starts.' The book is available by post from the author at Apartado 39, 7170 Redondo, Portugal (fax: 010 351 66 99545).

Still more arcane is Trails of Two Cities by John Carroll, a walking guide to the Japanese area of Yokohama and Kamakura. The book is published at pounds 17.99 by Kodansha, whose UK office is at 95 Aldwych, London WC2.

The Ancient Tracks in Des Hannigan's new book of that title (Pavilion, pounds 17.99) range from the Loch Maree Post Road in northern Scotland to the Saints' Way in Cornwall. Perhaps the most startling is High Street, a Roman Road between Ambleside and Penrith in the Lake District, which has a six-mile stretch above 2,000ft.