As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) is a memoir by the British writer Laurie Lee. Lee is probably best known for his autobiographical work, although he was also a poet. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning is the middle work in a trilogy which begins with Cider with Rosie which detailed his early life in Gloucestershire after the First World War. In this sequel Lee leaves the security of Slad his Cotswold village to embark on a journey to Spain. The third book, A Moment of War is also set in Spain.

It is 1934, and Lee walks to London from his Cotswolds home. He lives by playing the violin and, later, labouring on a building site in London. After this work draws to a finish, and having picked up the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water?", he decides to go to Spain. He scrapes together a living by playing his violin outside cafés, and sleeps at night in his blanket under the open sky or in cheap, rough posadas. For a year he tramps through Spain, from Vigo in the north to the south coast, where he is trapped by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He is warmly welcomed by the Spaniards he meets and enjoys a generous hospitality even from the poorest villagers he encounters along the way.