In his 2023 memoir, Ken Smith, who has lived alone for over 40 years in a log cabin in the remote Scottish highlands, explains what took him away from civilization and how he subsists in the wilderness.

Do you sometimes feel the call of the wilderness — the urge to leave everything behind and seek a simple life living off the land?

After suffering two catastrophic incidents in his 20s, Ken Smith found solace in the open spaces of the Canadian wilds.

Smith ultimately made the radical decision to go his own way, shrugging off the expectations of civilization to live as a hermit in the Scottish Highlands.

In The Way of the Hermit, co-written by author and broadcaster Will Millard, Smith tells the story of his journey from his working-class roots in rural Derbyshire to his log cabin by the remote Loch Treig, sometimes called the 'lonely loch,' where he intends to spend the rest of his days.