In the summer of 2011, Charlie found the school he taught at could not afford to renew his teaching contract. With no job and no money, but suddenly all the time in the world, he decided to travel from Cornwall to London in a peculiarly old-fashioned, quintessentially English and remarkably cheap way – as a tramp, on foot, sleeping rough. The journey was filled with colour, surprise and danger, and a range of memorable encounters – from Stan who once saved a boy from being raped but whose homelessness stemmed from a paralysing addiction, to Ian, the one-handed Rastafarian who lived in a tent on Parliament Square. With a striking mix of travel and current affairs writing, No Fixed Abode sheds light on a side of the UK few ever see from within.
