5 Reasons to Chose This Trail Guide

Hiking the Coast to Coast

If you’re planning to walk the Coast to Coast path — in sunshine or storms — this guidebook will show you what the journey is really like. Alongside detailed route directions and hundreds of colour photographs, it features in-depth research articles and a full travelogue of the author’s first walk across England with his wife Carol. Honest, immersive, and grounded in real experience, it captures both the terrain and the emotion of the trail. Here are five good reasons to make it your walking companion

Carol at the Beacon on Thornthwaite Crag

Carol resting by the monumental cairn on Thornthwaite Crag — a quiet moment during our fourth walk across England.

5 Reasons to Choose This Trail Guide

Sweat, Smile, Summit - High Crag View

A sun-drenched moment on the High Stile ridge: the author smiles from the shoulder of High Crag, overlooking Ennerdale Water with Crag Fell and Grike shrouded in mist behind. His soaked green-and-white striped shirt says it all — walking the Coast to Coast is an adventure that gets under the skin.

Reason 1: Descriptive Routes

Where Route-Finding Matters Most

A signpost rises from a vast blanket bog, marking three seasonal options on the Coast to Coast path. A flagged stone trail runs through deep mire, where the only certainty is the need for clear direction — the kind a good guidebook provides.

Reason 2: Step by Step

One Lake, One Day, One Step at a Time

Looking across Ennerdale Water on day 2 of the Coast to Coast walk. This early stretch marks the first of many step-by-step stages, each carefully mapped and described in the guidebook — from the Lakes to the North York Moors.

Reason 3: Research Articles

Echoes on the Heather Moor

A solitary High Bride Stone rises from the heathered moor — one of many ancient monuments passed by the Coast to Coast path. The guidebook includes research articles that uncover the hidden history of such standing stones, cairns, henges, mines, and natural reserves scattered along the route.

Reason 4: Mapping Galleries

Every Step, Mapped Clearly

The guidebook includes large-scale Google mapping for every stage of the Coast to Coast walk — clear, zoomable, and easy to follow. Each chapter is linked to an interactive version on our support website, giving you a detailed visual reference before and during your journey.

Reason 5: Support Website

The Walk, Mapped and Magnified

A view of the interactive Coast to Coast route on Google MyMaps, custom-built for readers of the guidebook. The support website hosts this detailed mapping tool alongside hundreds of research articles and in-house photography — offering readers practical help, background knowledge, and inspiration before, during, and after their walk.

The Book That Walks With You

“Hiking the Coast to Coast” is a digitally enhanced eBook, available exclusively from Apple Books for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Designed to accompany you on your walk, it includes interactive Google mapping, step-by-step directions, hundreds of high-resolution photographs, and detailed research notes covering the landmarks, landscapes, and history of the Coast to Coast path.

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Quick Snippets

Can I use the Coast to Coast Trail Guide to navigate with?

The Coast to Coast Trail Guide is designed to be used from your iPhone or iPad. It contains a detailed Google MyMap for the whole of the Coast to Coast walk, with capability of extremely high zoom levels, customised to provide mile markers, historic points of interest and other useful information. There is also a detailed route description for each stage of the walk, and a support website with a dynamic digitally enhanced map.

Do I need to carry a paper map as well as the digital Coast to Coast Trail Guide?

It would be wise to always carry a backup paper map. Whilst a digital book and map are much easier to use than a paper book and map, there are occasions when the device may fail or under-perform, e.g. if the battery runs out, or if it becomes too cold or overheats. Also, rain may hamper its use, as where it becomes difficult to swipe the screen.

Is there a down-loadable OS Trail Guide to supplement the Google Map?

A customised Coast to Coast trail guide has been uploaded on the OS App and is in the public domain. Anyone can download a copy. It is called "Coast to Coast 2018 Roy", and is downloaded from the OS Map App. The map is far more accurate than any other Coast to Coast maps I have seen, and has been updated in real-time while walking the Coast to Coast path.

Apart from the Trail Guide portion of the book, what else does it contain?

The full title of the Trail Guide is "Hiking the Coast to Coast trail guide". It contains hundreds of colour photographs. The photographs are of places seen while walking the path, during inclement weather in 2016, clement weather in 2018 and spurious weather conditions during 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. There are also hundreds of research articles full of mystery and intrigue relating to historical and educational places. The book contains an interesting travelogue of our mostly positive experiences during our walks.