Bathurst - The Big Walks of Great Britain

THE

DAVID BATHURST

THE BIG WALKS OF GREAT BRITAIN

First published as THE BEATEN TRACK by Summersdale Publishers
Ltd in 2001
Copyright David Bathurst 2001
This edition published in 2007

Reprinted 2007

The right of David Bathurst to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.

Condition of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

Summersdale Publishers Ltd
46 West Street
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1RP
UK

www.summersdale.com

Printed and bound in Great Britain

eISBN 9780857653116

About the author

David Bathurst has been a keen walker all his adult life, and as well as his completion of numerous long-distance routes has also walked the entire coastlines of Sussex and Kent. By profession David is a solicitor and senior legal adviser to the magistrates sitting in Chichester and Worthing, and he has written books on a wide range of subjects. His chief claim to fame is the recitation of the four Gospels from memory in July 1998 and then the recitation of the complete surviving works of Gilbert and Sullivan from memory in August 2004.

By the same author

The Selsey Tram , Phillimore, 1992
Six of the Best! , Romansmead, 1994
The Jennings Companion , Summersdale, 1995
Financial Penalties , Barry Rose, 1996
Around Chichester in Old Photographs , Sutton, 1997
Heres A Pretty Mess! , Romansmead, 1998
Magisterial Lore , Romansmead, 2000
Poetic Justice , Romansmead 2001
Walking The Coastline Of Sussex , SB Publications 2002
Best Walks Of Sussex , Summersdale 2003
Thats My Girl , New Theatre Publications 2003
Lets Take It From The Top, Romansmead 2003
Walking The Disused Railways Of Sussex , SB Publications 2004
Once More From The Top , Romansmead 2005
Sussex Top Tens , SB Publications 2006

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jennifer Barclay and the team at Summersdale for their support and encouragement; Sarah Cook for her photograph of the Speyside Way; Dr David Holland, Rob Holland and Linda Spanner for their photograph of Glyndwrs Way; and to my wife Susan and daughter Jennifer for their love and understanding.

Further Reading And Bibliography

AA Book of Britains Countryside (1998, Midsummer Books)
AA Book of British Villages (1980, Drive Publications)
AA Illustrated Guide to Britain (1977, Drive Publications)
Betjeman, John Collected Poems (1958, John Murray)
Dillon, Paddy Trail Walker Guide to the National Trails of Britain and Ireland (1994, David and Charles)
Hutchinson Encyclopaedia of Britain (1999, Helicon)
Jenkins, Simon Englands Thousand Best Churches (2003, Allen Lane)Marriott, Michael Footpaths of Britain (1981, Queen Anne Press)
Millar, T.G. Long Distance Paths of England and Wales (1984, David and Charles)
National Trail Guides and Recreational Path Guides (1989-96, Aurum Press)Nicolson, Adam The National Trust Book of Long Walks (1981, The National Trust)
Pevsner, Nikolaus et al. Buildings of England series (1951-74, Penguin)Pilton, Barry One Man and his Bog (1985, Corgi)
Plowright, Alan Plowright Follows Wainwright (1995, Michael Joseph)Wainwright, Alfred A Coast to Coast Walk (1992, Michael Joseph)Wainwright, Alfred Pennine Way Companion (1992, Michael Joseph)Wainwright, Alfred Wainwright in Scotland (1988, Mermaid Books with BBC)

Contents

About This Book

Despite the increasingly sophisticated range of leisure pursuits and interests available to us, walking still enjoys huge popularity as a form of recreation. At its most basic, it may consist of a stroll around the block to walk off an excessively large Sunday lunch. Real devotees, however, will head for the hills or the mountains every weekend whatever the weather, clad in the most expensive equipment, only happy when they have completed their regulation twenty-five miles for the day, and regarding anyone content with less as a sad couch potato. Whatever their degree of devotion, most walking enthusiasts will agree that it is nice to have an objective to aim for. It may just be the windmill on the hilltop above the town which rewards its visitors with a beautiful view on a clear day. It could be a high mountain that requires several hours toil and effort to reach the summit or the desire to walk further in a single day than you have ever done before, or simply the desire to put as much distance as possible between yourself and your neighbours Saturday afternoon barbecue party.

In recognition of the fact that walkers like to have an objective or purpose, a number of official long-distance walking routes (eighteen at the time of writing) have been created across Great Britain, designated in England and Wales as national trails, and north of the border as Scottish National Long Distance Walking Routes. What distinguishes these routes from the many other name paths in Britain is that the maintenance of them is funded centrally in recognition of their popularity and importance. They all aim to incorporate places and features of particular historic or scenic interest, and the completion of a single route is itself a worthy objective for any hiker. The purpose of this book is to give an overview of all eighteen routes and also to provide a sneak preview of what is likely to be the nineteenth, namely the Pennine Bridleway, part of which has in fact already acquired national trail status. Also covered in full in this book is Wainwrights Coast to Coast Walk which although not a national trail nor properly waymarked, is still hugely popular nearly 40 years after its conception and is walked more frequently than many national trails.

The nineteen routes range in difficulty from the gentle 73-mile Great Glen Way, a very easy and superbly well waymarked walk through stunning Scottish highland scenery, to the formidable 255-mile Pennine Way and the massive 628-mile South West Coast Path which is likely to take you months if not years to complete. Every chapter begins with some basic details about the route described in it, brief information about its origin, and then a detailed but light-hearted description of the route itself, highlighting all the places of interest on or near it, and pointing out aspects of the walk that are of potential interest, challenge or even amusement.

I should make three other things clear about the book. Firstly, it is not enough on its own; I could not advise you to walk one of the described routes using this book alone. By all means have the book with you on your travels if you have the room in your rucksack, but you will need a guidebook dedicated to your chosen route that includes the necessary mapping. The best are those published by Aurum Press or Cicerone, easily available from bookshops or via Amazon on the Internet, although for both the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast there is really no substitute for Wainwrights companion guides which are classics of their kind. You will also need an up-to-date accommodation guide, and if you are planning to use public transport to get you to and from the route, you will have to check the latest timetables. All this information is easily obtainable from local tourist information centres or the Internet.