Richard Hayward left British Footpaths guides to be continued and enjoyed by walkers following their waymarked paths across England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Richard intended periodic updates of his “wee” guides, and his extra field notes may also allow sharing a few additional paths he so loved with future walkers.
As Richard says, “A walking trip is a life in miniature.” And adds, “In an age when ‘old’ means last year's computer chip, and bestsellers are out of date a week after publication, perhaps it is good to recall British footpaths. They still bind the landscape together much as they did for the Romans, Saxons, and Celts, not to mention Norman lords and Neolithic farmers. These ancient paths remind us we are all part of the same human story, after all. Books about British footpaths seem to be as timeless as the paths themselves. They affirm life on a human scale, and a connection with the past that can be deeply reassuring. The stories, guides, and journals of Alfred Wainwright, John Hillaby, Hunter Davies, Wilkie Collins, and Dorothy Wordsworth -- to name only a few -- will be with us as long as England has stone walls in Yorkshire, mushrooms in Hampshire, and an English sunrise over the next hill. And if publishers stop publishing them, then people will hand-copy favorite stories and guides, or write their own, so they can relive serendipitous journeys that nourish their spirits and remind them that all the world and love can still be young. Walking books are England's literature of hope.”
So British Footpath’s stories may help us discover and enjoy another new sunrise, as we walk yet another British footpath where we indeed truly experience a life in miniature “And if you walk lightly amid the noise and haste, there will be moments you feel utterly, naively alive.… And that, in the end, is what it’s all about.”
The paths selected for the British Footpaths guide book series are for first time walkers who want to explore Scotland, Wales, Ireland or England but have a limited time and budget. These selected paths traverse coastal areas, river courses, canal routes, and ridgeways. These paths are neither excessive hilly nor rough, but offer an alternative way to enjoy a week of two on holiday in the British Isles visiting castles, battle fields, lives of royalty, along miles and miles of countryside where much of America originated. These guides describe long distance paths allowing daily walks of about six or more miles per day between villages. All Britishfootpaths walks have a human scale for first time British walkers, allowing time to savor your journey while refreshing your soul. Of course, one could force march along these paths turning them into rough hiking trails, slogging your way day after day, if your only purpose is to finish your walk across England (just as for some, the sole idea in reading a book, or living a life, seems to be to finish it – as fast as possible). Here our purpose is to immerse ourselves in our journey, allowing ourselves the experience of being touched by the rich history and the personal lives embroidered into the landscape.
(Republished 2014)
How to do it yourself with a 10 lb. pack and about $65 a day per person. Covers finding B&Bs, cell phones, food options, maps, money, transportation, expenses, and much more. Distills knowledge gleaned from over thirty years of slow rambling and fast thinking.
(1999)
40 day walks & 17 Long Distance Paths (LDP) accessible to ordinary ramblers. If you’re sweating or shivering while walking in Britain, then you’re doing something wrong.
(1998)
Guides & maps vary in quality, cost, and emphasis. This book advises which ones work, and why. Covers more than 35 LDP, plus day walks.
(Republished 2014)
Explore Scottish castles, “wee” fishing villages along the edge of the shy, serendipitous kingdom of Fife, golf’s birthplace. Edinburgh to St Andrews.
(2-Books 2020?)
A personal voyage of discovery along the Fife Coast Path. “Our incredible journey was so inspiring we turned around and walked back to Edinburgh”. By Fred & Donna Austin.
(2002)
An easy walk around the entire island, famous for dinosaur bones, white cliffs, thatched villages, special pubs, Osborne House, Carisbrooke Castle and Tennyson.
(2000)
The most accessible stretch of the Cornwall coast. An intensely Celtic corner of Britain, haunted by Arthurian sites, includes history, geology, wildlife and alternate shortcuts. Visit Penzance and St Michael’s Mount.
(2020?)
An immediate exposure to the variety of human history and natural wonders. The variety of the Antrim Coast ranges from shipwrecks to Irish chieftains, from soaring chalk cliffs to giant basalt columns, from the earliest human settlement in Ireland to the site of the oldest whiskey distillery.
(Republished 2014)
Walk the Dingle Peninsula on quiet Irish lanes, across open fields, over cloud-shrouded ridges, beside rain-kissed streams and through magical-valleys, where you may be greeted in Irish (Gaelic).
(1997)
Discover the southern coast of Wales, blanketed with wildflowers each spring. See an old Celtic village and visit St David’s Cathedral. You will be introduced to the beauty, history, and people of Wales. Walk the coast from Fishguard to Little Haven.
(2004)
Experience the Spey Valley, famous for distilleries, salmon fishing and river walks. Then walk along the Moray Coast between wee fishing harbors tucked between the cliffs, and where dolphins often play.
(Republished 2014)
Stroll among buttercups and wildflower meadows, through little stone villages, below waterfalls and besides miles of drystone walls of the Yorkshire Dales. A riverside walk, which James Herriot called “the most beautiful place in England.”
(Republished 2013)
Walk from Mary Queen of Scot’s birthplace at Linlithgow to Glasgow and on to Milngavie, the official start of the West Highland Way. Follow the 2nd-century Roman Antonine Wall and experience the 21st-century Falkirk Wheel.
(2003)
Watch for Nessie while walking from Fort William to Inverness, beside three lochs and the Caledonian Canal. Visit W. Highland Museum & Culloden Battlefield.
(2006)
See random crop circles, massive earth mounds and stone rings of Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge, while walking Wiltshire.
(2005)
A journey through the Heart of England. Visit Woodstock, stroll Blenheim Park, savor Rousham Garden and discover Churchill’s grave at Bladon.
(2003)
Explore the Lake District of Shropshire and enter the magical Vale of Llangollen via the largest aqueduct in Britain.
(Reprinted 2019)
Follow Chaucer through the apple orchards and hop fields of Kent - from Rochester to Leeds Castle and Canterbury.
(2018)
A forgotten section of the Pilgrims’ Way from Jane Austen’s shrine in Winchester Cathedral, along the watershed of the Rivers Itchen and Wey,. Including portion of the ancient history of this Pilgrims’ route known as the “Old Road” originally leading from Stonehenge. This is a pleasant short walk through the heart of England’s countryside with thatched cottages, well tended flower gardens, and quiet hedgerow lined lanes.
(New 2014)
Explore the paths used by the Saints from Padstow to Fowey as the pilgrims and saints crossed Cornwall from church to church
By Fred & Donna Austin
(New 2012)
Follow pleasant farm and field paths across the English Midlands linking Banbury Cross to Chipping Campden, while being touched by the magic of the Rollright Stones, the mysteries of Celtic hill forts and ghosts of Roman roads.
By Fred & Donna Austin
(Republished 2013)
Walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, via the Lake District and Yorkshire. Suggests detours and alternate routes - around boggy bits, along Roman roads, and favorite pubs. New Walking Notes chapter.
(2004)
Story/guide. These thatched villages, Stone-age barrow mounds, scenic overlooks and Celtic hillforts are the Shire of Tolkien’s imagination. Chipping Campden to Bath. The Windrush Way is for those preferring fewer hills and more villages. Added “Walking Notes” and sketch maps.
(2004)
A journal for walking west to east with weather at your back. This 2000-yr-old Roman built wall still seizes our imaginations and haunts our dreams.
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