Our Five Recommended Xmas Walking Reads

Here are five super walking books to motivate you and get you walking more over Xmas and the New Year.

Happy walking!

Most Amazing Places to Walk Britain – £7.94

Transform every country walk into a journey to remember. This practical touring guide features 200 walks through the best of Britain’s countryside, each one specially devised to include amazing views, interesting features and varied landscape. From gentle rambles alongside rivers and canals to exhilarating cliff and hill-top walks, this guide offers walking to suit all interests and abilities. The walks are described in clear step-by-step instructions, each one accompanied by a detailed map, and are arranged by region and country with large regional maps for easy reference. Illustrated throughout with stunning photographs capturing the drama and beauty of the landscape, this book is the perfect travelling companion.

The Most Amazing Places to Walk in Britain presents the spectacular walking terrain Britain has to offer – Birmingham Mail

Could possibly be the best landscape photographers guide out there – Amateur Photographer

The Most Amazing Places to Walk in Britain is a pleasantly illustrated, practical guide that is arranged by region and county – The Daily Telegraph

100 Greatest Walks in Britain – £9.01

These 100 greatest walks in Britain have been chosen by Country Walking magazine, Britain’s bestselling walking journal, and contain all the information you need to enjoy hiking in the very best of Britain’s countryside. Each walk is printed on amazing waterproof and tear-proof paper and bound in a loose-leaf ring binder so it can be used again and again and taken out in all weathers. Split into regional sections, each walk guide contains a map, a detailed route guide and invaluable information on how to get there, where to park, how long and arduous each walk is, where you will be able to find refreshments, and information on public transport.

All of the information you might need to enjoy walking and hiking in some of Britain’s most glorious countryside – …each walk can be taken out with you – Cheshire Life

The perfect companion for any fan of walking in the great outdoors…easy to use in all weathers! – Womens Fitness

Highly practical and invaluable information about the length and toughness of each walk – an invaluable aid to walkers of all ages – Good Book Guide

Complete Lakeland Fells Revised Editions Boxed Set (Hardcover) – £35.20

This boxed set contains all eight revised editions of the Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells by the fell walking legend, Alfred Wainwright. Since the guides were compiled half a century ago, they have been treasured by generations of walkers, and television programmes in the year of the centenary of Wainwright’s birth introduced them to new enthusiasts. There were no guides like these before Wainwright devised them, and in the years since they were first published, they have never been matched. This boxed set of all eight revised editions is the perfect gift for walkers and lovers of the Lakeland fells.

Of all the things I have bought in my life, few have given me as much pleasure as theses guides – a bargain indeed! (Keswick Reminder )

Book of the Week: Here’s the perfect Christmas gift guide for Alfred Wainwright fans who think they have everything. (Mail on Sunday )

For the best walks in the Lake District, the Pictorial Guides by Alfred Wainwright are just what you need. (Daily Express )

Julia Bradbury’s Railway Walks – £7.66

This book is one of those that makes you want to get up and go and visit the lines detailed and is an enjoyable text. It is also a decent transportable siza. Time to dust off the walking boots perhaps? –Railways Illustrated

Accompanying the six-part BBC 2 series, the six walks featured in this book follow the old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts which are the legacy of ‘The Beeching Axe’. Julia Bradbury looks at how the rise and fall of the railways has altered the lives of communities across the country. Today, many of the thousands of old branch lines which were closed in the 1960s are now the treasured stomping grounds of ramblers and hikers.

This book follows six of these beautiful walks, all offering an insight into Britain’s industrial heritage: the Monsal Trail in Derbyshire, Dolgellau to Barmouth in Snowdonia, Cornwall’s Coast to Coast Trail, the Strathspey Railway, Weymouth to Portland, and Callander to Loch Tay in Perthshire.

This book is one of those that makes you want to get up and go and visit the lines detailed and is  an enjoyable text. It is also a decent transportable siza. Time to dust the walking boots perhaps? –  Railways Illustrated

Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground – £8.29

The only way to truly discover a city, they say, is on foot. As a lifelong fan of London, Mark Mason sets out to walk the entire length of the London Underground – overground – passing every station on the way. Over the course of several hundred miles, he comes to understand a sprawling metropolis that never ceases to surprise. In a story packed with historical trivia, personal musings and eavesdropped conversations, Mark learns how to get the best gossip in a City pub, how the Ritz made its female guests feel good about themselves, and why the Bank of England won’t let you join the M11 northbound at Junction 5. He has an East End cup of tea with the Krays’ official biographer, discovers what cabbies mean by ‘on the cotton’, and meets the Archers star who was the voice of ‘Mind the Gap’.

Mark gains insights into our fascination with maps and sees how walking changes our view of the world. In this love letter to a complicated friend, he celebrates the sights, sounds and soul of the greatest city on earth.