Coast to Coast

Finding Wainwright's England

By: Paul Amess

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Twelve days. Two hundred miles. One bear costume. Zero common sense.

When a group of stubborn, middle-aged blokes decide to walk coast-to-coast across England, what could possibly go wrong? (Spoiler: everything.)

Armed with questionable knees, excessive amounts of pork pie, and a heroic lack of planning, we set off from the Irish Sea with nothing but a pebble in our pocket and the foolish belief that "it’ll be fine." Through monsoon-level rain, endless hills, and several near-death experiences (one involving a flowerpot), we somehow bumbled our way all the way to Robin Hood’s Bay — friendships intact, dignity... less so.

Expect:

• Epic scenery and even more epic moaning

• Ridiculous misadventures and questionable survival strategies

• Campsites that made us question our life choices

• Heroic snack-eating efforts that deserve a medal

• Enough weird history to make you unstoppable at pub quizzes (including how smugglers used buckets of wee as weapons, and how a bloke from Hull helped shape the world's movies)

And, just for good measure, a man dressed as a bear terrorising small children at the finish line.

If you love travel writing with heart, humour, and a healthy dose of chaos — plus the occasional fascinating (and completely useless) historical fact — this is your next favourite read.

Perfect for fans of Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, or anyone who’s ever looked at a map and thought, "How hard can it be?"

Lace up your boots (or just put your feet up) — it’s time to walk across England. Badly.

This is Paul's third book, following up on the success of 54 Degrees North and Rambling On. Paul Amess was born and bred in Hull, Yorkshire, and spent many years travelling the world to exotic places until it finally dawned on him that the best place in the world was right on his own doorstep. He now spends as much of his time as possible walking around England learning about its fascinating history and meeting often interesting and usually strange people.

His series of books, History Walks, can be read in any order.