The Best Hiking Books

12 books reviewed
1 A Walk In The Woods : The World's Funniest Travel Writer Takes a Hike
A Walk In The Woods : The World's Funniest Travel Writer Takes a Hike
 2 The Marches : Border walks with my father
The Marches : Border walks with my father
 3 Lost in the Lakes : Notes from a 379-Mile Hike Around the Lake District
Lost in the Lakes : Notes from a 379-Mile Hike Around the Lake District
 4 Wayfarer : Love, Loss and Life on Britain's Pilgrim Paths
Wayfarer : Love, Loss and Life on Britain's Pilgrim Paths
 5 Edgeland : Walking the South West Coast Path
Edgeland : Walking the South West Coast Path
 6 Walking the Bones of Britain : A 3 Billion Year Journey from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary
Walking the Bones of Britain : A 3 Billion Year Journey from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary
 7 Across a Waking Land : A 1,000-Mile Walk Through a British Spring
Across a Waking Land : A 1,000-Mile Walk Through a British Spring
 8 Between Britain : Walking the History of England and Scotland
Between Britain : Walking the History of England and Scotland
 9 Finding Hildasay : How one man walked the UK's coastline and found hope and happiness
Finding Hildasay : How one man walked the UK's coastline and found hope and happiness
 10 Windswept : why women walk
Windswept : why women walk
 11 Walking : One Step at a Time
Walking : One Step at a Time
 12 The Roads to Sata : A 2000-mile walk through Japan
The Roads to Sata : A 2000-mile walk through Japan

Walking & Hiking Guides Guides

Categories

"Hiking books" means two different things, and it helps to know which one is wanted. One kind tells you how to walk a route: stages, maps, where to sleep. The other tells you what it was like to walk it, and is the better choice for an armchair or a long journey home. This guide is the second kind. For the practical side, see our pick of long-distance walking guidebooks.

Walks around Britain

Britain has produced a good run of walking books lately. Lost in the Lakes loops 379 miles around the Lake District with a pub stop never far away, and Edgeland takes the South West Coast Path in sections over about a decade. Across a Waking Land follows the spring north from Lymington to Cape Wrath, and Walking the Bones of Britain reads the country through its geology. Two books follow the English-Scottish border: The Marches and Between Britain.

Walking as a way through something

Plenty of walking books are also books about grief, illness or a life that had stopped working. Wayfarer follows Britain's pilgrim paths, and Finding Hildasay is the story of walking the whole UK coastline. Windswept goes through history to ask why women walk, and Erling Kagge's short Walking: One Step at a Time asks the question more briefly. For more in this vein, see our guide to pilgrimage walks.

Further afield, and further back

Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is still the usual first answer for the Appalachian Trail, and Alan Booth's The Roads to Sata crosses the whole of Japan on foot. Also worth a look: Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Levison Wood's Walking the Americas, and, closer to home, From Source to Sea along the Thames.

Our Picks

12 books
2
The Marches : Border walks with my father

The Marches : Border walks with my father

by Rory Stewart Paperback
Rory Stewart and his father walk the border between England and Scotland on a 600-mile, thirty-day journey, their final walk together. Memoir, history and travel writing run side by side with landscape and national identity. A book about a walk that turns out to be about a relationship.
5
Edgeland : Walking the South West Coast Path

Edgeland : Walking the South West Coast Path

by Sasha Swire Paperback
Sasha Swire walks the northern stretch of the South West Coast Path, from Minehead to Land's End, in sections across a decade, returning each year. Part walking diary, part reflection on the landscape and on time passing. A good read for anyone planning a section of the Coast Path.
10
Windswept : why women walk

Windswept : why women walk

by Annabel Abbs Paperback
Annabel Abbs follows women who lost their sense of self and found it again by walking in the wild, from the past to the present. A memoir interwoven with history. Notable for turning the question "why walk?" into a book of real range.
11
Walking : One Step at a Time

Walking : One Step at a Time

by Erling Kagge Paperback
Explorer Erling Kagge's short, philosophical meditation on walking, from a toddler's first steps to the polar ice. Good for a long train journey or an evening, and for anyone who walks for the thinking as much as the views.

Frequently Asked Questions

For something light, Lost in the Lakes or Edgeland. For something that gets at what a long walk is for, The Marches or Wayfarer.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is the standard answer, for the Appalachian Trail. Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is also known for its humour.

Finding Hildasay is about walking the UK coastline after severe depression. Windswept looks at women who found themselves again through walking.

See our guide to long-distance walking guidebooks, which covers the main UK national trails with notes on stages, length and difficulty.

Edgeland covers the northern part of the South West Coast Path, and Finding Hildasay goes all the way round the UK coastline.
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