National Geographic Traveler Australia

This is the first fully revised and updated edition of A. Wainwright's unique guide to the Coast to Coast Walk which he devised in the early 1970s. Wainwright described his brainchild as `a route for walkers with a liking for long-distance "unofficial" expeditions'. Over the years his book has prompted countless enthusiasts to lace up their walking boots and follow his example. The Coast to Coast Walk has inspired a TV series and become one of the best-loved long-distance routes in the world.

The walk starts from St Bees Head on the Irish Sea. It ends 190 miles later at Robin Hood's Bay on the North Sea, crossing the Lake District and the Pennines into Swaledale, then the Cleveland Hills and the North York Moors. It links three National Parks, all via rights of way or areas of open access. Wainwright thought an average walker could do the walk in two weeks, but it can easily be split into stages.

A. Wainwright's unique hand-drawn route maps and commentary have been preserved and almost invisibly revised by Chris Jesty, whose work on Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells has already been published to great acclaim.

Charting Your Trip, a rich overview of Australia that helps tailor your visit to the time you have and your specific interests.

Experiences, unique and hands-on, including diving the Great Barrier Reef, shopping for authentic Aboriginal art, and camel trekking in the outback.

Insider Tips from National Geographic photographers, writers, and explorers, as well as local experts, on favorite hot spots, practicalities, and more.

Walking & Driving Tours, with maps color-coded to site descriptions, including a walk around iconic Sydney Harbour and drives along the Tropic of Capricorn and Victoria's Great Ocean Road.

Excursions off the Beaten Path, including the underground opal-mining town of Coober Pedy and Bungle Bungle's striped sandstone towers.

Not-to-be-Missed Lists for every chapter, pointing to detailed descriptions of highly recommended sites and activities.

Gorgeous Color Photographs, Illustrations, and Maps that make it easy to select, navigate, and get the most from every site.

Alfred Wainwright, author of the legendary Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, was born in Blackburn in 1907. He left school at the age of thirteen for a job in the Borough Engineer's office. A holiday at the age of twenty-three kindled a life-long love affair with the Lake District. After moving to Kendal in 1941, he devoted every spare moment he had from then until 1966 to researching and compiling the original Pictorial Guides. For this labour of love he was awarded the MBE.

Further walking guides followed, along with volumes of sketches of the landscapes that meant so much to him. A Coast to Coast Walk, first published in 1973, was the last of his trademark pocket-size Pictorial Guides.

A Wainwright died in 1991, aged eighty-four.

The revisions to this new edition of a Coast to Coast Walk have been undertaken by Chris Jesty, who assisted Wainwright with the maps on his last two large-format books. Chris trained as a cartographer with the Ordnance Survey, and Wainwright himself said, not long before he died, that if ever his guides were to be revised, Chris Jesty should be given the job. The second edition of Wainwright's seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, revised by Chris Jesty throughout, has been much praised.