Guidebooks
The following four official Guidebooks cover different sections of the South
West Coast Path. They are published by Aurum Press and include Ordnance
Survey mapping of the coastal strip at 1:25,000. Each volume costs £12.99.
A guide covering the entire South West Coast Path
in one volume is published by Cicerone Press. This
incorporates Ordnance Survey mapping at 1:50,000 and
costs £12.95.
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The South West Coast Path Association publishes an
annually updated guide to the path which includes a
full route description (but no maps), suggested itineraries,
and other helpful information such as tide times. It
also has the most comprehensive accommodation listing
available with details of hundreds of hotels, B &
Bs and campsites close to the Path, the majority of
which have been recommended by Coast Path walkers. The
book costs £10.50 (inc. P&P), but is given
free with membership (from £11). Some of the other
benefits of membership are that you can look at the
details of these accommodation providers direct from
their website, you'll receive 2 great newsletters, and
for UK tax-payers the Gift Aid part of your membership
goes towards path improvement projects.
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All the guide books are based on the assumption that
you are walking the Coast Path in an anti-clockwise
direction (i.e. from Minehead to Poole). However, the
walk is just as good going the other way, and many of
the people who have completed it over several years,
have enjoyed it so much they decide to do just that.
The reverse guide is designed to be used with the Annual
Guide and provides a route description from Poole to
Minehead and costs £3.50 (SWCP members) or £4.50 (non-members).
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The South West Coast Path Association's online shop
also sells souvenirs, a range of inexpensive booklets
that cover each section of the path in great detail
along with numerous booklets on local walks, wildlife,
geology and history.
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Whilst not really a guidebook, this humorous account
of a city slicker and his borrowed dog, ‘Boogie’, walking
the South West Coast Path is essential reading for anyone
who has walked the path or is planning to. Although
now over 20 years old, the coast hasn’t changed that
much and the jokes remains fresh. The current edition
also includes ‘Boogie up the river’, a sequel covering
their journey following the River Thames.
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