What follows is a select bibliography of the books we have come across whilst working our way around the coast of Britain:
Britain
- Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps – Say no more. We’re going to get through a lot of these. Not only useful, but essential.
- AA Illustrated Guide to Britain’s Coast – No longer in print but you can still get it from Amazon. This book provides a step-by-step illustrated tour of the coastline, providing commentary and brief histories as it goes. It’s coverage is not as in-depth as the more local books, but it does provide a brief overview of the entire coastline.
- The Living Coast – An Aerial View of Britain’s Shoreline – A coffee table picturebook which is nonetheless extremely useful for looking back on past walks and stoking up the appetite for future ones.
Wildlife
- DK Pocket Nature Wildlife of Britain – A superb and easy to use reference book, with good illustrations. It covers Trees, plants, fungi and lichen, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects, spiders and more. There is only a small amount of information on each plant/animal, but it is great for identification and is extremely comprehensive in its coverage.
Essex
- The Essex Coastline – Then and Now (Fautley & Garon) – No longer in print but an essential text if you want a good history of the Essex stretch, giving a huge amount of information that other books miss out. If there is a book that I would have to recommend above any other, this would be it.
- Essex Coast Walk (Peter Caton) – A personal account of one man’s trek around the Essex coastline. It provides a mix of personal experience and fact.
Kent
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Walking the Kent Coast from End to End (David Bathurst) – It does what it says on the cover, giving intricate detail on the path, but perhaps not as much history as I would have liked.
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The Saxon Shore Way (Sillitoe & Godwin) – As much of the Kent Coast is on the Saxon Shore Way, this is a very good book to have.
East Sussex
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A Tour ALong the Sussex Coast (David Arscott) – Gives bite-sized commentary on some of the main features on this stretch of coastline.
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The Coastal Path 
HI,
My Name is Elliot I am contacting you on behalf of Onshore Media who are the PR agency for the brand-new Somerset Southwest Coast path.
We would like to offer you and your Family the chance of being one of the first people to walk part of the new 58 mile stretch of coast path from Brean to Minehead. The part of Coast path we would like you to walk is a route aimed at families also!
If you and your family are interested in walking the Somerset South-West coast path please get in touch via email and we can discuss further arrangements and accommodation.
Kind regards and I look forward to your reply.
Keep up the great work!
Elliot
Many thanks for getting in touch, Elliot. I have sent you an email. Nic
What an inspiring blog, if you can do it with little people in tow then I have no excuse! I have just decided to attempt this mission myself. I moved to Dawlish in June last year, its so beautiful and I have been really enjoying walking, however ill health put a stop to it. In need of a new mission I am now embarking on my own coastal walk and your blog is very helpful especially this bibliography, I ordered and have just received the vintage illustrated guide to the coast and it is fantastic, thank you for the recommendation.
Hi Finn – Thanks so much for your message. I’m excited for you just starting out as I remember how I felt at the same point. I read your blog and see you are starting with one of the best sections – we started at Southend so had 250 miles of estuary (Thames, Swale and Medway) before we hit the coast proper. The feel of looking at the sea and not seeing the opposite bank of an estuary was a good feeling! I wish you all the best with it and please keep in touch and let us know how it is going. On the book from there are some really good ones to help you on your way. Look through the out-of-print stuff too. I’d also recommend following a few coastal walker blogs, especially those that put maps of their routes up, because there are some sections where it is good to see how others have worked their way through before you get there. I suspect you won’t really need it for the South West Coast Path, but there are other sections which are not quite as walker friendly (Isle of Sheppey sticks out for me). I have found a GPS is an invaluable device, too. Not only for help with navigation, but it also tracks your route, the miles you have walked, the ascents and descents, etc. You can even upload your routes to Google Earth.
Good luck Finn – take lots of pictures and I’ll look forward to the blog posts!
Nic
Thank you so much Nic, great advice! Yes after a lot of weighing up of the pros and cons, I have decided to go anti clockwise from here in Dawlish to Minehead in sections. Once that is done I will then decide whether to complete the final section from Dawlish to Poole, or just carry on from Minehead……we will see!
At the moment I have a fitbit watch and that allows me to track the routes, but you are right, once I get to less trodden coastal areas I shall need to upgrade to a more capabe GPS, which I will do.
I have found another few coastal walk blogs which are proving very useful too.
How exciting!
Thanks for your kind words (in the bibliography) about our Essex book. Just would be grateful if you could please correct the spelling of my surname on your website! Many thanks, Matthew Fautley
Dear Matthew – Done. I am so sorry! May I also say that of all the books we have on the British Coast so far, yours is by far the most detailed and informative. I felt like every few steps I found something else your book was telling me about. I have often wished that you had continued beyond Essex. In other counties we have walked by things having no idea what they are. I have often thought to myself that another book like yours for that particular county is well needed. “The Essex Coastline – then and now” is fantastic book and deserves a big thank you from me. Nic
Hi Nic. You are very kind – thanks.
P.S. The book may have sold out all of its printed copies, but it is still available to read free on-line at Google Books – see http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Hwl1Tefe1q4C&dq=essex+coastline&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fI7dT_PPOsaN0wXNss3qCg&redir_esc=y