Trailblazer Guide Books

Practical guidebooks for the more adventurous traveller.
 - The Herald

The trail guide and maps have not been divided into rigid daily stages since people walk at different speeds and have different interests. The route summaries below describe the trail between significant places and are written as if walking the coast path from Bude to Falmouth. To enable you to plan your own itinerary, practical information is presented clearly on the trail maps. This includes walking times, all places to stay, camp and eat, as well as shops where you can buy supplies. Further service details are given in the text under the entry for each place.

For a condensed overview of this information see Itineraries pp32-4.

TRAIL MAPS

Scale and walking times
The trail maps are to a scale of 1:20,000 (1cm = 200m; 31/8 inches = one mile). Walking times are given along the side of each map and the arrow shows the direction to which the time refers. Black triangles indicate the points between which the times have been taken.

The time-bars are a tool and are not there to judge your walking ability. There are so many variables that affect walking speed, from the weather conditions to how many beers you drank the previous evening. After the first hour or two of walking you will be able to see how your speed relates to the timings on the maps.

Up or down?
Other than when on a track or bridleway the trail is shown as a dotted line. An arrow across the trail indicates the slope; two arrows show that it is steep. Note that the arrow points towards the higher part of the trail. If, for example, you are walking from A (at 80m) to B (at 200m) and the trail between the two is short and steep it would be shown thus:A- - - - >>- - - -B. Reversed arrow heads indicate downward gradient.

GPS waypoints
The numbered GPS waypoints refer to the list on pp248-52.

Accommodation
Apart from in large towns where some selection of places has been necessary, almost every place to stay that is within easy reach of the trail is marked. Details of each place are given in the accompanying text.

Proprietors either quote their tariffs on a per room basis, assuming two people are sharing, or on a per person basis (see pp14-15 for more information on prices); rates are also given for single occupancy of a room.

The number and type of rooms are given after each entry: S = single room, T = twin room, D = double room, Tr = triple room (sleeps three people, usually in a double and a single) and F = family room (usually assumes two adults and two children, in a double and bunk beds or a double and two singles).

Prices for camping vary from site to site but for backpackers many sites charge for two people in a small tent although others charge per pitch and per person. There is not a single rule that applies everywhere. It is often the case that owners of quite large sites set aside a small field just for backpackers on a site otherwise occupied by caravans since their main customers are families on their annual holidays, hence backpackers are low down on their list of priorities.

Other features
Features are marked on the map when pertinent to navigation. In order to avoid cluttering the maps and making them unusable not all features have been marked each time they occur.