The 75 miles long Cumbria Way and the 50 miles long Allerdale Ramble are the two premier long distance walks across the English Lake district. Keeping mainly to the valley bottoms, they are a superb introduction to Britain's most popular walking area and to the pleasures of long distance walking itself. This illustrated guide, the most comprehensive ever, tells you everything you need to know to make walking them an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

The guide breaks down both routes into sections with clear instructions and sketch maps. In particular there is plenty of useful practical information about accommodation, transport, where to eat and what to see, town maps, places of interest along the way and a little history. The book is liberally illustrated with line drawings and its strength is as a practical guide both in planning and on the route.

The Cumbria Way is a well established 72 mile long distance walk from Ulverston to Carlisle, through the stunning scenery of the Lake District National Park. Along the way discover delightful villages, such as Grange, Elterwater and Caldbeck; pass the beautiful lakes of Coniston and Derwentwater; walk through Lakeland's two finest valleys, Great Langdale and Borrowdale; and explore Coniston and Keswick. For the most part the Cumbria Way remains on lower ground, crossing hills only twice in its entire length. The countryside through which the Way passes is of the highest order with beauty and grandeur at almost every turn.

The relatively easy walking and modest length of the Way mean that anyone taking a week off to walk it will find themselves with a day or two to spare. This guidebook divides the route into five logical stages, each offering a decent days walking and ending at a suitable place to stay. The guide even includes an optional fell walk for each stage, in case you want to spend two nights at a particular location and make the most of those spare days. In amongst the comprehensive main route guide text, notes on features of interest along the way have been placed in italics to ensure that the essential route description is easy to locate. No maps are included, so we would recommend using the relevant OS Explorer maps for route confirmation and to fully appreciate and understand the countryside en route.

This little guide to the Cumbria Way is the official Ramblers' Association guide to the route. The journey is described in 5 sections beginning at Ulverston; Coniston; Dungeon Ghyll; Keswick and Caldbeck. Clear sketch maps accompany the directions, although OS maps would also be required for accurate navigation.

The Cumbria Way passes through some of Britain's finest scenery in the heart of the Lake District National Park. The route stays mainly in the valleys offering a stunning but accessible variety of landscape throughout its course.

A brief introduction and description of the route is included, together with directions on how to get to the start and attractions along the way. There are enlargements of important towns and villages showing facilities available. The map is printed on waterproof paper and has an additional protective plastic sleeve.