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The Path More Travelled: The Secret History of Britain's Footpaths
'Absorbing and exhilarating . . . This book will literally expand your horizons' MICHAEL PALIN
'A panoptic, deeply researched and compelling history of our nation' PATRICK BARKHAM
A fascinating, immersive history of Britain's footpaths and routeways from the Mesolithic era to the present day - from the acclaimed geographer and author of The Making of the British Landscape
'A book to read and savour at home, and then stow in the backpack alongside thermos, sandwiches and an Ordnance Survey map' PETROC TRELAWNY
Walking defines us as human beings. But how much do we know about the paths that we walk? Why do they matter? What caused so many to be lost? And can we create more of them?
In The Path More Travelled, acclaimed geographer and travel writer Nicholas Crane explores the hidden history of Britain's coast-to-coast web, from prehistoric routeways walked by European migrants 12,000 years ago to pilgrim ways and coffin roads, turnpikes, towpaths and city pavements. We discover how land-grabbing Norman barons began the enclosure of our countryside, and how our beloved national parks and long-distance trails emerged from the ashes of two world wars.
Along the way, Crane takes the reader on some of his most memorable along the Hadrian's Wall Path, into the icy Cairngorms and to the banks of the Severn where he discovers footprints from over 7,000 years ago. The Path More Travelled is a passionate ode to walking - and a call to rediscover and protect the lifeblood of our landscapes.
'Wonderfully immersive and full of fascinating detail' FIONA ROBERTSON
'Evocative, beautifully written and witty, it is also a passionate statement on the human freedom to roam' VANESSA TAYLOR
'A panoptic, deeply researched and compelling history of our nation' PATRICK BARKHAM
A fascinating, immersive history of Britain's footpaths and routeways from the Mesolithic era to the present day - from the acclaimed geographer and author of The Making of the British Landscape
'A book to read and savour at home, and then stow in the backpack alongside thermos, sandwiches and an Ordnance Survey map' PETROC TRELAWNY
Walking defines us as human beings. But how much do we know about the paths that we walk? Why do they matter? What caused so many to be lost? And can we create more of them?
In The Path More Travelled, acclaimed geographer and travel writer Nicholas Crane explores the hidden history of Britain's coast-to-coast web, from prehistoric routeways walked by European migrants 12,000 years ago to pilgrim ways and coffin roads, turnpikes, towpaths and city pavements. We discover how land-grabbing Norman barons began the enclosure of our countryside, and how our beloved national parks and long-distance trails emerged from the ashes of two world wars.
Along the way, Crane takes the reader on some of his most memorable along the Hadrian's Wall Path, into the icy Cairngorms and to the banks of the Severn where he discovers footprints from over 7,000 years ago. The Path More Travelled is a passionate ode to walking - and a call to rediscover and protect the lifeblood of our landscapes.
'Wonderfully immersive and full of fascinating detail' FIONA ROBERTSON
'Evocative, beautifully written and witty, it is also a passionate statement on the human freedom to roam' VANESSA TAYLOR
401 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 23, 2026
About the author
Nicholas Crane
31 books29 followersDistilled from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas... accessed 07-Aug-2012:
Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster was born in Hastings, East Sussex, but grew up in Norfolk. He attended Wymondham College from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University, where he studied Geography.
In his youth he went camping and hiking with his father and explored Norfolk by bicycle which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration. In 1986 he located the pole of inaccessibility for the Eurasia landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book “Journey to the Centre of the Earth.”
He married Annabel Huxley in 1991. They live in Chalk Farm in north-west London and have three children.
In 1992/3 he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10,000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. He recounted that expedition in his book “Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe” which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1997. He made a television self-documentary of the journey in “High Trails to Istanbul” (1994).
Together with Richard Crane he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his journeys in Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Africa.
His 2000 book “Two Degrees West” described his walk across Great Britain in which he followed the eponymous meridian as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish cartographer.
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling, Sue Clifford, Richard Mabey and Bill Bryson as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference
Since 2004 he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town.
Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster was born in Hastings, East Sussex, but grew up in Norfolk. He attended Wymondham College from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University, where he studied Geography.
In his youth he went camping and hiking with his father and explored Norfolk by bicycle which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration. In 1986 he located the pole of inaccessibility for the Eurasia landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book “Journey to the Centre of the Earth.”
He married Annabel Huxley in 1991. They live in Chalk Farm in north-west London and have three children.
In 1992/3 he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10,000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. He recounted that expedition in his book “Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe” which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1997. He made a television self-documentary of the journey in “High Trails to Istanbul” (1994).
Together with Richard Crane he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his journeys in Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Africa.
His 2000 book “Two Degrees West” described his walk across Great Britain in which he followed the eponymous meridian as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish cartographer.
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling, Sue Clifford, Richard Mabey and Bill Bryson as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference
Since 2004 he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 9, 2026
What a humane, erudite individual Nicholas Crane is, and how lightly he wears his depth of knowledge. This is a tour de force account of Britain’s footpaths, from the earliest wanderers of Doggerland to the current parlous state of pedestrianism, threatened by cars and restricted by land owners. It is at turns a deep history of Britain, a nature journal and a geographic primer. Recommended.
June 29, 2026
I am interested in the history of footpaths, but somehow the huge scope for this meant I didn't feel very engaged in any time period. I think the roman/ Saxon part was the most interesting. And the idea that hazelnuts were a pedestrian super food, c. 8,500 BC . Makes sense, we hikers are always looking for a calorie dense snack!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews