Coastal Britain: England and Wales

Stuart Fisher

Adlard Coles 

£25

‘One thing beats going to the coast and looking at the sea: being on the sea and looking at the land.’ Stuart Fisher’s description of the English coast from Berwick-on-Tweed clockwise to the Solway Firth has been compiled over fifteen years of shallow water circumnavigation, mainly by sea kayak. His book is an information treasury – historical, literary, industrial facts, tidal eddies, unexpected islands, car parks, launch points, public toilets – all in a single volume. I gleaned new knowledge about my home coast, a new vocabulary for geological features (dolerites, freshets, arêtes) and for the way waves break on shore (left hand, right hand, point breaks, reef breaks). The style is occasionally breathless but there’s plenty of wry humour and wonderful photos. Highly recommended.