You don’t need to leave this green sceptred island that we live on to enjoy a long distance walk, we have hundreds of trails that criss-cross this country that are perfect for your summer trip and her are some tips for you that can make the experience even  better.

The first decision is to select which path you want to undertake. The long trails that exist will normally have some meaning to them, and this can be geographical in nature such as following a river, a piece of coastline. Others often have a historical link of some sort, but there is always something that should peak your interest (no pun intended) and help your final choice.

Remember that these trails are routes that have been planned, but you don’t have to doggedly follow them from point A to point B to point C. As part of your planning you might spot something of particular interest, be it a castle, local beauty spot, additional pub, whatever it may be, plan it into your walk and make the trail unique to you. It has been revealed that there are over 140,000 miles of footpaths in England and Wales alone, so there is plenty of opportunity if you are going to go coast to coast for example to wander a little off the beaten track.

Knowing your kit and breaking it in before your ‘big trip’ is essential to ensure you have a good time on your trip. There is nothing worst than buying some thing that doesn’t fit properly and ending up with blisters on day two of a week long or more walk. It also gives you the opportunity of trying different options on what to wear and what to have packed away. Remember that you really want to be taking as little as possible with you because you are going to be carrying it. However on a lot of the established routes, if you want to make use of them and you don’t feel like its cheating (I don’t), there is usually a bag-carrying service that will take your heavy backpack to your next scheduled stop so you only have a daypack to take with you.

I hope this has got you thinking, but isn't meant to be exhaustive in any way, and there is still plenty of time to organize something for this summer, or you get really organized for next year.