Cotswold Way: 44 Large-Scale Walking Maps & Guides to 48 Towns and Villages Planning,Places to Stay, Places to Eat - Chipping Campden to Bath (Trailblazer British Walking Guides) Paperback – 15 Jan. 2016

This is a really excellent book with an amazing amount of information crammed into it. Whilst the national trail official guide does contain OS 'corridor' maps and a route description, I found that this book filled all the gaps it left, especially around transport to and from the trail which was invaluable, as I walked the route in stages. There is also a large amount of information about accommodation and facilities along the trail, which was extremely useful too. The trail maps are in 'hand drawn' style and show a lot of additional features to help navigate the routes. Particularly of assistance were the gradient charts at the rear of the book - very handy in planning walking on the Cotswold Way as some stretches are significantly more challenging than others! Would heartily recommend.

This book includes everything you could need to plan your Cotswold Way walking holiday, including well drawn maps and invaluable accommodation and transport information. Of course, like all guidebooks, the information about accommodation may have changed since the book was printed but you can always check this before you travel using the contact details provided and information is constantly updated on their website. Overall this book is a great starting point for planning your trip and is perfectly sufficient for navigation on what is already a well marked trail - of course you'll need an OS map as well if you plan to wander too far from the path!

Very useful but I think that already some of the information is already out of date - that's true of all books though.For example I've booked the B&Bs and not needed to pay any deposits which the book suggest I needed to.

Realy hard to follow, get the national trails one, everyone I met on the walk agreed !

I have walked several national trails but this is the first time I used a Trailblazer Guide. It differs from its main competitors, who show the route on an OS base, by using hand-drawn maps marking the line of the route annotated with points of interest while dispensing with any separate written description. I found the maps to be accurate, although a major weakness on a route with many ups and downs was the lack of any contour lines (there were arrows for gradients but these gave no indication of the extent of climbs and descents.) The accompanying text (described inaccurately as “The Route Guide”) consists primarily of descriptions of accommodation and places to eat on the route, much of which is crying out to be shunted into appendices to make way for a proper route guide capturing the changing character of the route, which you cannot do by just putting labels on a map, and providing more information about places on route. Too often I found the guide either had nothing or not enough to say about things that interested me on the route. I would acknowledge that the information on places to stay and eat is very good, certainly better than the other published guides. Normally I would not look to a trail guide for accommodation information because it becomes out of date so quickly but a search online suggests that there is nothing better available for the Cotswold Way.Overall it’s good if you want a guide that focuses on the practicalities. But if you want to gain a feel for the character of the walk and learn about places on route then there are better options. Personally Trailblazer would not be my first choice.

3 and a half stars. I have the book also from Cornwall SWCP. Very good.

The extremely detailed maps are very helpful unless you managed to wander off the route, then you need the OS map! My only real problem with it was that the maps were upside down. The route is explained from north to south but the maps were drawn from the top of the page down. If they showed the route with the start at the bottom you would be holding the map the same way you're walking. As it is I carried the book upside down to work out which way to go, which meant the writing was then upside down. I know north is traditionally at the top but I think there is a strong case for being more practical.

Just finished hiking the Cotswold way with my family. Tough hike but so glad we had this book. The trail was fairly well marked but the maps were incredibly detailed and really helpful in many places where the markings were lacking. Also had good information about the various towns you hike through. Note of warning for would be hikers .. bring rain gear, extra socks, and food as many of the towns have no services or have limited hours for food....

We used this guide multiple times every day while recently walking the Cotswolds Way from Chipping Campden to Bath. The maps and info were very useful and accurate. We were able to determine exactly where we were, how far it was to the next item of interest and how long it should take to get there. Before starting on the walk I was able to pre-mark each nights accommodation on the map so we did not walk by it.

Will need additional more detailed maps...

The Cotswald Way guide was a perfect tool to have with us during our walk from Chipping Campden to Strout. Although the trail was well marked, the guide prevented us from taking the wrong turn many times. The guide also had good information about the towns and villages along the way with suggestions for housing, reasturants, and other services. I would recommend it for anyone who's planning to walk any part of the Cotswald way.

Our group of 13 walked the Cotswold way and used the maps in this book for most of our navigation. The very detailed maps and little notations were very helpful and provided information not found on other maps we had. The other information in the book was also very helpful in preparing for this trip.