A LIFELONG Essex resident with an appetite for the outdoors has written a new book featuring walks around the county’s coastline.

Author Peter Caton has just published the first walking guide around the Essex coastline, called 50 Walks on the Essex Coast.

It follows Peter’s successful book, Essex Coast Walk, which documented his journey along the entire Essex coastline, exploring the history and scenery of the area along the way.

In his latest book, 50 Walks on the Essex Coast, Peter describes walks covering the entire publicly accessible coast with detailed routes, high quality maps and photographs.

The walks in the book range from two to 15 miles, with most having different length options and the possibility of linking adjoining routes.

Thirteen of the walks are along Tendring’s Sunshine Coast, stretching from Manningtree to Alresford Creek.

Routes take in Clacton, St Osyth, Walton, Brightlingsea, Beaumont, Mistley, Wrabness, Harwich, Little Oakley and Manningtree.

Peter said: “There was no walking guide to the Essex coast, so having written several books about other areas I decided to return to my home county’s coastline and write 50 Walks on the Essex Coast, a walking guide covering the entire Essex coast and including maps to follow plus colour photos and background information to peruse on the way.”

Part of the challenge was to prove that all the walks could be done by people without cars, so Peter used public transport to get to each one.

He said: “Essex is fortunate to have several railways serving its coast and I found that although our local bus services are not as frequent as we would like, they are reliable and allowed me to reach some of our isolated coast villages.

Among other areas on the coast, the book follows paths around local areas such as Brightlingsea and Point Clear up to the striking cliffs at Walton on the Naze.

Peter said: “The greatest pleasure came from walking the most remote parts of the coast, where often the only company was birds and the views ever changing as the tide ebbed and flowed.”

He added: “I hope that 50 Walks on the Essex Coast will encourage more people to walk on our coast, whether it be longer distances on the remotest sea walls or short walks along paved promenades.”.

50 Walks on the Essex Coast costs £9.99 and is available from Caxton Books in Frinton or on Amazon.