SHORTLISTED FOR OUTDOOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2012 - THE GREAT OUTDOORS MAGAZINE The Pacific Crest Trail stretches some 2,650 miles from the Mexican border to Canada. It meanders through the scorching deserts of California, the dramatic Sierra Nevada, the volcanic landscape of Oregon and the vast forests of Washington. Every year around 300 hikers attempt to walk its entirety. Of every ten who start, four will give up in the first month alone, and only two will reach Canada. Extremes of heat and cold, the toughness and roughness of the trail and encounters with an assortment of potentially deadly creatures stretch walkers to their absolute limits. It's a lesson Keith Foskett soon learns the hard way, having to deal with blisters and other physical ailments, as well as his inherent phobia of snakes, spiders, bears, getting dirty and camping in the woods after dark. With the harsh winter looming, he enters into a desperate race against time, facing a dangerous, physical and very real threat to become the last Englishman to complete the greatest long distance hiking trail on Earth.

El Camino is the fabled path that weaves through French and Spanish countryside for 1,000 miles to its hallowed destination at Santiago de Compostella. Hundreds attempt to walk its entirety each year: some succeed, many fail. The author walked the Camino to indulge his love for the outdoors and the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other - day after exhilarating day. Along the way he made friends with fellow pilgrims from all over the world, all travelling for their own different reasons. He was assailed by new experiences and unexpected discoveries - from the pain of blisters and extremes of temperature to encountering kleptomaniacs and fake faith healers and being threatened with arrest in Spain for 'not sleeping'. This is the story of one man's walk, but it speaks to all who see life itself as a journey and are alive to the revelations that an escape to nature can bring. As this book shows, it is rarely the start and the finish that count, but the journey in between.