After 40 years as a multinational technology executive, Martyn Howe
rediscovered his passion for the outdoors, walking all of Britain’s National
Trails and writing about that 3,000-mile journey in his first book Tales
from the Big Trails. On reaching Cromer, he realised he could not stop
and set off to walk the new King Charles III England Coast Path National
Trail, a further 2,700-mile journey around the coast of England.
In 2019, he walked the Wales Coast Path, and recently, he completed
a walk along the east coast of Scotland, from Berwick-upon-Tweed to
John o’ Groats, a journey of a similar length to the South West Coast Path.
In between these expeditions, he cycled 4,000 miles around the North
Sea Cycle Route and completed two journeys from Land’s End to John o’
Groats, one via Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way and the other taking in the
four cardinal points of Britain – another 2,000 miles.
This wanderlust of over 13,000 miles has left an indelible imprint
on his psyche. He writes about how he has change in The Coast is Our
Compass, hoping that others will be inspired to experience the power of
nature’s blue spaces and coastal margins. His ongoing adventures can be
found at trailplanner.co.uk, which includes new digital maps that show
the interplay between art, culture, geology and society along the routes
he has taken.