Paper maps and Cotswold Way guidebooks - Ordnance Survey sheets and popular trail guides that keep working when phones fail, with notes on scale, map booklets, and where to buy each title.
Carry a paper map at a scale you can read in wind and rain - typically OSExplorer (1:25 000) sheets covering your stages, or the dedicated National Trail mapping that ships with some guidebooks. A printed map shows escape routes, nearby settlements, and the wider landscape if waymarks are missing or ambiguous. Pair it with a phone app from our apps page if you want GPS as a backup.
These guidebooks are widely used on the Cotswold Way. Buy from your usual bookseller, or follow the links below to find each title.
Kev Reynolds, Jonathan Williams & Lesley Williams
Cicerone Press, 2024
Divides the route into 14 manageable stages, with clear descriptions walking north to south and abbreviated directions for south to north. Includes a separate pocket-sized map booklet with detailed 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey mapping.
Find on Amazon
Tricia & Bob Hayne
Trailblazer, 2024
A practical handbook for the full route from Chipping Campden to Bath, with re-walked directions, village facilities, and planning notes for walkers who want day-by-day detail in a compact format.
Find on Amazon
Anthony Burton
Aurum, 2016
The classic National Trail Guides treatment of the route, combining OS mapping extracts with landscape and heritage notes as you travel the escarpment from Chipping Campden to Bath.
Find on Amazon
Knife Edge Outdoor Guidebooks
Knife Edge Outdoor
A two-way guide describing both southbound and northbound routes in full, with 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey mapping inside. Includes 18 suggested itineraries from 4 to 12 days, accommodation listings, camping notes, and numbered waypoints linking maps to the text.
Buy from Knife Edge Outdoor
Sparky Walking Guides
The Trails Shop, 2024
A pocket-sized guide with 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey mapping on every page, plus local history, practical notes, accommodation ideas, and suggested stages. Slim enough to carry all day while keeping the trail and its stories close at hand.
Buy from The Trails Shop
