Walking from West to East

Introduction

Which DVD site is so dedicated to bringing you great reviews that they send their DVD reviewers up mountains? Yes, this one.

Once again, we've been out walking parts of the route featured in this programme to bring you the all round review experience.



A Coast to Coast Walk was devised by Wainwright himself, and stretches across 190 miles from St Bees Head in Cumbria on the west coast to Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire on the east, passing through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, and North York Moors. It is probably the most popular long distance walk in the country.

For those who have no idea about Wainwright and this series, here's a quick biography. Alfred Wainwright (AW) was a keen walker and he produced pictorial guides of all the fells in the Lake District, with every page painstakingly hand drawn and hand written. The level of detail (never before seen in guide books of this kind) made his books very popular, and you'll still find people poring over these books whilst you're out on the hillsides of Cumbria.



Wainwright invented this walk in the early 1970s, and it has been previously filmed for the BBC. This time around, Julia Bradbury sets off on her own coast to coast adventure, following on from her other walking exploits for the corporation. This series first aired on BBC 4 in April/May 2009 and will soon be repeated on BBC 2.

Video and Audio

An exemplary 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, as first broadcast. Nothing wrong from a technical point of view and the ideal way to witness some of the stunning scenery that the Lake District and the North York moors have to offer. If watching this doesn't make you want to walk this amazing trail, nothing will.



A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, again as first broadcast, and again perfectly fine technically. The accompanying music suits the visuals perfectly.

Extra Features

Sadly, no real extras added on this time around - an Alfred Wainwright biography and a Julia Bradbury biography (if anyone cares for such a thing).

Conclusion

So this is another DVD of someone walking in the countryside then? Well, essentially that's what it boils down to, but it's really so much more than that. There's information about each stage of this long distance walk, background information about the areas featured and also a few chats with some local people along the way. It's almost a perfect advert for spending a few weeks doing the Coast to Coast. Did I mention the stunning scenery? Oh yes, I did. Several times.



It's possible that I'm biased as we've been to the Lakes at least once a year for the last 10 years and have clocked up hundreds of miles of walking in the area. We will be doing the Coast to Coast walk at some point in our lives.

But I think that anyone who enjoys walking in general will be interested in this DVD. If you enjoyed the TV series then you might like to watch it again.

Recommended.