Peter Caton

Peter Caton was born in 1960 and has always lived in Upminster, Essex. He is married with two children. Trained as a polymer chemist, in 1990 he set up his own business testing & manufacturing adhesives. He sold this in 2018, and now semi-retired has more time for walking, travel and writing.

He has a keen interest in walking, the countryside and conservation, and is a member of many environmental organisations. His other interests include travel and football (he holds season tickets at both West Ham and Torquay United) and he is a member of the Methodist Church.

Peter's first book, Essex Coast Walk, describes a series of walks along the whole length of the Essex coast. An entertaining narrative rather than a guide book, Essex Coast Walk contains much information on the coast's history, wildlife and people. Written with gentle humour in an accessible style, Essex Coast Walk has twice been reprinted and updated.

His second book, No Boat Required - Exploring Tidal Islands, describes Peter's visits to the 43 tidal islands that can be walked to from the UK mainland. Peter is the first person to visit all these islands, many of which are situated on remote parts of our coastline. A second and update edition was published in November 2022.

Peter's third book, Stand Up Sit Down - A Choice to Watch Football, considers the arguments for and against the choice to stand at football.

His fourth book, The Next Station Stop - Fifty Years by Train, describes a series of railway journeys looking at what has changed in train travel over the last 50 years.

His fifth book, Suffolk Coast Walk, describes Peter's walk along the whole length of the Suffolk coast, telling of the beauty, wildlife, history and people along the way. With maps and colour photos the book also serves as a walking guide to this wonderful coastline.

Peter's sixth book, 50 Walks on the Essex Coast, a walking guide to the Essex coast, was published in autumn 2016 and reprinted with updates in 2018, 2020 & 2021. The book describes walks of varying lengths covering all of the publicly accessible Essex coast.

For his seventh book, Remote Stations, Peter visited forty of our most remote railway stations, his journeys taking him on some of our most scenic railways.

Peter's eighth book, Walks Discovering Lesser Known Dartmoor, is a guide with 27 routes, most of which have two or three options, that lead walkers to places on the moors that they might not otherwise have discovered.

Dartmoor is also the theme for Peter's ninth book, Dartmoor : England's Last Wilderness? A Dartmoor narrative, this explores many aspects of the moor by means of a series of varied walks and asking the question, is Dartmoor England’s last wilderness? Some of the many controversies and conflicts relating to Dartmoor are discussed, including access, camping and rewilding and the book includes four chapters on battles to save the moor.