FEW activities have attracted more illustrious devotees than walking. Jane Austen rhapsodised that there was “no felicity superior” to the joy of walking her beloved South Downs.

William Wordsworth often found inspiration by pacing a terrace path behind his Lakeland home. His friend, Thomas De Quincey, testified that walking served the poet “in the stead of wine, spirits and all other stimulants whatsoever”.

Robert Louis Stevenson devoted an entire book to Walking Tours – which he favoured doing alone. And Charles Dickens, another inveterate walker, pithily summed up what walkers still agree is its essence: “The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy, walk and be healthy.”

Jude Palmer, a Sussex-based walker, presents these thoughts and many others in this delightful compendium, which mirrors many facets of walking. Ever spotted a deer during a walk? Who hasn’t? Jude’s summary of breeds will help you identify it.

Fancy a useful summertime walking tip? Like your present reviewer, Jude freezes a bottle of water overnight. She explains: “By the time you’re ready for your first water break, the ice will have melted but the water will still be refreshingly cold.”

Our northern summers must be colder than hers, because my refrigerated bottle often retains some ice all day.

Jude has unearthed some fascinating facts. Until the 19th Century left and right shoes were made exactly the same. Small wonder an early travel writer suggested “a warm footbath with bran will be found soothing after a long march.”

In our time, Bernard Levin perhaps needed something similar after his experience with six pairs of walking socks bought at “a well-known Knightsbridge store”. He reported: “One pair wore into holes during the first day’s walking, and none of the other pairs survived as long as a week.”

Disappointingly, a list of Great City Walks omits the circuit of York’s city walls – a world-class urban walk.

I would also nominate Scarborough’s Marine Drive, round the castlecrowned headland, and the Durham City peninsula should also have a claim. But Jude highlights a report by the Pedestrians’ Association on the role of walking in urban regeneration.

Stimulated by the removal of traffic, the resumption of walking in a city centre is “a key indicator of its (the city’s) social, economic and cultural health”.

Chalk figures and fingerposts – Jude nods to these and other features (but alas, no stiles or gates). She muses on sticks and advises on how to build a snow shelter or ease the sometimes-agony of walking downhill.

Charming line drawings by Kath Walker enhance the attractivelyprinted pages.

But what most walkers will enjoy best are the well-chosen quotations.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, said: “My mind works only with my legs.” But the pick of the crop, for long my own favourite, has nothing to do with the benefits – physical, mental or otherwise – of walking. Nor does it come from a distinguished name.

GHB Ward, a Peak District rambler of a century ago, uttered this life-saving (or at any rate face-saving) piece of walking wisdom: “The man who never got lost, never went far” – the perfect defence for every misreading of the map.