WHEN law graduate John Coppack decided to take early retirement from his senior position with a multinational healthcare company at the age of 55 he knew what he wanted to do - combine his passion for the outdoors with his passion for writing.

And over the past 12 years he has done exactly that, producing a series of guides for walks in the north of England.

His latest work is bound to excite any walker who loves the Dales, for it takes in some of its most stunning and famous scenery.

The Kendal Limestone Way starts at Skipton Castle and makes its way for 63 miles through the limestone uplands of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and along the limestone escarpments lying between Morecambe Bay and the Lakeland mountains.

The 'linear' route passes through some of Craven's best-known villages, such as Malham, Clapham and Ingleton, and is designed, says John, to make the most of accommodation and refreshment opportunities along the way.

It is also designed to be 'family friendly' and should take under a week to complete at a fairly reasonable pace.

And as the walk is almost entirely alongside fields, woodland, riverside paths and country lanes, it should quicken the pulse of anyone who appreciates the immense charm of the Dales.

John says: "I have spent the past five years putting this together, and have done all the writing, taken the photographs and produced 26 dedicated maps. It's been very much a labour of love and I've enjoyed every minute I've been on the trail."

John was born in Lancashire and lived in Liverpool for much of his childhood, before his parents moved to rural North Yorkshire. He has been in the county ever since, and now lives in Follifoot just outside Harrogate.

The idea for the Limestone Way came to John, he says, when he was driving along the A65 to the Lake District from his Harrogate home.

He said: "It has some of the most remarkable and dramatic countryside, especially between Settle and Ingleton.

"Motorists and others who use this route regularly will be aware that the terrain lying to the south of the busy trunk road is relatively low lying, broken by rounded hills of modest elevation, whereas the land on the northern side of the road is far more dramatic. Here the hills are higher, steeper and more rugged with towering cliffs of gleaming white limestone.

"It struck me that putting together a walk exploring this rugged limestone landscape would be a very interesting thing to do."

The Limestone Way is not the first walk that John has devised and researched - he is a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and has written several other guidebooks.

His guide to the Richmond Way was published in 2009 and describes a 60-mile walk through the lower Lune Valley, the limestone country around Ingleborough and Whernside and the central and northern valleys of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

This walk features two renowned castles at either end, Lancaster and Richmond, and was, he says, inspired by the 18th century coast-to-coast trading route which linked the tidal River Lune in the west with the tidal River Tees in the east.

John says: "In all my walks I try to cover a little of the historical background of the areas through which walkers will go, as well as some of the archaeology. I believe this contributes greatly to the enjoyment of any walk.

"And the actual route for each walk has to be researched thoroughly, using bridleways and clear paths as much as possible, and making sure that rights of way are in place.

"It's also important to research accommodation options for all budgets along the way, from camp sites to high-end bed and breakfast establishments - walkers on the Limestone Way have some great choices as it goes through so many villages, most of which are lovely in their own right."

In Craven, the route starts right outside Skipton Castle, following the Leeds-Liverpool canal to Gargrave, then goes north-west, passing close to Airton and following the River Aire upstream to Kirkby Malham and its sister village, Hanlith.

It then goes on to Malham - taking in the internationally famous limestone scenery of Malham Cove, Gordale Scar and Malham Tarn - and up the steep pass between Kirkby Fell and Pikedaw Hill.

Beyond the pass, the route follows the mid-Craven fault which runs below the northern flank of Rye Loaf Hill and enters Stockdale, before reaching Attermire and Warrendale Knotts above Settle. From Settle, the route crosses the River Ribble and skirts around Giggleswick, and on to a high-level traverse of Giggleswick Scar, where there was a significant earthquake along the south Craven fault in 1944.

The Way then passes through Feizor and Austwick, and on to Clapham before entering the walk's most challenging section - an ascent of Ingleborough, the second highest mountain in Yorkshire, and following a rough stone path from the summit towards Ingleton, and on into Lancashire and eventually the end of the route into Cumbria at Kendal.

*The Kendal Limestone Way is available in ebook format from: iBooks/iTunes; Kobo; Google Play and WH Smith ebooks.