Books by Mike Parker
Coast to Coast: The book of the popular ITV Wales series

Following the success of my one-off TV programme about Wales, HTV asked me to take the helm - thankfully, not literally - in a series that they'd planned about the coast of Wales.  The idea was to take different journeys in an assortment of boats along stretches of the Welsh coast, and to meet some of the people who lived, worked and played there.

To a confirmed landlubber, this was both an incredible opportunity and something of a challenge.  We made two series of Coast to Coast that were broadcast in 2003 and 2004, and in so doing, covered nearly all of the roughly thousand miles of the Welsh coast.  The BBC series Coast, incorporating many of the same ideas and even places, started in 2005.

The adventure spawned some lovely telly and this book - which is as much about the often perilous filming process as the places seen en route.  We only had to be rescued once, though that was in the most dangerous stretch of water off the British coast, Bardsey Sound at the end of the Llŷn peninsula.  The book's cover images are stills of the last piece to camera I managed to do before it all went exceedingly pear-shaped. 

Making Coast to Coast was a terrific adventure; one which I am thrilled to have done.  I am even more thrilled that I will never have to do it again.

Buy the book

Coast to Coast by Mike Parker, published 2004 by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, £7.50

Now just £4 from the publisher >>

Or buy from Amazon >>