I've done the Coast to Coast now 6 times and a couple of half crossing's over the last 20 years. I used A.W., A Coast to Coast pictorial guide book for the first three crossing's and I thought that was ideal and seem to very detailed and now have the one by Chris Jesty. I have the Footprint maps, both west & east and I will be them with the OS maps for the Lakes, Nine Standards, Yorkshire Dales and the east section of the North Yorkshire Moors, only because I'm doing alternatives. I do have the Harvey strip maps, but the detail is very small to read and I've found the Footprint maps are better to read on the go.

Let me give you a bit of my experience. I'm fairly good with maps, guidebooks, compass, and GPS. Where I sometimes fail is in paying attention. When we got to Kirkby Stephen, Mrs. Memphian was pretty weary and was quite fed up with bogs. She was making noises about taking the bus to Keld. I hit on a compromise to skip the Nine Standards bogs and just do a road walk to Keld. The first town we came to was Nateby which has one road into town and two roads out. The road to Keld angles off to the left and I just kept walking straight down the wrong road. About a mile and a quarter later, I realized I was wrong. Using the Harvey map and my GPS, I quickly knew where I was and what I need to do. If I had not had a map, I wouldn't even have known about the road to Keld since it's not in the Guide. But if someone had suggested the road and then I went wrong, I wouldn't have had a clue where I was. So, yes you can do the walk with only the guidebook, but the maps, compass and GPS are good to have. And fun to use if you know how.

The only snag with the Footprint maps, is there is you can't use them with a gps unit, although, you can use the Footprint with a compass.

Getting to what Memphian was saying about Nateby and the road to Keld, this is shown on the Harvey's maps, as well as the alternative route to Tan Hill via Brownber Tarn and another thing is that it shows the alternative route along the River Swale, being the low level path unlike Footprint.

I think I may stick to the Harvey's for what there are.

Guide books are all very well, but because they tend to show the route on s strip basis they are pretty useless baggage if you do go astray and finish up some distance off the expected line.

As Memphian so rightly points out, if you take an incorrect path you can quickly walk off the edge of the strip map and end up in aimless and sap-draining wanderings .... especially if this is over the boggier parts.

Don't, if you are unfamiliar with the area, venture out without an OS map. You can pick them up on Ebay fairly cheaply but I would always pay the extra and go for the latest version.

Check the Lake District/ Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors website and look up "events". There may be a map reading training day around the time that you are here. They are very good value and give you practice in the practical skills.

I wouldn't bother with a GPS unless you can borrow one. If you can stay on the route you will come across many other walkers who will help you.

Most Americans don't actually know what a "Moor" is ... do you?

The Martin Waiwright guide book does give a fair bit of side coverage to the route on most of it's 1:25,000 maps. However when I used it last time, I inserted sheets of printed maps for the areas that I was going off the official line.
Of course this is only good if you plan ahead for these diversions and of course the skill of navigation is not always getting it right but quickly realising you have wrong and getting back on quickly.
I do agree though that taking a map even if only as a back up makes good sense.
Dave.

Just a tip for OS maps bearing in mind how many you need to cover the whole route. If you are a member of Ramblers you can borrow maps from them for up to a month, for £1 each(waterproof) 50p (paper), plus postage there and back. Still not cheap as you have to post them recorded so I think we paid about £23 in total but lots cheaper than buying them all. And we joined Ramblers using our Tesco clubcard tokens. We often borrow OS maps from the library when on holiday but trying to get all 8 and keep them for long enough seemed unlikely.

Most of the time you can manage with a good guide book, but a map and compass are invaluable for that (hopefully) rare time you have mislaid the path. Also if for any reason you take a detour,such as we did on the day we should have gone up Kidsty Pike. In terrible weather getting the tail end of a hurricane we took the decision the night before to walk along Ullswater and across the moor and then down to Bampton. Not sure if any of the guide books have this alternative route, ours didn't so without a map we couldn't have done it. Our priority was "walking" from coast to coast, we didn't want to risk having to turn back - Kidsty Pike will be there for another day.

I have never "mislaid the path" but on occasions the path has mislaid me!

Certainly more attention is needed with strip maps. It's a good idea to reinstate grid detail and escape routes where necessary (not usually a problem with guide books - more so if using photocpies)
Some people just refer to maps when they go wrong, which is a big mistake - map and compass should always be to hand. If you do wander off, constant reference means at least you'll know your last position sooner...

Mind you .... with a decent GPS you always know exactly where you are ..... mind you, I would always take a map as well! (Don't think that I've ever used a compass since I got my SATMAP .... but I still carry one)

On multi dayers you learn not to trust anything with a battery...