Start with a quieter trail

The Pennine Way, the West Highland Way and the South West Coast Path get all the attention, and they deserve it. But they are unforgiving places to learn on. A 268-mile first walk with a heavy pack, unpredictable weather and fully booked accommodation is a hard way to discover that you hate walking uphill after lunch.

Choose something shorter, quieter and better served instead. The Ridgeway, the Cotswold Way, the Dales Way, the Speyside Way and Hadrian's Wall Path all sit comfortably between 65 and 102 miles. They have decent villages, frequent buses and accommodation that does not sell out six months in advance. Quieter trails also mean you can walk at your own pace without a queue at every stile, and if a day goes badly you can shorten it without wrecking the whole trip.

The aim of a first long-distance walk is not to tick off a famous route. It is to finish it still wanting more.

Break the route into daily stages

Guidebooks publish suggested stages, and they are a sensible starting point, but they are written for fit walkers with long summer days. Most first-timers do better on 10 to 13 miles a day on gentle ground, and 8 to 10 miles where there is real climbing.

Use Naismith's rule as a rough check: allow one hour for every three miles, plus an extra hour for every 600 metres of ascent. Then add time for stops, photographs, a wrong turn and a long lunch. A "12-mile day" with 700 metres of climb is a seven-hour day, not a four-hour one.

• Plan your shortest day for the first day, when you are still finding your rhythm and your pack still feels strange.
• Avoid more than two or three big days back to back, especially early on.
• Check daylight hours for the month you are walking and aim to be at your destination well before dusk.
• Note the last mile separately — a long climb to a remote pub at the end of a tiring day is worth knowing about in advance.

Book accommodation early, and build in slack

On popular routes in peak season, book three to four months ahead as a minimum; for the busiest stretches in July and August, six months is sensible. On a first trail, book every night. Wild camping is legal in Scotland under the access code, but in England and Wales you generally need the landowner's permission, and improvising your first trip is not the relaxed experience you are hoping for.

Mix your accommodation to keep costs down. Bunkhouses, camping barns, hostels, pubs with rooms and small campsites all work. Ask when booking about a drying room, an early breakfast and whether they will make you a packed lunch — these three things matter more than thread count.

If a stage has no beds left, do not simply stretch the day to 20 miles. Reorganise the route, add a rest day, or use a baggage transfer service and a taxi to bridge the gap. It is your walk, not the guidebook's.

Train with a loaded pack

Start six to twelve weeks out. Once a week, walk a long day with the pack you intend to carry, building towards 12 to 15 miles. Two consecutive days matter more than one heroic one, because it is the second day that reveals whether your boots, your shoulders and your feet are actually ready.

Walk the terrain you will meet. Hill reps and long, steady climbs are far better preparation than flat canal towpaths if your trail crosses moorland or fell. Wear the socks and boots you plan to use, and never take a new pair straight onto a long-distance path.

Practise the boring things: how you pack, where your water goes, how quickly you can put on waterproofs, what you eat when you are not hungry. Taper in the final week and arrive at the start line fresh rather than exhausted.

Keep the pack light

Aim for under 10kg with accommodation booked, and treat 8kg as a target worth chasing. As a rule of thumb, keep the load below about a fifth of your body weight. Water weighs a kilogram a litre, so plan refills rather than carrying three litres "just in case".

• Weigh everything before it goes in. The small things add up faster than the big ones.
• Take one set of clean evening clothes, not two.
• Share weight if you are walking with someone: one stove, one first-aid kit, one charger.
• Carry a light waterproof, spare socks, a warm mid-layer and a hat, whatever the forecast says.

Have a plan B, and let the trail surprise you

Before you leave, note the escape routes: which villages have buses, where the nearest station is, and which days could be cut short. Blisters, a twisted ankle and three days of horizontal rain are all perfectly normal, and none of them need to end the trip if you know your options.

Build one rest day into anything over a week. Walk the miles you can walk rather than the miles you planned, and remember that turning back to a warm pub is a legitimate decision made by experienced walkers, not a failure. The best long-distance walkers are the ones who came home happy and started planning the next one on the train.