My current nomination for a book that's simultaneously interesting, funny and readable is Michael Fewer's By Swerve of Shore, an account of walking along the coast of Dublin. It's one of those books that make you want to meet the author, and he turns out to be just as good company as his book.

This is not the first time Fewer has written about a county's coastline - a previous book, By Cliff and Shore: Walking the Waterford Coast, was the result of a trip six years ago around his native county. For him, it's "an unusual way to explore a place" - coming as he does from fishing stock in Waterford, it's not surprising he should be sensitive to the attraction and power of the ocean.

He explains the fascination of the shore line is "the amazing interface between nature and man's world. Ten metres out there, nature is in absolute, sometimes terrifying, control, and 10 metres inland, man could have taken over entirely."

As the photographs on the cover of the book (all taken by Fewer himself) show, he is interested in both faces of the shore. When he sees a seal, his excitement is palpable, while an encounter with Travellers hunting rabbits and hares puts him in mind of ancient Celtic warriors and their wild life.

In person, Fewer is equally amusing and full of anecdote. A mention of the seals he saw off Dublin reminds him of the time he saw a seal nursery of 50 or more of the animals on Rathlin Island, which leads to another story of a Scots motor launch landing on the island in the middle of the night in search of a drink.

Then there is the story of the aftermath of researching a guidebook to the Wicklow Way: some weeks after he had walked the southern half of the route, a local garda came to his Dublin home to ask had he been in Shillelagh Woods on a particular date. When he said yes, the detective appeared satisfied and went to leave. Michael stopped him to ask who wanted to know. Apparently, the woods had been busy that day, with republican paramilitaries on manoeuvre, and gardai watching them. Naturally, when a strange man appeared in quasi-military clothing, talking into what looked like a walkie-talkie (the dictation machine on which he takes notes), they were concerned enough to follow him to his car, note the registration, and send a local garda to check up.

Although he has written several guidebooks, especially to Ireland's walking trails, By Swerve of Shore is not intended as such. "This is a light-hearted jaunt along the coast. Guidebooks tend to be a bit boring to write, and this is my attempt to get out of the rut. What I want is to help people get just a little bit of the pleasure that I got, to get them to use it as a key to open a door."

By Swerve of Shore is published by Gill & Macmillan at £12.99