Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 August 2009 20:22

Every day coastguards used to patrol the whole coast of the South West Peninsula on foot in the course of their duties to prevent and detect smuggling. This lasted until 1856 and the Admiralty carried on the work until 1913. To enable them to do this in the days of less speedy transport, a whole series of coastguard cottages were erected at convenient intervals, and most of these still stand in rows along the path today. Usually they have been converted to other use, and remind us of how the path originally came about.

It was the essence of their job that the coastguards had literally to be able to see into every cove and inlet on the coast. This meant that their well-beaten path, usually with stone stiles, had to hug the cliff top, so providing the splendidly scenic coastal views we get today. The Coastguard’s children going to school, the wives visiting from one fishing hamlet to the next all used these paths, building up a considerable history of usage. Over its length it offers unparalleled views which have simply come about from working origins. However, the question must be asked - what happened to and who, by what right, appropriated those original paths where, today in many sections, the coastal path is nowhere near the sea? One of our aims is to regain many lost paths by representations to the authorities to reinstate them as the official coastal path. We take pride in the fact that due to our persistence many good sections have been regained.

Sadly however, many of these paths once open and free to anyone, have somehow been absorbed into the ownership of adjacent landowners. Several of these landowners maintain a possessive grip upon these sections so much so one can only assume they dislike or maybe fear walkers like you and others in the Association. We are committed to gaining the return of these paths to enhance the coastal experience of walkers when they have been fobbed off on less spectacular lengthy inland diversions.

The coastguards latterly patrolled a longer area of coast than the section finally chosen for the official path; however, a very considerable distance was chosen. The path starts in Minehead in Somerset, goes along part of the Somerset Bristol Channel coast, across North Devon, right around Cornwall, then along the South Devon and Dorset coasts to Poole Harbour. This is a distance of 630 (1014 km) miles which is over twice the distance of the Pennine Way and makes it by far the longest Long Distance Path in the UK.  This is a most important point to remember - if you are well equipped and fit, the Pennine Way can be completed in two weeks.  You are not going to be able to walk this one in a fortnight! Unless you are extremely fortunate with holidays, it is a path that will have to be walked in sections.

The next point to bear in mind when choosing a path to walk is its severity. Many people are misled about this one. They visit some seaside resort along the way, walk the promenade and come to the conclusion that the whole thing is a stroll which can be completed in sandals. This is perfectly true - of some of it. We receive letters from those who have walked the Pennine Way, which is fairly regarded as a challenge, saying they are surprised at the severity of our path. The reasons for this are apparent if you consider the differences. The Pennine Way, and indeed some other LDP’s are basically ridge walks. You are walking along the spine of a range of hills, they vary in height and you have to descend to river valleys and up the other side, but the general idea is you get up and stay up as long as you can. Recent research by us revealed that in walking the whole South West Coast Path one will climb, and descend, over 91,000 feet, which is three times the height of Mount Everest.

A coastal path is different because you are usually in areas of maximum difference. Rivers cut down to sea level at their mouths and make gaps in the hills in doing so.  You are therefore walking against the grain of the land, rather than with it. You will not go as high as Pen-y-Ghent, which some rate the most dramatic ascent on the Pennine Way, but will more often than not have to climb something steeper. Parts of the South West Coast Path are easy to walk, but so it is with all LDP’s. Having said that, make no mistake the total effort required far exceeds anything most people expect.

Those requiring accommodation rather than carrying their own, will find it less of a problem than on many other paths. This is because it is a traditional holiday area and so there are many B&B establishments. There are really only two cautions. Do not expect accommodation always to be available, because this is a seasonal holiday area. You can get times in winter when nearly everywhere is shut and times in the summer when nearly everywhere is full. The other point to bear in mind is that there are occasional small places, very convenient for breaking a walk but with very limited accommodation. You can get caught out.

The best times to walk are naturally tied in for some with the availability of accommodation. If you want an optimum of places open but not full, then choose late spring, early summer or autumn. From a scenic point of view May is the ideal time to walk because the coastal flowers are at their best then. If you want to enjoy swimming as well as walking, you will need to walk in the traditional summer holiday period, but you will find some of the main resorts very crowded then.

Many walk a long-distance trail just because it’s there. If that’s what you want then ours is the longest in Great Britain. Being 630 miles long it’s twice the distance of the Pennine Way which can be walked in two weeks and three times that of Offa’s Dyke which can be walked in that time easily. We estimate that six or seven weeks are required for the average walker to complete our path. Very few can take this on in one go, unless they are students or retired. The majority of people take a week or two at a time returning year by year until they have completed it.

Geologists will find a wealth of varied rock types, some of them not occurring elsewhere in England. Several coastal views, for instance those at Hartland in North Devon and Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove in Dorset, have been used as textbook illustrations of cliff formations. Those who study archaeology find interest in many Iron Age Camps. If industrial archaeology is your choice, there are mining regions, old pilchard cellars, and numerous lime kilns. Botanists have a wide range of flowers, again, some occurring nowhere else in the UK, but in their particular locations here. Ornithologists will expect the richness of sea-bird life, but less expected may be rare species such as the peregrine falcon.

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