South West Coast Path
The SWCP is England's longest waymarked path. It stretches for 630 miles, running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset to finish at Poole Harbour. Since it rises and falls with every river mouth (and there are many), it is also one of the more challenging trails. The total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft, almost four times the height of Mount Everest. Some walkers complete the whole path in around 30 days. Most break it up into 7 or 8 weeks over several years - so far we have taken 16 years, and we've still got 50 miles to go! Pete and myself started walking in the Purbecks way back when we met at work in 1997 and covered the stages between Poole and Weymouth on various circular walks.
We then joined in with the Abbey Life walking club and started walking the rest of the path seriously as a group between where they had already got to in Falmouth and the end at Minehead. At times there were up to 22 of us and we took turns to organize the logistics for each leg. We've then taken several more trips either on our own or with our 'breakaway group' to cover (or for them re-cover) the bits between Weymouth and Falmouth. I think this must rank as one of the best walks in the UK with spectacular coastal scenery and we have always been blessed with sunshine on these walks.
There have been too many years to break this one down into stages, so I've made a gallery of different sections with my favourite photo's and some comments.
We then joined in with the Abbey Life walking club and started walking the rest of the path seriously as a group between where they had already got to in Falmouth and the end at Minehead. At times there were up to 22 of us and we took turns to organize the logistics for each leg. We've then taken several more trips either on our own or with our 'breakaway group' to cover (or for them re-cover) the bits between Weymouth and Falmouth. I think this must rank as one of the best walks in the UK with spectacular coastal scenery and we have always been blessed with sunshine on these walks.
There have been too many years to break this one down into stages, so I've made a gallery of different sections with my favourite photo's and some comments.