Simon and I have both enjoyed holidays in the West Country since we were children and more recently have spent many happy times there while our boys were growing up. It was during these visits that we became aware of the South-West Coast Path. It is England’s longest national trail and runs for 630 miles from Minehead in Somerset, taking in the entire coastline of Devon and Cornwall, to South Haven Point at the entrance to Poole Harbour in Dorset. In walking the path, you cross 230 bridges, climb over 436 stiles, open (and close) 880 gates. There is 115,000 feet of ascent and descent, the equivalent of climbing Everest over three times!

After walking several short sections, we began to appreciate the beautiful scenery and made the decision that we would make it our mission to complete it. This was in about 2015, and we set ourselves the target of about sixty miles a year, planning to finish by 2024, just before Simon’s 70^th birthday.

While this was a fairly modest rate of progress compared to some (the most enthusiastic walkers complete it in a single season!) we wanted to take our time to experience the stunning views. It is surprising how much of the coast is served by buses so on many days we caught a bus to one end of our day’s section and walked back. In several places it is possible to do the same by train and on a few occasions we had to take a taxi.

Our walking season usually began with a weekend in April, followed by a week in September and another weekend towards the end of October.  Early on in our adventure, we became aware of the South-West Coast Path Association, a charity that does great work looking after and publicising the trail.  They publish a guide which grades the path into easy, moderate, strenuous and severe sections which was very useful in planning our walks. 

The question we most often get asked is ‘How far do you walk in a day?’.  This varied enormously: there are parts which involve walking along roads or old railway lines where it is easy to do twelve miles in a day: at the other extreme there are parts where you are walking along cliffs cut through by streams where it is necessary to descend to sea level and then climb again to the cliff tops several times, often on rough steps and slippery, steep terrain.

On the toughest parts (such as from Tintagel to Port Isaac), five miles can take five hours and leave you exhausted!

We were also asked ‘Doesn’t it get boring?’  Absolutely not!  The variety of the scenery is almost infinite. While walking along cliffs is perhaps the most iconic part, at other times you find yourself walking through dense woodland (especially in North Devon), along sandy and shingle beaches (the latter can be very hard work), along roads through the many coastal towns and villages and even clambering through rocky outcrops. With the winds blowing in from the Atlantic, the weather can change very quickly again adding to the experience. It was surprising, though, how little the weather affected out plans. In the eighty or so days we spent walking, we only had to cancel our plans once (when an Atlantic storm with very heavy rain blew in) and only got seriously wet twice.

High points and low points? Low points were very few! Only one stands out: there is a short section of the path that involves walking through the industrial estates of Plymouth. We did this on a cold and wet Sunday morning when everything was shut and no-one was about!  It was quite depressing and almost made us question why we were doing it – almost, not quite!

In contrast, there were many high points – the magnificent views westward towards St Ives from near St Agnes, peregrine falcons soaring above us on the cliffs near Port Isaac, the moment when, near Brixham, we heard squeals of delight from the beach below where a girl suddenly realised a seal was swimming alongside her.  Perhaps the most memorable moment was on the cliffs near Salcombe when we saw a small group approaching us. As this was during Covid we moved off the path to let them pass.  One of the group said, ‘I say, that’s most awfully kind’.  The voice sounded familiar and when we looked up realised it was Prince Charles (as he still was then) together with Camilla closely followed by what were obviously two security men.

We walked the final section, from Croyde Bay in North Devon to Minehead in September and thought it would be good to mark our completion of the path by raising some money for a good cause. As Ursula is a trustee of St Wilfrid’s Hospice and Simon a volunteer, this is what we chose. People were extremely generous and, much to our amazement and delight, we ended up raising over £5000 for this wonderful establishment, so a big thank you to all who sponsored us!