Britain’s Best Hiking Trail: The South West Coast Path

Pilot Guides

The South West Coast Path is perhaps the UK’s ultimate challenge for the long-distance hiker – a 630-mile adventure around the coastline of England’s south west peninsula.

Starting at Mine head in Somerset it runs along the coastline of Exmoor, continuing along the coast of North Devon into Cornwall. It follows the entire coastline of Cornwall, goes across the mouth of the River Tamar and continues into Devon. After running along the south coast of Devon it then follows the Dorset coastline before finally ending at Poole Harbour.

As a National Trail, the South West Coast Path is signposted all the way round by the acorn. In addition to this you will find large commemorative markers at key points on the trail such as Minehead (the start), Porthallow (the mid-point) and South Haven Point (the end). There are also a number of way markers along the way that will tell you how far from each end of the trail you are. Although most walkers choose to complete the Path in this anti-clockwise direction, from Minehead to Poole, there is no reason why it cannot be walked in the opposite direction.

The South West Coast Path is England’s longest waymarked long-distance footpathand a National Trail. Because it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more challenging trails. The total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft (35,031 m), almost four times the height of Mount Everest. It has been voted ‘Britain’s Best Walking route ‘ and regularly features in lists of the world’s best walks.

Many of the landscapes which the South West Coast Path crosses have special status, either as a national park or one of the heritage coasts. The path passes through two World Heritage Sites: the Dorset and East Devon Coast, known as the Jurassic Coast, was designated in 2001, and the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape in 2007.