”The South West Coast Path is a difficult, craggy and bloody-minded walking route that hugs the coastline between Minehead in Somerset and Poole Harbour in Dorset, taking in the seaboards of North and South Devon, and the entire perimeter of Cornwall along the way. I call it bloody-minded because it exhibits a willful refusal to provide any kind of short cut, even where it’s obvious that any sane person would take one. Walkers routinely find themselves climbing perilously down into a cove, only to make a steep ascent immediately afterwards, and often with a far more sensible, level path in full sight.

Such is the brutal glory of the SWCP. For its entire 630 miles, it clings close to this island’s crinkled edge as possible, so close, in fact, that chunks of it regularly fall into the sea. There are moments when it feels as though it was designed with contain goats in minds, rather than humans.” – Katherine May, The Electricity of Every Living Thing

The author goes on to say how much she actually adores it. “I crave it, particularly the stretch between Bantham and Start Point in the South Hams or Devon. It has seen my best of times and worst of times; I have kicked back in Devon at the most triumphant moments of my life, and scuttled down there in terror when my life was in shreds. It always seems to replenish me.”

She first found it on her honeymoon and walking the path she found “crenellated bays full of the sea-caves and rock pools we knew only from childhood picture books. We were enchanted.”

The South West Coast Path is UK’s longest National Trail, 1,010 km (630 miles) beginning at Minehead, Somerset.

The SWCP in literature –

1. The Salt Path is Raynor Winn’s memoir of walking with her husband through Somerset, Cornwall, Dorset, and Devon after losing their home. While they were on the SWCP, apparently the poet Simon Armitage was also somewhere there. He wrote about his 2010 walk on the 231 km (268 mile) route of Pennine Way in his book, Walking Home. On this journey, he walked without money and gave poetry readings. National Trail writes this about Pennine Way – “Walk the backbone of England from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders on Britain’s first National Trail”. Opened in 1965, Pennine Way is known as the most challenging trail and is for experienced walkers.
2. Katherine May was determined to walk the South West Coast Path before her 40th birthday. It was during this time that she realizes she is on the spectrum and comes to terms with her Aspergers’ diagnosis. She realized how she wasn’t coping with life and tracks back to the numerous times she sought help and how she’s been masking. This is the book I’m reading that introduced me to the SWCP.
3. At age 55, Overend Watts wanted something different and to prove he could. Reviewers say that this book gives a great description of the trials and tribulations of the walk, essential knowledge for new walkers.