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HISTORY

The origins of the coast path lie in Cornwall's smuggling history. By the early nineteenth century smuggling had become so rife that in 1822 HM Coastguard was formed to patrol the entire British coastline. A coast-hugging footpath was created to enable the coastguards to see into every cove, inlet and creek and slowly but surely law and order prevailed and the smuggling decreased. By the beginning of the twentieth century the foot patrols had been abandoned.

The South-West Coast Path
In 1948 a government report recommended the creation of a footpath around the entire south-west peninsula to improve public access to the coast which at that time was dire. It took until 1973 for the Cornwall Coast Path to be declared officially open and another five years for the rest of the South-West Coast Path to be completed. This is England's longest national trail, covering 613 miles (982 km) from Minehead in Somerset right round the bottom south-west corner of Britain to Poole Harbour in Dorset. If walking the Cornwall section whets your appetite there is plenty more to do!

HOW DIFFICULT IS THE COAST PATH?

No great level of experience is needed to walk the coast path as the walking is generally easy and you are never far from help. Villages and accommodation are reasonably close together so it is simple to adapt itineraries to suit all needs and levels of fitness.

The most challenging section of the coast path is the stretch from St Ives to Sennen Cove. The terrain is rugged and all the places to stay and eat are located a little way inland. As long as you plan ahead and are reasonably fit you should not experience any difficulties. Other points to bear in mind are basically common sense: don't wander too close to either the top or bottom of cliffs; take care when swimming; be aware of the tides; and listen to weather forecasts (for more information see pp58-9.)

Route finding
For most of its length the coast path is well signposted. At confusing junctions the route is usually indicated by a finger-post sign with ‘coast path’ written on it. At other points along the trail where there could be some confusion there are wooden waymark posts with an acorn symbol and a yellow arrow to indicate which direction you should head. Occasionally you will come across sections of the trail where waymarking is poor, or even non-existent, but with the detailed trail maps and directions in this book and the fact that you always have the sea to one side it would be hard to get really lost.

GPS Waypoints
If you have a handheld GPS receiver you will be able to take advantage of the waypoints marked on the maps, and listed on pp248-52 of this book.

Essentially a GPS will calculate your position on the earth using a number of satellites and this will be accurate to a few metres. That being so you might wonder what the point is of taking paper maps and a compass with you. The answer is that if the batteries go flat or the machine malfunctions you'll be left with only your sense of direction.

Having said this, it is by no means necessary that you use a GPS in conjunction with this guide and you should be able to get by with simply the signposts on the trail and the maps in this book. However, a GPS can be useful if for some reason you do get lost, or if you decide to explore off the trail and can't find your way back. It can also prove handy if you find yourself on the trail after dark when you can't see further than your torch beam.

If you do decide to use a GPS unit in conjunction with this book don't feel you need to be ticking off every waypoint as you reach it; you'll soon get bored and should get by without turning on your GPS for most of the trail. But if at any point you are unsure of your position your GPS can give a quick and reassuring answer.

You can either manually key the nearest presumed waypoint from the list in this book into your unit as and when the need arises or, much less laboriously and with less margin for keystroke error, download the complete list (but not the descriptions) for free as a GPS-readable file from the Trailblazer website. you'll need the right cable and adequate memory in your unit (typically the ability to store 500 waypoints or more). This file, as well as instructions on how to interpret an OS grid reference, can be found on the Trailblazer website (trailblazer-guides.com).

HOW LONG DO YOU NEED?

If you're a fit walker who loves to spend all day on the trail you could manage Bude to Falmouth, or vice versa, a distance of around 203 miles (327km) depending on your exact route, in about 14 days. If you like your walking holiday to be a bit more relaxed with time to sit on the cliff tops, explore towns and villages as well as have a few rest days, three to three and a half weeks would be ample. Most walkers will fit somewhere between these two extremes, taking roughly two and a half weeks which still allows time for exploring and one or two rest days. There are some suggested itineraries on pp32-4.

For walkers with less time on their hands there are some superb day and weekend walks (see p35) along parts of the coast path.