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Exmoor & North Devon Coast Path (South-West Coast Path Part 1)

Exmoor & North Devon Coast Path (South-West Coast Path Part 1)

Excerpt:
Introduction


Contents | Introduction | About the South West Coast Path | Practical information for the walker | Itineraries | Using this guide | Sample route guide: Minehead to Porlock Weir


INTRODUCTION

 

This book covers the first 1241/2 miles (200.3km) of the South-West Coast Path (hereafter known as SWCP), Britain’s longest national trail. The trail in this book starts at Minehead in Somerset and, after navigating the whole of North Devon’s coastline, ends just across the border at Bude in Cornwall. Together with the two other books in this ‘mini-series’, the entire length of this 630-mile-long coast path is covered.

 

This first section of the path is also by some distance the shortest section of the three. But size isn’t everything, as they say, and there’s plenty here to tempt the discerning walker. Look at a map of the British Isles and this part of the coastal path – meandering as it does along some of Britain’s most exquisite shoreline, backed by a vast swathe of green, a verdant outlook unbroken save for tiny villages and hamlets scattered here and there – is a logical place to go for an amble. That vast swathe of green is Exmoor National Park, the most delightful of wildernesses and one through which the route saunters along the coastal cliffs for 34 miles and includes Great Hangman, at 318m (1043ft) the highest point on the entire trail. Nor does the fun stop there for no sooner does the path leave the park than it immediately joins the North Devon coast, luxuriating in its designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It is here you’ll find enormous beaches stretching for miles; Braunton Burrows, part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the largest sand dune system in the country; plenty of pretty little historical towns and gorgeous villages where one can rest and recuperate, including the breathtaking harbour of Clovelly; and we haven’t even mentioned the walk around Hartland Peninsula, the toughest, most isolated and the most spectacular walking – in most experts’ opinions – on the entire SWCP. Clearly, God was in a rumbustious mood when He designed this gorgeous little corner of England.

 

 

The North Devon AONB continues all the way to the border with Cornwall, though this book actually finishes just across the border at Bude – a more logical end to a walk, with fine accommodation, good restaurants in which to celebrate and half-decent (by the standards of the South-West at least!) transport links back to the everyday world.

Sounds perfect doesn’t it? A dozen days or so of walking along romantic, windswept cliffs, through Elysian fields and sylvan valleys, a small yet vital part of a mammoth odyssey around England’s most idiosyncratic corner. But such rewards are not gained easily; for one thing, the weather in this blessed corner of England takes a perverse pleasure in its unpredictability – though boy, it does have more than its fair share of good weather too, especially compared to the rest of the UK. But there’s also some hard walking to be done; by many people’s estimates, this is actually the toughest leg of the entire SWCP, with plenty of fiercely undulating sections guaranteed to torment calf muscles and sap morale. Indeed, it can’t be denied that there are a couple of days that will truly test your mettle.


But then again, few if any will disagree that the obstacles and difficulties this path presents to those who dare to pit themselves against it, are far outweighed by its compensations...

Exmoor & North Devon Coast Path (South-West Coast Path Part 1)

Excerpts:

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