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The south west of England is one of our favourite parts of the country. We have visited here many times before and its charm never ceases to beguile us. Every time we come down we always do at least one coastal walk,  and it was with this in mind that I have set myself a target of completing the whole of the coastal path in the next 10 years, filling in all the gaps that I haven’t previously walked.

The idea was first put into my head by my mate Kev who has also walked a lot of the path before, but he also wanted to tie it all together so he could say he had “done” it!

You can either start the walk at Minehead or Poole, and we had chosen Minehead as we had the book “Walking the Southwest Coast Path” (by Paddy Dillon) and it would be a lot easier to follow the route in the direction that the author had written it.  Jane had recently read the “Salt Path” by Raynor Winn, an account of an older couple who were down on their luck after having lost their house and business, and the redeeming effect this journey had on their lives.  I also read it and would recommend it.  I would also highly recommend this first leg of our journey.  We were very lucky with the weather, as you can see, and that of course puts you in the right frame of mind to start with!

Although both Jane and Val thought the 6 mile walk was all uphill, they did admire the view from the top of the ridge………….

And they were both very pleased to see the downhill section as this signalled the end of the hard part of the walk.  Mind you navigating your way down this slope was not that easy!

Back down to sea level, and now it’s only a mile and a half of flat walking before we get to the pub!

Although some of it is along the beach on shingle, and that’s quite hard work!

The good thing about attempting these walks out of season is that there is hardly anyone else about and you really get to experience the peace and tranquility of these beautiful areas!

The pub is in sight, time for a drink and an ice cream!