Walking the South West Coast Path

Sometime in the mid 1980s, my dad read me an account of one man and his borrowed dog’s walk along the South West Coast Path. Mark Wallington’s 500 Mile Walkies made a lasting impression. Even as a child, I could appreciate the self-deprecating humour he found in the everyday life on the trail – from battles with misshapen tents to encounters with curious local characters. Sure, it would be fun to be the children in the Chronicles of Narnia, but by then I was old enough to know that wasn’t going to happen. The coast path, though, was a real possibility.

In the years that followed, I read and reread 500 Mile Walkies. I joined the Scouts and relished the hiking, camping and other adventures. Through school, I took part in the Ten Tors events, walking dozens of miles over Dartmoor in a weekend. But still there was the coast path – waiting, unwalked. Then, during my time at university, my Dad and I began our adventure.

I’m not sure now how or why it started, other than that we’d both always wanted to do it. The notebook my dad kept of our trip doesn’t record the reason – just that we started, leaving Minehead one lunchtime and arriving at Porlock Weir in time for a fish and chip supper. In subsequent pages, it records how, in sections over the years, we walked the 630 miles to Poole (the path had been extended since Wallington walked it).