always goes with you on long walks. Note that many beaches have a ‘dog ban’ during the summer months, and there are many fields near cliff edges where sheep and cattle graze, where a dog might cause a stampede. If cattle react aggressively to your dog, let it off the lead and ensure your own safety. Your dog will usually manage fine on its own and will rejoin you later. People have been killed while trying to protect their dogs.
Local people walk their dogs along daily beats, and some local dogs resent the approach of a strange dog. Walkers with dogs will find that some accommodation providers won’t accept them, and some pubs and restaurants won’t allow dogs on the premises. Think carefully before committing yourself to such a long walk with man’s best friend.
What to take
Walkers heading towards Damehole Point between Hartland Point and Hartland Quay (Stage 8)
Kit choice depends largely on choice of accommodation and whether or not luggage transfers are to be used. However, no special kit is required for walking along the South West Coast Path, apart from decent footwear, waterproofs for wet and windy days, and a sunhat and sunscreen for hot and sunny days.
Completely self-sufficient backpackers should travel lightweight, and will not need particularly robust tents or bulky sleeping bags in summer. Food and drink can be bought at regular intervals, so there is no need to carry heavy loads.
Those who plan to sleep indoors could manage with nothing more than their usual day-sack contents, plus a change of clothes and possibly a lightweight change of footwear. However, this assumes that clothes will be washed and dried every couple of days, and walking with such a lightweight pack will of course mean sacrificing many luxuries.
Plenty of extra clothing and footwear, along with a variety of luxury items, can be packed if you’re using a luggage transfer service. Always ensure that the people at each accommodation stop are aware that your luggage will be left with them, and be realistic about the distance you intend to cover each day – or you may find yourself falling short of where your luggage has been delivered!
Whatever is being carried, be sure to check footwear, clothing and kit from time to time to ensure that nothing is failing or in need of replacement. A basic repair kit can take care of minor tears and stitch-work. Items of kit and clothing can be replaced in most large towns, but suddenly changing into new and unfamiliar footwear could be asking for trouble. In case of sudden need when far from a decent range of shops, it might be necessary to catch a bus or train off-route in search of particular items.
PLANNING DAY BY DAY
Godrevy Island and its lighthouse off the end of Godrevy Point (Stage 17)
Using this guide
An information box at the beginning of each stage provides the essential statistics for the day’s walk: start and finish points (including grid refs), distance covered, height gain, the length of time it’s likely to take to complete the stage, an overview of the types of terrain you’ll encounter, the appropriate OS Landranger and Explorer sheets along with the relevant A–Z atlas and Harvey map, and places en route (as well as slightly off-route) where you can buy refreshments.
Stage maps, extracted from the Ordnance Survey mapping, are provided at a scale of 1:50,000. They run from page to page, covering the whole of the South West Coast Path. In the route description, significant places or features along the way that also appear on the map extracts are highlighted in bold to aid navigation. As well as the route being described in detail, background information about places of interest is provided in brief. For help in decoding some of the local place names, see Appendix C.
Both Appendix A (Useful contacts) and Appendix B (Facilities along the route) provide details that may be useful in planning and enjoying a successful walk.
Maps and GPS
In print, a dozen OS 1:50,000 scale Landranger sheets cover the entire route: 180, 181, 190, 192, 193, 194, 195, 200, 201, 202, 203 and 204. The OS 1:25,000 scale Explorer Series covers the entire route in 16 sheets: 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 115, 116, 126, 139, OL9, OL15 and OL20.
Three Cicerone map booklets contain detailed 1:25,000 OS mapping of the South West Coast Path. They are: Vol 1 Minehead to St Ives; Vol 2 St Ives to Plymouth; Vol 3 Plymouth to Poole.
Harvey Maps, www.harveymaps.co.uk, covers the South West Coast Path in three waterproof sheets, at a scale of 1:40,000, as part of their National Trail series.
Increasingly, walkers are making use of mobile devices and navigation apps that combine GPS and OS mapping. While this saves considerable weight, users must ensure that their devices are regularly charged to be effective.
Time and tide
If the tide allows, it is worth going down to the beach at Bedruthan Steps (Stage 14)
The old proverb states that ‘time and tide wait for no man’, and this is true on the South West Coast Path. If planning a fairly rigid schedule along the route, then be sure to obtain up-to-date tide tables, which can be purchased at shops and tourist information offices. Tide times are often posted at RNLI lifeboat stations and lifeguard cabins, as well as at harbour offices. Do not walk along beaches at the foot of cliffs when there’s a danger of being cut off by the rising tide, and avoid wading across tidal channels if a ferry is available. The River Erme, which has no ferry, can cause considerable delays when walkers have to wait for low water.
Take careful note of any stretches of the route that run along beaches. High, pebbly storm beaches are likely to be safe most of the time, except, as their name suggests, during fearsome storms. Marshes tend to get covered by the highest tides, but are free of water at most other times. Lower-lying beaches, expansive sands and mudflats are subject to twice-daily inundation, which can bring progress to a halt. Usually, this might only be for an hour, but in some places it could be longer. If walking along beaches while the tide is rising, always ensure that you can escape inland if necessary.
The ‘Three Rocks’ are prominent red sandstone stacks at Ladram Bay (Stage 38)
Tides depend primarily on the position of the Moon relative to the Earth, centrifugal force, and to a lesser degree, the position of the Sun. Rather than trying to understand the astronomical and physical data, just refer to current tide tables, or check www.tidetimes.org.uk and bear in mind the following:
high water occurs in cycles approximately every 12 hours and 25 minutes
low water occurs in cycles approximately every 12 hours and 25 minutes
spring tides rise higher than neap tides and both occur about a week apart
tide tables are usually quoted in GMT, so add one hour for BST in summer
tide tables are actually tide ‘predictions’, so use the data provided carefully, and
strong onshore winds and low air pressure cause additional storm surges.
