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OVER THE HILL – ON THE SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

RANDOM RUMINATIONS OF A RAMBLING RETIREE

In the Spring of 2011 I walked the South West Coast Path (SWCP) – all 633 miles of it – in one go. I have tried to avoid a straightforward account limited to the walking – something along the lines of “Got up, had breakfast, went to the toilet, (hopefully in that order), walked 15 miles, had a pint or two, then went to bed”. Instead, in trying to capture the flavour of this rich experience, as well as describing the walk and the landscape it passes through, I have attempted to do justice to the people, places, pubs and B&Bs that I came across along the way. A walk like this also allows ample opportunity for reflection, so I have thrown in some “rambling ruminations” on events occurring outside my coast path “bubble.”

After publishing the main account of my “big walk” I added a blog page where I intend to write about issues affecting the SWCP and outline some of the many circular walks which provide access to some delightful scenery and places of interest on the landward side of the path.

“Pens in hand

People are furiously writing up their diaries

At the day’s end –

How on earth can they know so soon

What has happened?”

“Blindness”

Brian Patten

“I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but why are you doing it? I mean, I just can’t understand why any sane person would want to walk all the way round the south west coast path.”

Silly old sod

Falmouth B&B

A companion site, Over The Hill – On Dartmoor And In Lakeland, about my adventures in those two national parks can be found here.