I would absolutely class the South West Coast Path as one of my most favourite things I’ve ever done. The walking can be hard but the eyehole fodder is epic. We completed it in 54 days, mostly wild camping and with plenty of days off. It’s currently the longest complete national trail in the United Kingdom at 630 miles / 1014 kilometres. Or at least it will be until they finish the much anticipated England Coast Path. So that’s 630 miles of gawping at the sea whilst apologising profusely to your calf muscles and knees.
It starts from day 11 and finishes on day 64 as the first 10 days of the overall hike weren’t on the SWCP. If you want to check out the rest of the walk, feel free to have a look at the main “The Bottom Half” page.
BUDGET for one person (based on two sharing)
Accommodation: £345.15
Groceries: £509.49
Cafés & restaurants: £332.14
Booze: £170.95
Coffee, tea, soft drinks: £95.81
Boats, buses, trains: £69.25
All manner of other shit from postage to equipment to toilets: £172.88
Grand Total: £1695.67
Daily Average: £31.40
The Stories
Day 11 – Bournemouth to Dancing Ledge
Well I 100% didn’t need all that alcohol I drank last night, and I definitely felt like I had more than four drinks. This was possibly the reason it took so bloody long to get going today despite the fact…
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Day 12 – Dancing Ledge to West Lulworth
TLDR…Eyeholes: “Oh my fucking god will you JUST LOOK AT THAT VIEW?! I can’t even <3″Camera: “Meh. S’alright.”Brain: “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING SO CLOSE TO THE EDGE ARE YOU INSANE?! That’s it. Sit down. You’re not going anywhere.”…
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Day 13 – Rest Day, West Lulworth
I’m so glad we decided to take today off. Not only are my poor, battered legs a bit stiff today but my arms are bloody killing me, probably from where I was using my poles to drag my unwilling carcass…
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Day 14 – West Lulworth to Osmington
Our plan today was to camp before Weymouth which would mean a super short day of ten miles or so. We didn’t really want to go further as that would commit us to going through the town then all the…
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Day 15 – Osmington to The Isle Of Portland
We fully intended to get around the whole of Portland today, emerge triumphant from the other side then head a few miles away where we thought we might be able to bag a quiet wild camp. There’d be nothing on…
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Day 16 – The Isle Of Portland to West Bexington
I’ve been getting cold at night and given the general badassery of my kit that really shouldn’t happen. I was lovely and warm when we camped at the YHA in Lulworth and it was actually colder so the only thing…
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Day 17 – West Bexington to Lyme Regis
When we camped on the cliffs at Osmington my brain took that lovely sound of the waves below crashing on the rocks and decided we were sleeping next to a motorway. Thanks, brain. Last night brain figured out we were…
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Day 18 – Lyme Regis to Branscombe Beach
We swapped the sounds of the sea for the sounds of the A35 last night but to be fair, once I’m drifting off, as long as the noise is steady my brain can’t differentiate and it lulls me to sleep…
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Day 19 – Branscombe Beach to Exmouth
I think my poor diet has finally caught up with me, you could pebble dash a wall with my arse this morning. Walking on a shingle beach is hard enough without having to do so whilst clenching, and I didn’t…
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Day 20 – Exmouth to Maidencombe
We woke up to drizzle. It wasn’t meant to be drizzling but here we were. Tarrant said I’d angered the weather gods because I said yesterday’s rain felt like they couldn’t be arsed. It’s not my fault the weather gods…
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Day 21 – Maidencombe to Torquay
Acceptably slopey is the new flat but you’ll still end up crumpled at the bottom of the tent, waking up every hour to claw your way back up your mat. I didn’t sleep too well last night, neither of us…
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Day 22 – Rest Day, Torquay
I adore camping, I really do, but I also love waking up in a nice, comfy bed. It’s also fucking lovely having a lie in because you don’t have to set an alarm on account of the fact you’re not…
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Day 23 – Torquay to Woodhuish
It’s always a nice, chilled start when we wake up somewhere we’re allowed to be and there was no risk of an angry local showing up and tearing strips off us. It was gone 8am when we finally shuffled out…
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Day 24 – Woodhuish to Beesands
We had some absolutely violent hills to start the day with. Six miles of the fuckers. I don’t know why I continue to be all confused and surprised when my legs are about to drop off only three hours into…
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Day 25 – Beesands to Soar Mill Cove
We managed to get the tent packed down with minimal sand incidents which had to be the work of a higher power given that between last night’s drizzle and the condensation inside the tent, it was soaking. Maybe I’ve just…
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Day 26 – Soar Mill Cove to Beacon Hill
We had a couple of things to actually think about today which was a bit of a shock to the grey spongy thing between my ears. Rather than just meandering and getting there when we get there we had to…
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Day 27 – Beacon Hill to Bovisand Beach
Well today can actually, quite frankly, fuck right off. I just want to get that out there from the start. It was an utter shitcunt of a day and if it could go tits up it absolutely did go tits…
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Day 28 – Bovisand Beach to Plymouth
It was meant to be sunny when we woke up but it was still very much wet and windy. Thanks, Met Office. I think we can safely ignore the weather forecast as we move closer to Cornish territory, though obviously…
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Day 29 – Plymouth to Portwrinkle
We figured we might as well have a nice, chilled start to the day, largely because literally any excuse to be a little bit lazy, plus we didn’t have to check out until 11am. We treated ourself to a lie…
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Day 30 – Portwrinkle to East Combe
Fuck my life what an awful night’s sleep. Clearly our definition of acceptably slopey is getting more and more liberal as the trail presents less and less places to camp. The slope we were on meant I didn’t even have…
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Day 31 – East Combe to Black Head
It’s amazing what a difference a flat pitch makes. I slept so well that when the alarm went off I went back to sleep which is very much a Tarrant trick. I’m usually straight up and having to periodically nudge…
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Day 32 – Black Head to Dodman Point
The hideous steps between St Austell and Mevagissey were foretold by a chap I talk to on Instagram. Aaall the way down to come aaall the way back up. They’re really quite upsetting but they’re not actually relentless (I’m looking…
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Day 33 – Dodman Point to Bohortha
Another absolute stunner of a night’s sleep but yeah nah, didn’t need any of that beer yesterday. It’s not like we drank a lot but my entire being made it very clear that my age doesn’t begin with a two…
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Day 34 – Bohortha to Falmouth
We fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing onto the rocks far below us and woke up to birds chirping in the hedgerow we’d pitched next to. Oh, and the sound of rain belting down on the tent.…
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Day 35 – Falmouth to Carne
Well it’s rude not to have a little lie in when you’re allowed to be where you are isn’t it? Plus there was literally no point in rushing this morning. We were about ten miles from the Helford Ferry which…
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Day 36 – Carne to Black Head (nr. Coverack)
Tarrant was most unhappy about the slug to tent ratio this morning and to be honest the slime trails criss-crossing the tent even made me a bit uncomfortable. Had they all had some manner of slug orgy on our roof…
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Day 37 – Black Head (nr. Coverack) to The Lizard
Woke up dry and warm. No woodlouse took up residence in my objects. I’m calling the lookout a win. We had a look around the headland a little bit, said our goodbyes to Daniel, and off we fucked. The trail…
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Days 38 & 39 – Rest Days, The Lizard
We woke up to rain pattering down onto the tent on Friday morning and it’s almost pleasant, lying under canvas (or sil-nylon, but that doesn’t sound as romantic) listening to the rain when you don’t have to pack up in…
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Day 40 – The Lizard to Prussia Cove
God it was hard fucking work dragging ourselves out of bed at 5am after two days off but we wanted to smash some miles out today. It didn’t help that our pitch was separated from the communal fire pit by…
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Day 41 – Prussia Cove to Penberth
You know those days that are so fucking long that when you cast your dazed and weary mind back to the morning it might as well have been last fucking week? That essentially sums up today so settle in for…
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Day 42 – Penberth to Botallack
What is it about Land’s End that makes it such a thing? It’s not halfway through the South West Coast Path. It’s gorgeous but not any more gorgeous than any other given stretch of coastline around here. Yeah okay, so…
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Day 43 – Botallack to Zennor
I thought I slept last night but judging how utterly shattered I was all day it’s more likely that I woke up more times than I thought I did worrying that the wind would sweep us away to a magical…
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Day 44 – Zennor to Gwithian
I slept so well last night! Honestly, best night’s sleep in ages. The cat didn’t use the tent as a climbing frame either but it did kill and decapitate a young rabbit for us and deposited about a metre from…
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Day 45 – Gwithian to St Agnes
I still felt like shit this morning but the gut explosion I was expecting wasn’t forthcoming. I forced myself to eat a packet of Fridge Raiders but damn it, I didn’t enjoy it. I had absolutely no appetite at all…
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Day 46 – St Agnes to Newquay
We woke up this morning and evaluated how we felt. My stomach felt better, I even actually wanted breakfast rather than forcing various packaged products down my throat because if I didn’t I wouldn’t function. Tarrant’s ankles were their usual…
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Days 47 & 48 – Rest Days, Newquay
We really have done very, very little here in Newquay which was pretty much the point. There are a metric fuck tonne of things to do here from diving to surfing to coasteering but none of this is conducive to…
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Day 49 – Newquay to Trevose Head
I have no idea how we managed to get as far as we did today given the sheer amount of faffing we did this morning, plus the fact I’m hobbling like an old lady. An even older lady than I…
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Day 50 – Trevose Head to Rumps Point
We promised ourselves another chill one today. No point in pushing ourselves like we’ve done in the past, when all is said and done we’re inherently lazy. We’re not trying to set records or impress anyone. Also everything fucking hurts…
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Day 51 – Rumps Point to Trebarwith Strand
Well today was a shock to the system after the relatively flat days we’d been having. Okay yeah, so we’d been bouldering and picked our way across ankle breaking terrain and climbed some ridiculous hills but it had mostly been…
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Day 52 – Trebarwith Strand to Tintagel
We are literally the worst thru-hikers known to man. We’d never be able to do one of those time sensitive American trails where you have to complete it within a certain time window or you’ll freeze to death in a…
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Day 53 – Tintagel to Rusey Cliffs
We lay in our tent this morning listening to the rain belt down onto the sil-nylon. I’d been dying for a piss for hours but I really, really didn’t want to go out in it. I know it’s never as…
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Day 54 – Rusey Cliffs to Bude
So High Cliff wasn’t as hideous as we thought it’d be on account of the fact they’ve seen fit to carve a lovely zig-zag path up it which obviously makes it longer but less steep. There’s still the straight up…
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Day 55 – Bude to Higher Sharpnose Point
We fully intended for today to be a short day on account of the fact we fully intended to leach the electricity in Costa Coffee until our powerbanks were fully charged. They’re pretty badass, they go from dead to full…
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Day 56 – Higher Sharpnose Point to Titchberry
It was overcast and muggy as fuck today. We packed up and reluctantly tore ourselves away from our lovely camp spot and made our way down the hill. I’ll take the muggy over the searing sunshine of yesterday though, this…
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Day 57 – Titchberry to Peppercombe
It was off and on pissing rain all night last night, the kind that wakes you up because it blasts down suddenly like someone had taken a power hose to your tent, so neither of us slept really well. The…
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Day 58 – Peppercombe to Appledore
We woke up in our nice, dry bothy and packed away as the rain pattered down. I was quietly smug that we’d stayed here last night and now didn’t have to pack the tent down in the rain. I was…
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Day 59 – Appledore to Braunton
Me: “Well that hill can fuck right off! Far too big and steep and and and… hilly!”Also me: “Ugh, fuck my life this is so flat and tedious. God I’m so bored. I wish there was a fucking hill or…
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Day 60 – Rest Day, Braunton
We fully intended to bag a trig about a mile and a half up a fuck off big hill today but my poor feet were still battered. They were all puffy and sore, no way was I moving off this…
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Day 61 – Braunton to Bull Point
It’s sort of the law to have a lazy morning when you wake up at a campsite or a B&B or basically anywhere that you slept legally. We enjoyed unfettered access to our respective caffeine sources, charged our shit up,…
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Day 62 – Bull Point to Trentishoe
The first part of today was fucking lovely albeit a little cow infested. There was plenty of flat that you could get a pace up on insomuch as various injuries would permit, and the hills were the perfect level of…
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Day 63 – Trentishoe to Culbone
Last night’s pitch was actually okay despite reservations we’d end up crumpled at the bottom of the tent, or our pegs would trip someone up. No-one actually walked by and it turned out to be perfectly acceptably slopey. We were…
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Day 64 – Culbone to Minehead
Today’s the day! We’re going to smash out the last twelve miles of the South West Coast Path! Straight there, no faffing! We packed the tent down whilst trying to swallow as few tiny flies as possible and made our…
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