The South West Coast Path (SWCP) is the longest of Britain's National Trails, running for approximately 630 miles around the coasts of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. It showcases some of England's most stunning coastal scenery including such nationally-recognised sights such as Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door, Chesil Beach, Lands End and theValley of the Rocks at Lynton.

The path is based primarily on the old route that the Coastguards used to walk in an attempt to reduce the huge amount of smuggling that used to occur on these shores. Just as each Coastguard would only be responsible for a particular stretch of coast, so it is unlikely that today's average walker will be able to walk the whole route in one attempt - simply because it'll take six or seven weeks to do and it's difficult to get that much time off work! The usual tactic is therefore to "section hike" the path - walking it a few days at a time, and then returning the following year to pick up where you left off.

For us the SWCP was what got us into long distance walking in the first place. We walked the section from Poole to Weymouth simply because it was the closest and most accessible from where we lived, and enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back the following year - in the meantime we started doing other long-distance walks, which led in turn to this website. We've yet to finish the SWCP, but we will... one day...