Cat’s South West Coast Path Adventure

Join Cat as she walks 630 miles home!

Hi, I’m Cat and on the 16th May I am setting off to walk all 630 miles of the South West Coast Path to raise money for two worthwhile charities.

My two chosen charities, which I plan to split donations evenly between, are the Farming Community Network (FCN) and Action Against Hunger. FCN offers pastoral and practical support to help farming families through hard times. Action Against Hunger fights hunger and malnutrition across 46 countries globally.

Starting in Minehead the South West Coast Path follows cliffs and coves, previously trodden by coastguards on the lookout for smugglers, all the way through four counties to South Haven Point on Poole Harbour, which is close to where I live. Having explored my local section of the path, I thought it was time to see the rest!

I plan to complete the path in roughly 45 days, camping as much as possible and documenting my journey as I go. I’m going to attempt to keep a journal whilst walking which I can then condense into short blog entries for this page. I’m not really an experienced long-distance walker but think the SWCP is a great place to become one and essentially I’m just walking home - the long way!

For more information on the charities I am supporting then please follow the link to my Just Giving page. Any donations are gratefully received.

First 100 miles - Minehead to Clovelly

I’m 7 days into my 630 mile walk of the South West Coast Path and have just made it over the 100 mile mark!

This past week has been a bit of a shock to the system but I’m finding my feet and crossing miles off day by day. While the first day from Minehead to Porlock led me into a false sense of security, as I had my tent pitched by 1pm, the days quickly got longer.

The path starts by meandering through woods full of streams and moss covered boulders before reaching open clifftop paths and valleys. The Valley of Rocks past Lynton was amazing in the morning sunshine and weaving around the feral goats who live there was a highlight. I climbed Great Hangman, the highest peak on the coast path at 1043ft, which took me 2050 steps and quite a few breaks to “admire the view”.

The days following revealed the enormous sandy surfing beaches North Devon is famed for including Woolacombe, Croyde and Saunton Sands. I tried to have my first swim at Saunton but didn’t last too long as the waves were much bigger than I’m used to in Dorset and I was a bit frightened being on my own. However, as I move into Cornwall and the south coast I’m looking forward to some more dips in the Atlantic.

Having wild camped for a few nights, I’ve loved being on the cliffs in the evening watching the sun go down. Hopefully my next stretch through Cornwall will provide more idyllic spots for me to pitch my tent. final stop of the week and hundred mile mark was the small village of Clovelly.

My sister, Issy, came to join me for the day and we explored the steep and car-free cobbled street where deliveries are made using sledges.

I’m trying to make an effort to look around both the path between towns and the towns themselves. It’s easy to get caught up in reaching A to B as soon as possible but I’ve realised that there’s no rush and I’ll get there when I get there!

I’m on schedule to finish the walk in 45 days and next week I’m excited to walk the North Cornish coast.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to far, I’m very grateful. If you haven’t donated yet and would like to then my fundraising link can be found here and on the link above.

 

200 miles - Clovelly to Newquay

I’m 2 weeks in, 200 miles along the South West Coast Path and am now in Cornwall, where I’ll be for the next 3 weeks!

The path from Devon to Cornwall was steep and rugged, with scenery made even more dramatic by the fact it was also incredibly windy at times! The stretch from Hartland Point to Bude was tough and couldn’t be rushed. Needless to say I was quite relieved to eventually reach Bude. Shoutout to my new friend Caitlin who I met on the path and have walked with for the past couple of days. It’s been really lovely to walk these hard sections with someone else and have company while wild camping!

The following day I didn’t make as much progress as it rained and I delayed packing up until it cleared. Eventually I carried on the path and met my dad who had come from Dorset to walk with me. We explored Boscastle and Tintagel which included a lot of stops to admire the cows, dry stone walls, remnants of tin mines and obviously get ice cream.

Towards the end of the week it started heating up and I reached Polzeath just as everyone began to arrive for May half term. By the time I was in Padstow Saturday morning (after bumping into a uni friend on the ferry across!), I felt the full force of half term and what’ll be the norm for the next coming week.

All the beaches past Padstow were beautiful but packed, quite different compared to the calm previous week. 

It took me a while to find a good spot to wild camp and when I eventually found my spot, I remembered that my pole had snapped that morning! I carefully manoeuvred my tent into place and thankfully was heading to Newquay the following day which had plenty of camping shops.

The previous long day gave me a whole afternoon in Newquay to sort my tent, laundry and reset before the next week where I’ll head to St Ives and Lands End before moving onto the south Cornish coast!

This coming week looks very sunny which will give me a good chance to improve my walker’s tan (aka a very strong sock and T-shirt tan). Plus my friend is joining from St Ives and I’ll pass spots where it should be easy to spot seals!

 

300 miles (almost!) - Newquay to Penzance

As I went to leave Newquay on Monday morning, armed with a brand new tent, it immediately started pouring so I ducked into the nearest café to wait it out… I eventually emerged to begin my third week on the coast path, where I’ll finish off the north coast and begin the south.

The first half of the week had rainy starts which is the worst when packing up a wild camp spot. I must have looked so bad one morning that the coast guard came out of his hut to ask if I was ok, he said I looked very tired! He prescribed me an iced hedgehog at the upcoming café and I was not disappointed. This local delicacy of vanilla ice cream, clotted cream and roasted hazelnuts is apparently exclusive to the beach café at Chapel Porth.

 

By Wednesday afternoon the weather had cleared up and I reached St Ives where I was meeting my friend Lili, who’d got the train from London to walk with me. We met on the packed seafront, grabbed dinner before heading to our campsite where we snugly fitted into my one-man tent - much to the amusement of our neighbouring campers.

The following day of St Ives to Pendeen had gorgeous scenery but was incredibly hard going, scrambling over boulders and through streams. We finally made it to our campsite with enough time to pitch up and watch the beacon being lit in a nearby farmer’s field for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I said goodbye to Lili at Cape Cornwall before carrying on to Land’s End, which was jam-packed, I sadly didn’t get a photo with the sign because it was £10! I met two guys who were scouring for a camp spot using an old, annotated OS map and we found a great spot in a valley overlooking some seals in the water.

We marched to Penzance in more rain and through overgrown paths, which meant we were squelching in our boots. After a quick break to get lunch (and put on dry socks!), we made it to Penzance where we said our goodbyes. It was nice to have company the past few days and the guys also offloaded all their trail snacks onto me before catching their train back to London, a big win.

I headed to my campsite where I stayed for two nights as I decided to have my first rest day. I’m just shy of 300 miles and nearly at the halfway point of my journey so definitely think a day off will refresh me for next week!

The donations so far have truly astounded me, I didn’t expect to raise this much at all! Thank you so much to everyone who’s donated to or shared my page, and if you haven’t yet but would like to donate then the link is on this page.

Half way! Penzance to Falmouth

The love affair with my new tent was short lived, and it too broke on me just as I was about to reach the Lizard Peninsula. I did what all other mature adults would do, and phoned home to my mum, crying. Thankfully, my parents were very sympathetic and as my nearest big town was still a few days walk away, my mum became my travel agent and sorted my accommodation. It was the most testing part of the walk yet and I really questioned why I was out here doing it.

I eventually pulled myself together and with my accommodation booked for the evening, I had an end goal to reach. Despite the sea mist and drizzle, the scenery was amazing and made even more dramatic by the weather. I reached Lizard Point, the southernmost point of mainland Britain, and bumped into a fellow walker who laughed at my tent misfortunes which cheered me up.

Onwards to Cadgwith where the pub I was staying in hosted folk open mic nights every Tuesday. It was so nice to sit with a pint listening to some music, after a proper meal and knowing I had a bed to stay in upstairs! Not sure I’d do well in a B&B every night though, too late to bed and definitely overdid it at breakfast…

I reached Porthallow, the halfway point, by Wednesday and Falmouth, Thursday. I thought Falmouth was great and full of independent businesses. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a tent there, so took the train to Truro the following morning to pick one up before restarting the path. It did mean a delayed start but I didn’t care. The weather had cleared and it felt amazing knowing I could stop whenever I pleased and not rush to meet a check-in time!

I managed to find some lovely camp spots and despite a testing week, I was happy with my progress. I took some time to write postcards and plan my final Cornish stretch before I reach Plymouth next week! It was mentally a tough few days, plus my first week totally solo, but my new tent and I are ready for whatever happens in week 5.

 

Week Five - Falmouth to Salcombe

Week 5 saw me complete the 280 mile long Cornish coast and re-enter Devon to tackle it’s south coast. The final Cornish stretch was one of the physically toughest but also one of my favourites. The path between Fowey and Polperro was rated arduous but stunning nonetheless, and my final camp spot on Rame Head was a lovely ending to my Cornish adventure.

Reaching Plymouth felt like a milestone for me, I really feel like I’m not too far from home now! Plymouth itself however, I was quite happy to leave behind and return to the cliff tops. The route passes through 5 miles of Plymouth’s docks, not my favourite landscape, but made me appreciate the following scenery even more.

I found a perfect camp spot past Noss Mayo but was low on water and unfortunately the following day was the hottest yet. I snuck into a private caravan park a few miles in to fill up and was so glad I did, as there didn’t seem to be anywhere else until 5pm. This was the only time I felt slightly worried, particularly as it was so hot and there weren’t many other walkers about. Probably because they were wise and thought against it in the heat!

The week included more ferries and my first river crossing by foot, where I forded the river Erme! I had to get my timings right to arrive at low tide and despite being perhaps slightly too early, it almost went over my knees, it was fun!

I reached Salcombe by the weekend and from here the wind picked up and the weather changed yet again. At this point I don’t really bother to check the forecast anymore. It’s never very accurate, I have to deal with it regardless and my dad likes to text me when it’s going to rain anyway! I headed to a campsite earlier than planned on Sunday, the wind was ferocious and I didn’t think it was worth carrying on. I wanted to be able to pitch my tent early and in a sheltered spot, I wasn’t sure I could handle another snapped tent pole…

 

The past two weeks have been the most testing and difficult yet. However, I’ve found that the bad days are always followed by the best days - hard to believe at times, but it’s true! Next week I will complete Devon and move into Dorset, where I’m well and truly on the home straight.

More Ramblings