For anyone looking for a challenge, Somerset’s coastline could be the start of it, as a new route is taking shape.
Anyone fancy a walk?’ If I asked that question of a group of friends a lot of people would look interested. ‘How about a long walk?’ Several would start to demur. ‘How about a really long walk? How about 2,700 miles?’ At that point, enthusiasm would be replaced by a glazed look – not least in my own eyes. That would be some undertaking.
But 2,700 miles is the staggering length of what is going to be our newest and longest national trail, and a chunk of it is in Somerset.
As an island nation we have a strong affinity for the sea and coastline, it is a region to which many of us feel drawn. Back in 2010, the Essex
Ramblers started campaigning for an England Coast Path (ECP) that would circumnavigate our entire coastline, from Marshall Meadows Bay in Northumberland right around to the Solway Firth in Cumbria, passing along the Somerset coast en route.
The Essex clarion call woke people up to the possibilities, and after years of planning, negotiation, surveying and countless other tasks this ambitious project is set to become a reality. The work has been led by Natural England, with invaluable support from Ramblers volunteers and involvement from the British Mountaineering Council, the Open Spaces Society and the Disabled Ramblers
Well over half its length is now either open or approved. When complete, it will be the world’s longest coastal walking route – an accolade currently held by the 870-mile-long Wales Coast Path, which, if they felt like it, the truly determined walker could add in when they reach the border of Wales and the ECP.
A glance at Natural England’s progress map online shows that the ECP along the Somerset Coast is either fully open (between Brean Down and Minehead), or has been approved in whole or in part, with establishment works ‘planned or in progress’. The whole route will comprise 67 sections and Natural England hopes to have all these approved, and any remaining establishment works underway, so that, hopefully, the official opening can be celebrated sometime in 2023.
The route will be acorn-waymarked – a familiar symbol to us in Somerset as this is also the logo of the SWCP (South West Coast Path) and all other National Trails.
The first section to open was in the South West, but south of us, in Dorset. It stretched from Portland to Lulworth Cove and was ready in time for the 2012 Olympics, enabling people to watch the sailing events from the coast.
The Ramblers had already assisted in a successful campaign that had resulted in the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.
This gave people the legal right to explore beaches and foreshores up to the water’s edge, making contact with the margins that define our homeland, and this groundwork made the establishment of the ECP possible.
Although the Act enables people to enjoy the shore, not all areas are accessible. Inaccessible places include land with crops, courtyards and gardens of buildings, areas unsuitable for public access such as mudflats, and steep or unstable coastal margins. Signage throughout the ECP will make this clear and needs to be paid heed to.
Our county is already home to the SWCP, which starts (or finishes, depending on your direction of travel) at Minehead. For various sections throughout its length the ECP will be concurrent with existing long-distance paths such as this.
READ MORE: Walking along the South West Coast Path in Somerset
This promises to be a huge help in the preservation of these existing trails. Currently, if a segment of coast path is eroded it runs the risk of being permanently lost, but part of the plan for the ECP is to ensure that, if it is eroded, provision will be made to re-route around that section – hence pre-existing paths like the SWCP, when encompassed by the ECP, will benefit.
The inception and growing reality of the ECP is a testament to the vision, commitment and sheer hard work of the Natural England team supported by Ramblers volunteers; their very involved remit has been to liaise with a great variety of people and organisations, from landowners to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Ramblers have mapped out preferred routes, surveyed them and, of course, put miles under their boots to check out the paths.
It has been an exercise in consultation and careful negotiations, endeavouring to ensure that all concerned are as content as possible with an acceptable outcome, an outcome that is good for walkers and good for people’s health and well-being, enhancing their connectivity with the natural world. For as long as our coast endures, the England Coast Path will stand as an everlasting tribute to those dedicated people who made it happen.
