Covid 19 and Our Coastal Walk

Coastal Path Diary – The story so far (updated 24th August 2023 – now reached Porthcurno and walked 670 km (420 miles) along the Coastal Path and a total of 1289 km 801 Miles)

How it began

We have now walked a total of 1420km (882 miles) have rounded Lands End and reached Hayle

15^th September 2020

A beautiful sunny day and I walked from Milford-on-sea to Barton-on-sea, where I had a quick swim in the surprisingly warm September sea. On the way back I met a lady walking with a couple of small dogs, who asked the simple question “How far does this path go” – I think that my answer “about 600 miles” rather surprised her, until I explained that there is a Coastal Path along the Hampshire coast, through Bournemouth and Poole, that joins the South West Path from the Chain Ferry at Studland.

September 2020 is a rather depressing time, despite the wonderful warm weather the Corona virus infections were increasing alarmingly and only a couple of days ago the government had introduced the “rule of six”. The use or public transport was not being encouraged and we faced a long winter.

Over a couple of beers that evening I wondered how far along the coast we could walk, without using public transport, before the Corona virus restrictions finally ended and we could resume “normal” life, whatever that may mean in the future.

To make a meaningful challenge of course there needed to be some rules, or at least guidance, as the over the last few months government had kept demonstration that rules are always subject to change, and only apply to those who choose to follow them – so here are our first set of rules, subject to change at any time.

Rules or Guidance

Start from home and follow the coast continuously clockwise.
Start, or finish, each walk as close as possible to the previous finish.
Each walk will have a coastal path section and one or two inland sections – they can be on any order or direction.
We will follow the Covid19 guidance and so may need to pause if “non-essential” travel is banned.
We will continue, hopefully with about one walk per week, until all Covid19 restrictions are removed and normal travel can resume

To Coastal Architecture

In September and October 2020 we walked from home, Lymington, to Sandbanks – the East side of the entrance to Poole Harbour. This was 5 separate days walking and it was and easy journey home at the end of each day

Click on the title or the button below to see the details of each walk