Obviously, I picked this up because of my obsession with long distance paths, and the Thames Path being one particularly high up the list. This was a really good read, but it did have me wondering in places - what is it trying to be? There’s a lot of discussion about pub prices and hotel hospitality, alongside slightly bizarre meanderings around the fallout from Brexit. But then there are great river anecdotes, meeting random people and setting up interviews and tours along the way. It’s well written, atmospheric and enticing, but then sometimes frustrating and (as admitted by the author) purposeless. Worth the read, though, for sure.

My obsession with the UK’s National Trails has taken a bit of a backburner recently, but I decided to go in search of another starting point. This time, I looked for the trail that practically divides two countries - Offa’s Dyke Path. The path is a wobbly straight line hovering around the border between England and Wales, following the 8th century Dyke construction by King Offa. Lots of history.

Our progress on the South West Coast Path this year has been slow, or more precisely, non-existant, given everything that has been going on in the world. And because I am the kind of person who doesn’t focus on finishing one thing but quite quickly flits off to another project, I’ve found another path! This time, the England Coast Path! Why do 630 miles when you can do 2,795?

When the sun’s been out, we’ve been sneaking quick trips to the South West Coast Path at various points along its length. None of them have been particularly exciting trips but there are enough now to make a quick scrapbook. This batch includes a walk returning by train, a walk returning by bus, a walk that was stopped by a massive hill that we just couldn’t face, and a trip down Newquay streets which covered more of the path than I thought it was going to.

Been flitting around here and there on the South West Coast Path, and whilst you can’t deny the beauty of the Jurassic Coast, there’s something very special about Cornish shorelines as well.

A visit by the Thames, and good use of the Spectre app.

Beautiful Lulworth Cove with blue skies and turquoise seas, and a horrid pebble beach. Best to stay on the cliff-tops.

It’s only natural that with a growing interest in the South West Coast Path, I sought out books from those who have walked it already. There are a few, but this one seemed like a good place to start. Here we have tales of a walk split into two sections but still done properly - walking miles each day and stopping at B&Bs each evening.

Our third and final South West Coast Path adventure of the summer was all about cliffs. The theme of our adventures so far has been spontaneity and this was another one that we hadn’t really planned out. It was the kind of trip that saw us driving along a coast road and eventually just deciding to take the next left turn to end up at a beach. Unfortunately, the beach we ended up at wasn’t that inspiring, so instead, we decided to follow the acorn which took us climbing up some pretty steep cliffs. It was hard work, but it was so, ridiculously, worth it. These are the kind of views that you see on TV… and views you just can’t look away from.

It feels a bit incongruous to write about the beautiful sunny days of summer when autumn has more than arrived, but I want to catch up the final two stretches of South West Coast Path we walked this year, before settling down to make plans for the next batch. So, after finding the start of the path, our next adventure was another that came about by accident – we hadn’t particularly been planning on finding the other end of the national trail, but I sort of had an inkling in my head as we drew nearer and nearer that we could make it happen. A glorious blue sky was overhead when we rocked up to the beautiful Studland.

My obsession with the South West Coast Path has only been steadily growing since we found the beginning and the end of the long distance trail. I bought a guide book and I’ve been plotting and planning how, when and where we can walk the different sections. Because although, just recently, I managed to get Mr C to finally admit he might have an inkling (albeit with great reluctance) to join me on this adventure, it’s not going to be eight week odyssey for us. This is more of a ’let’s go and see which bit of path we can add to the map today’ type thing.

I’ve long been intrigued by the UK’s National Trails. They are long distance footpaths scattered around the UK that follow historical or geographical patterns, like Hadrian’s Wall, the Thames, or the best of the lot, the South West Coast. The South West Coast Path is the best of the lot because, as it says in the title, it follows the coast – and the sea is the best geographical feature there is. It also tracks through some of the most beautiful areas, with the gorgeous Cornish beaches, Devon cliffs, and the lovely Jurassic coast.