Bristol Hiker Girls have been logging their local miles and virtually hiking the South West Coast Path, 630 miles from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset.
And this week, we made it to South Haven Point, marking the finish line of our long walk! Here's how we finished off the trail, complete with pictures from our members' local walks around Bristol and the surrounding areas and pictures from their past experiences of hiking sections of the beautiful coastline.
Days 6 and 7
190.35 miles
Polkerris to Chesil Beach
Janet and Vikkie started us off near Mevagissey, hiking past Lantic Bay (see Vikkie's picture of the beautiful Dyrham Park estate). Laura T's short walk around the harbour and Mary's walk around Knowle took us to Polperro whilst Raphaelle's long walk around the harbour and Bedminster saw us past Looe and back into Devon.
(Raphaelle's pic of the SS Great Britain on Bristol Harbourside)
Zoë took us to the headland at St. Michael's Chapel overlooking Looe Island and Becky's second round of the Bristol Bridges walk (a whopping 24.7 miles) saw us through the only metropolitan part of the walk along the docks at Plymouth, taking in Plymouth Hoe, Mountbatten and finally through the lovely village of Wembury.
(Drake's Island, Plymouth ~ photo by Sarah B)
Lia and Vikkie's walk around Clevedon (see pic below) then took us through a series of beautiful coves, including Butcher's Cove. Laura C and Ashleigh's joint hike around Bath passed some really beautiful locations including some of the major towns and beaches on the South Hams: Bigbury, South Milton Sands, Bolt Tail, Salcombe, Beesands, Slapton Sands, Blackpool Sands and Dartmouth.
(Vikkie's pic from Clevedon)
(Bigbury, photo by Laura M)
Special mention to Maire, who walked a whopping 31.19miles for her virtual Ultra Britain Challenge along the B2B and back. She brought us through the towns of the English Riviera, including Brixham, Paignton, Torquay, Hope Cove, Babbacombe, Teignmouth and Dawlish (where the trainline runs right along the seafront - one of the most exhilarating train journeys you can take when the sea is stormy!). Nice work Maire!
(Teignmouth, photo by Abbie C)
Molly hiked around the Downs and into Exmouth and onto the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, whilst Laura T's hike around Leigh Woods took us past Budleigh Salterton and the glorious red cliffs of Ladram Bay. Lorraine's aimless wander around Wincanton (her words, not mine) took us to Sidmouth. Then Karin's two walks brought us through Branscombe, Beer and Seaton. Here's a video I took from that section of the route whilst visiting my support bubble last weekend.
(Sidmouth, @charlotte_hikes)
(Beer, @charlotte_hikes)
(Seaton, @charlotte_hikes)
Laura C then took us along the long Undercliff walk from Seaton to the Cobb at Lyme Regis, passing from Devon to Dorset.
(The Cobb at Lyme Regis, @charlotte_hikes)
Mary's long run along the Portway brought us through Charmouth and up on the top of Golden Cap, the highest point on the South Coast. She also hiked through West Bay, home of those iconic cliffs from Broadchurch.
(Golden Cap, @charlotte_hikes)
From there, Ashleigh finished the day off at the start of the beautiful Chesil Beach.
Days 8 and 9
68.88 miles
Chesil Beach to South Haven Point
Lucy started us off at Chesil Beach on her big 12-mile Leigh Woods and Avon Valley walk. She took us through beautiful Abbotsbury and along the coastline next to the famous Chesil Beach.
(Lucy's well deserved treat on her walk around Leigh Woods and Avon Valley)
Then Laura C's morning walk in Bath and Lorraine's stroll at Stourhead saw us onto the island of Portland and Portland Bill lighthouse at the end of the headland. Harriet and Vikkie walked into Weymouth along the beautiful sands there.
(Portland Bill, photo by Laura M)
(Harriet's doggo in Clevedon)
Mary's run around Knowle brought us to the Smuggler's Inn at Osmington Mills, which those of you who came to the Jurassic Coast walk back in 2019 (yikes!) will remember visiting! She took a lovely pic of a budding magnolia.
(Mary's magonlia in Knowle, Bristol)
Katie then hiked along the rollercoaster cliffs to Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove on her walk at Leigh Woods and another Katie took us on to Kimmeridge Bay. This is a section of the coast path some of our members know well!
(BHGers at White Nothe in 2019, @charlotte_hikes)
(Durdle Door, @charlotte_hikes)
(Lulworth Cove, @charlotte_hikes)
(BHGers along the rollercoaster route to Lulworth, @charlotte_hikes)
(Kimmeridge, photo by Lorraine T)
Mary and Molly then brought us down to Chapman's Pool, a beautiful part of the Dorset Coast, whilst Clare's 12 mile walk around Bristol passed some of the final highlights of the trail at Anvil Point Lighthouse, Swanage and the iconic Old Harry Rocks.
(Chapman's Pool, photo by Emily H)
Finally, it was Laura C's morning walk in Bath on Wednesday that saw us through the finish line, passing through Studland Bay and ending at South Haven Point, where another metal sculpture marks the end of the SWCP.
Thanks to everyone for logging your miles. Let's keep going! There's plenty more coastline to walk and it would be very interesting to see where we end up by the end of the month!
Don't forget, the two people who log the most miles win a prize!
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