I’ve been following the progress of the England Coast Path for a while now, since my obsession with long distance paths started. I love these trails, even though I have not, as yet, walked very much of any of them. There have been various coastal paths around the country, with the South West Coast Path being the most prominent, but now work has been pretty much completed on joining the dots and unveiling the new King Charles III Coast Path. The man himself opened the path today, although I’m guessing he didn’t walk very much of the almost 2,700 miles.

This is very exciting. As it mentions in that article:

Much of the new coastal route already existed, but more than 1,000 miles of new paths have been created, and many other sections upgraded. Paths have been resurfaced, stiles removed, boardwalks built and bridges installed.

And quite astonishingly:

The project was initiated during Gordon Brown’s government, and it has taken 18 years and seven prime ministers to get to this stage.

It’s not perfect, there are lots of rivers and crossings to navigate and there are still sections that aren’t easy:

One stretch in south Devon is particularly challenging. At the River Erme, there is no bridge or ferry, and the land further upstream is privately owned and inaccessible. Walkers must therefore roll up their trousers and wade across the river within an hour either side of low tide.

You’d have to be pretty dedicated to want to do that!

If you tacked on the Wales Coast Path and some of the impressive coastal paths in Scotland (not sure they have a fully joined up path but it might be in the works) then you could get round the whole island on foot… even if some of it is by wading through the rivers. I’m not sure that’s ever going to be on my bucket list, but I definitely would like to get out and see a bit more of this new (and old) England Coast Path.