NEWSFLASH: The October Challenge is open for entries!
This October we are challenging you to give back to the Path and join our final push towards raising £40,000 on the trail’s 40th birthday in 2018. All you have to do is get out on the Path during October and raise whatever you can – whether that’s £4, £40 or £400. Come to one of our exciting hosted hikes, or head to the Path in your own time to raise funds for its future.

Check out the busy programme of hosted hikes we have planned for you and register on our website at https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/:

Stories of St Agnes, History & Legends Walk
Join local historian Roger Radcliffe and National Trust lead ranger Steve Sudworth for an atmospheric stroll taking in the sights, sounds and stories of this beguiling stretch of Cornish coast. Set to the beautiful backdrop of the open ocean, this unique walk will excite the imagination as you are treated to stories of folklore, mining, shipwrecks and intriguing local characters in a two-hour exploration from St Agnes to Porthtowan, finishing as the sun sets.
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Flaming Torchlit Trail – Dorset, Night Walk
This is a very special circular walk around Langdon Hill and then climbing to the top of Golden Cap, before returning to your start point. Carry your own flaming torch and see the Cap in a whole different light, enjoying the panoramic moonlit views across Lyme Bay. There is a steep climb and steps on the path to the top of beautiful Golden Cap, the very highest point on the south coast of England.
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Start the Path, 10 Mile Hike
Always wanted to tick off the first leg off the Path? Here is your chance to walk the iconic first 10 miles with us leading the way! Leave the pavements of Minehead and head across the Holnicote estate through woodland, along steep cliff tops, farm tracks and up and down beautiful wooded combes with bracken, gorse and bubbling streams, landscapes that inspired some of our most famous romantic poets from Wordsworth to Coleridge. There is a lot to look out for, as the Exmoor coast provides a rich habitat for many beautiful and rare species of flora and fauna, including red deer.
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Fowey Foraging Walk, With Wild Food Expert
Join foraging expert Stuart Woodman, who many of you will recognise from BBC2’s Back to the Land with Kate Humble, for a walk along the Cornish coast near Fowey and learn about the wild edible plants growing along the Path at this time of year, including ideas and suggestions for culinary and medicinal uses. A unique opportunity to add a new dimension to your appreciation and understanding of the nature of the Coast Path, beyond the marvellous sea-views!
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Stories of Salcombe, History & Legends Walk
From shipwrecks and look outs, to Bronze Age farming, and the Civil war, there are lots of characters and tales to discover on this walk from the mouth of the Salcombe Estuary, around the South West Coast Path to Gara Rock. Your expert guide from the South Devon AONB will bring the walk to life for explorers of all ages! From Gara Rock your stunning route heads back down through Rickham to Mill Bay.
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Torbay Wildlife Watch, Family Nature Walk
Living Coasts’ Learning Coordinator, Tom James will introduce the local wildlife to lookout for and record on your species-spotting card during this walk around one of Torbay’s limestone plateaux. You will travel through an area once cultivated by Victorian gardeners, but now preserved as a wildlife conservation area, rich in rare plants and with its own colony of horseshoe bats. Children will love the dramatic outlook over the cliffs and the adventure playground feel of the route. For added excitement, there will be a family-friendly activity at the midway point, Daddyhole Plain!
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Flaming Torchlit Trail – Devon, Night Walk
Join this magical evening flaming torch lit walk around Coleton Fishacre and Froward Point. Carry your own flaming torch and navigate along this beautiful stretch of Coast Path, viewing it in a whole different light. The walk will take in the WWII gun battery at Froward Point and the stunning garden at Coleton Fishacre, before returning you to your start point, which weather permitting will provide panoramic moonlit views of Torbay South Devon and Dartmoor.
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Finish the Path, 10 Mile Hike
We start at the dramatic Durlston Castle for the last 10 miles of the Path. High, level cliff walking between St Aldhelm’s Head and Durlston Head is followed by easy walking along Swanage promenade. As you walk through open grassland and woodland around Studland, keep a look out for bottle-nose dolphins and take time to enjoy spectacular views of the chalk stacks of Old Harry. Three miles of sandy beaches running all the way to South Haven Point offer plenty of opportunities to take in the view across Poole Bay. Just before Sandbanks the famous SWCP steel sculpture marks the end of your route.
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October Time Trial, Trail Running Challenge
This October, the Plymouth Coastal Runners are bringing back their infamous month-long Time Trail for the South West Coast Path Challenge! Like last year, there are four distances: 6.5km, 10.0km, 16.0km or ‘The Triple’ (all three consecutively, a total of 33km!). Participants have the whole of the month (1st-31st October) to run the routes as many times as they want, with their fastest time for each segment being recorded on the final leader board. Will you top the board this year?
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We hope to see you at one of these events – make sure you book early to avoid disappointment!

Remember if you can’t make any of these, you can still get involved by hosting your own Coast Path fundraiser. Bring on October!

Thanks so much for supporting the Path,

The South West Coast Path Association