long way round

Decades in the making, the England Coast Path – now renamed the “King Charles III England Coast Path” – will soon become the longest coastal walking route in the world

Words by Gill Morgan

When the England Coast Path is officially completed next year, it will be a walking route fit for a king. Just days before the Coronation in May, the long-held dream to create a continuous walkable footpath around the English coast inched a little closer and was officially renamed the King Charles III England Coast Path in recognition of the new King’s love of the natural world and of walking in particular.

The project has been decades in the making, driven by the Ramblers Association (known simply as the Ramblers) and delivered by Natural England. When the final sections are opened at the end of 2024, the path will stretch for 2,700 miles, making it the longest coastal walking route in the world. From the vast sandy beaches and castles of Northumberland to the shingle moonscape of Dungeness, from the rugged beauty of Devon and Cornwall to the magnificent chalk cliffs of Kent and Sussex, the English coastline is one of the most varied and beautiful in the world – and now we will all be able to enjoy it even more.

“It captures the imagination,” says Kate Condo of the Ramblers, which has campaigned for the coastal path for many years. “Coastal walking has always been popular, and obviously there are some very well-established trails like the South West Coast Path. But this will help to open up lots of other stretches of our coast.”

The mission to create a continuous coastal route began more than two decades ago when the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 was passed. It granted public access to land mapped as “open country”, defined as “mountain, moor, heath and down, or registered common land”. But, as Condo relates, the Essex branch of the Ramblers thought it left a gaping hole in our countryside access because, “there aren’t many mountains and moors in Essex”. They did, however, have lots of coast.

And so began many years of campaigning, culminating in the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, the first step towards the eventual path. Natural England was entrusted with making the path a reality, work that involves detailed planning, consultation and negotiation with local councils, landowners, nature conservation groups and businesses, to find creative solutions to tricky stretches of coastline where no clear access is in place. The goal is always to arrive at a route that stays as close as possible to the coastline, only veering inland when absolutely necessary.

The first stretch of the path was opened between Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour in time for the sailing events of the 2012 Olympics. Over the past decade more sections have been added, including parts of the Hampshire, Sussex and Kent coasts, as well as trails in Northumberland, Cumbria, Essex and North Norfolk. The rest is on course to complete next year. The path will join the Wales Coast Path, which already covers the entire length of the Welsh coastline.

A coastal walk is a very particular pleasure: the energising salty air and everchanging skies; the roller-coaster ride of cliff path plunging down to beach and cove, then zigzagging back up again; and always the view out to sea, hinting at life beyond these shores. To walk a nation’s coast is to trace, step by step, that country’s history, topology, flora and fauna, and unique social character. Perhaps more than any other trail, a coastal route provides a new perspective and breathing space, so vital to our wellbeing. There is also surely something that appeals to the collector in us, to set out to walk all of England’s coast, even if in small chunks, over many years.

And as the Ramblers’ Kate Condo confirms, there has been a marked increase in how many of us are regularly walking for pleasure. Sport England reports that although numbers have dropped since the pandemic – when a daily walk was an essential part of life – for many the habit has stuck. And it isn’t just our own health that benefits, but struggling local communities. “The England Coast Path will open up new areas beyond the ‘honey spots’ to visitors and bring money into those local economies,” says Condo. “The path isn’t just a marketing tool, it really allows people to enjoy stretches of the coast they haven’t been able to enjoy before.”