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| 2,689 miles and 18 years in the making, King Charles III opens his namesake coastal path (Image: Getty Images) |
King Charles has inaugurated a new footpath stretching around the entire coast of England.
Natural England, the government agency that designed it, claims that it is the longest managed coastal walking route in the world, measuring 2,689 miles long. Even though its name, King Charles III England Coast Path, is quite a trek, it is the first time a continuous trail has been created, allowing walkers to explore England's shoreline step by step. Along the way, it passes through some of the country's most beautiful and varied landscapes, from salt marshes and sandy beaches to cliffs, dunes and historic coastal towns.
The Seven Sisters' iconic chalk downland in East Sussex, which is also part of a newly announced National Nature Reserve announced by Natural England, is one of the highlights. The King inaugurated the coastal path and the new nature reserve at a reception hosted by the South Downs National Park Authority.
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. Boardwalks and bridges have been constructed, stiles have been removed, and paths have been resurfaced.
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| A new boardwalk over salt flats near Portsmouth has been built for the path (Image: BBC) |
The project was initiated during Gordon Brown's government, and it has taken 18 years and seven prime ministers to get to this stage.
The majority of the remaining path is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and approximately 80% of the route is currently open. "It is brilliant - the best thing I'll do in my working life," says Neil Constable, who led the project for Natural England.
The length of the path doesn't really matter to him. He claims that the fact that you can walk to the coast from any location in England, turn left or right, and walk alongside the sea for as long as you like is what makes it so special.
In addition to years of meticulous planning and extensive work along the shoreline to establish a clear and continuous footpath, the route was constructed with the help of new legislation, the Marine and Coastal Access Act, which was passed in 2009. Natural England says that in many places, new rights of access have opened land that was previously off-limits to the public - including beaches, dunes and cliff-tops between the path and the sea.
It says accessibility for those with reduced mobility has been improved so that more people can enjoy sections of the trail.
With the goal of connecting stretches of coastline that had never been connected by a single walking trail and bringing the path closer to the water, gaps in the existing network of footpaths have been filled. But in a few places, walkers must briefly leave the trail. In north-west England, for example, a ferry across the Mersey is needed to follow the route.
A particular stretch in south Devon is particularly difficult. 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.
Constable asserts, "It's all part of the experience."
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| You can now walk all the way around the coast of England - this section of the path runs through Hampshire (Image: Kevin Curch/bbc) |
The path has been constructed with the anticipated heavier rains and rising sea levels brought on by climate change in mind. For the first time in English law there is provision for the route to be moved inland – "rolled back", Natural England calls it - if the coastline erodes or shifts.
This ensures that the coastal walk will continue and be useful for future generations by allowing the trail to adapt to changing shorelines. The route's ability to be dynamic has been demonstrated in recent weeks. Beginning in February, a landslip caused by heavy winter rains on the cliffs outside of Charmouth, Dorset, destroyed a significant portion of the path. Lorna Sherriff, the manager of the South West Coast Path, the longest and most hilly section of the new trail, explains, "The path was closed and a diversion was put in place."
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| Lorna Sherriff, who heads up the team that manages the South West Coast Path, explains that a section was re-opened after a cliff fall using a 'roll-back' clause (image: kevin curch/bbc) |
The diversion added an extra mile and a half and - worse still - took walkers along roads. Sherriff claims that her team quickly coordinated a 15-meter rollback with the landowner, and the path was reopened within weeks. "Without this rollback provision in place that would have taken us months," she says.
The Ramblers charity has been campaigning for greater access to England's coastline since the end of World War II. The new route is referred to as "transformational" by Ramblers director of England, Jack Cornish. "It creates a band of access land from the trail to the high water mark, so that means you can leave the trail to go and roam the beaches," Cornish says. "On an island nation, you can really enjoy our coast for the first time." You can picnic.
The route also raises the possibility of a continuous coastal walk around the entire island of Britain.
The Wales Coast Path, an 870-mile route that encircles the Welsh coastline, is connected to the new English coast path. The first path in the world to follow an entire national coastline, it was completed in 2012 and opened to traffic. There is no single official coastal trail in Scotland, though much of the shoreline is accessible thanks to Scotland's "right to roam" law passed more than 20 years ago. Depending on how it is measured, estimates of its mainland coastline vary, but typically range around 5,500 miles. A continuous coastal walk around Britain would therefore cover approximately 9,000 miles all together. At an average of 15 miles a day, it would take almost two years to complete, assuming no rest days.
Source: BBC
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