A walk on the South West Coast Path: a view from the Other side

Abstract

Walking has long been recognized as the main form of countryside recreation in the UK (Patmore 1972) and its popularity has been greatly encouraged by the network of long-distance footpaths that now criss-cross the country, not to mention the evergrowing right to roam anywhere across open country as the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000) is steadily implemented. I, therefore, was particularly interested in the paper by John Wylie (2005) interpreting his reactions to a day spent walking along the South West Coast Path between Clovelly and Hartland Quay on the North Devon coast. I should say that I have known and walked the coastal footpath between Minehead and Padstow for many years, though I have never attempted to cover it in a single hike as he did. Like the author, however, I have done the walk from Clovelly to Hartland Quay in a day. Indeed, I have done it on several occasions over the years; in a variety of weathers, alone, with family and friends, and with students on a Geography field trip. No two of these walks have ever been the same and I found the analysis in the paper of what shapes our reactions to landscape quite fascinating for the way in which it illuminated the subtleties behind our individual perceptions. Who we are, and where we come from, are self-evidently key determinants of what we perceive and how we react to any situation and the analysis is a powerful antidote to the didactic world of the guidebook, with its aim of imposing a pre-set structure on what we see, smell and hear. Nevertheless, reading the paper left me with a distinct feeling that the picture was incomplete and I have come to the conclusion that this stems from the narrowness of the context within which the walk appears to have been undertaken and analysed. The whole focus seems to be overly self-centred and introspective and, thus, omits some crucial elements of what it is that influences the appreciation of such a walk. That is not to say that the whole experience is not deeply felt and forcefully communicated. There are passages in the paper of quite lyrical writing, my favourite being the description of emerging from the dense woods west of Clovelly into the open farmland and cliff tops near Brownsham: