South West Coast Path - Intersecting and Connecting Paths

Intersecting and Connecting Paths

From Plymouth to Poole the South West Coast Path forms part of the route of the E9 European Coastal Path which runs for 3,125 miles (5,000 km) from Cabo de São Vicente in Portugal to Narva-Jõesuu in Estonia. The route crosses by ferry from Roscoff to Plymouth, and beyond Poole the path follows the Bournemouth Coast Path to Milford on Sea, then the Solent Way (with an Isle of Wight option), South Downs Way, 1066 Country Walk and Saxon Shore Way to Dover, from where it returns to continental Europe.

The South West Coast Path, covering such a wide area, inevitably intersects with other, more local, routes, and it connects with many other long-distance paths offering opportunities for even longer expeditions:

• Bournemouth Coast Path, 20 miles (32 km) from Sandbanks to Milford-on-Sea (Dorset and Hampshire)
• Celtic Way — runs from the west of Wales to Stonehenge and then heads south-west to Cornwall, a total of 723 miles (1,164 km)
• Channel to Channel Path, Seaton to Watchet, 80 kilometres (50 mi)
• Coast to Coast, Devon, Wembury to Lynmouth 116 miles (187 km)
• Coleridge Way, 36 miles (58 km) from Nether Stowey in the Quantocks across the Brendon Hills and the fringes of Exmoor National Park to the coast at Porlock.
• East Devon Way, 38 miles (61 km) Exmouth to Lyme Regis
• Exe Valley Way, Devon — runs 45 miles (72 km) from the River Exe estuary to Exmoor
• Liberty Trail, 28 miles (45 km) Ham Hill to Lyme Regis (Somerset, Dorset)
• The Macmillan Ways:
  • Macmillan Way from Abbotsbury in Dorset to Boston, Lincolnshire 288 miles (463 km)
  • Macmillan Way West from Castle Cary in Somerset to Barnstaple in Devon, 101 miles (163 km) (Boston to Barnstaple is 346 miles (557 km)
  • the Macmillan Abbotsbury Langport Link, which creates a 24 miles (39 km) short-cut for walkers from Abbotsbury to Barnstaple, a total of 126 miles (203 km).
• Saint's Way, Padstow — Fowey 26 miles (42 km) (Cornwall)
• Samaritans Way South West, runs 100 miles (161 km) from Bristol to Lynton, but only the section from Bristol to Goathurst is waymarked
• Tarka Trail. Between Ilfracombe and Bideford, the path mostly follows a coastal section of the Tarka Trail. For part of this route, the paths follow the course of disused railway lines: the Ilfracombe Branch Line, between Braunton and Barnstaple, and the Bideford Branch Line, between Barnstaple and Bideford.
• Two Moors Way, Devon — Ivybridge to Lynmouth 103 miles (166 km)
• Wessex Ridgeway, 136 miles (219 km) from Lyme Regis to Marlborough, which combined with The Ridgeway National Trail, the Icknield Way and the Peddars Way National Trail forms the Greater Ridgeway, 362 miles (583 km), from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton on The Wash
• West Devon Way — Okehampton to Plymouth, 36 miles (58 km)
• West Somerset Coast Path — Minehead to Steart Peninsula (linking SWCP to the River Parrett Trail), 25 miles (40 km)