page_title: South West Coast Path
section_title: Somerset
hierarchical_section_title: South West Coast Path / Route description / Somerset
caption_attribution_description: English: Start of South West Coast Path.
context_page_description: The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for 630 miles, running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more challenging trails. The total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft, almost four times the height of Mount Everest. It has been voted 'Britain's Best Walking route' twice in a row by readers of the Ramblers Walk magazine, and regularly features in lists of the world's best walks.
  The final section of the path was designated as a National Trail in 1978. Many of the landscapes which the South West Coast Path crosses have special status, either as a national park or one of the heritage coasts. The path passes through two World Heritage Sites: the Dorset and East Devon Coast, known as the Jurassic Coast, was designated in 2001, and the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape in 2007.
context_section_description: The South West Coast Path starts from the western side of Minehead, in Somerset, at a marker erected in 2001 and partly paid for by the South West Coast Path Association. The path follows the waterfront past the harbour to Culver Cliff before climbing up on a zigzag path through woodland. Entering the Exmoor National Park, it cuts inland past North Hill, Selworthy Beacon and Bossington Hill before regaining the cliff top at Hurlestone Point. After passing through Bossington it follows the beach to Porlock Weir and connects with the Coleridge Way.
  The scenery of rocky headlands, ravines, waterfalls and towering cliffs gained the Exmoor coast recognition as a Heritage Coast in 1991. The Exmoor Coastal Heaths have been recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the diversity of species present. The path passes the smallest parish church in England, Culbone Church, in Culbone. The path crosses the county boundary into Devon, a few hundred yards north of the National Park Centre at County Gate.
caption: Sculpture at the start of the path in Minehead
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