If you’re ever going to walk the entire South West Coast Path (Britain’s longest National Trail and yet another of our many travelly ambitions), book a Minehead campsite. The 630-mile long up, down and along coast trail runs from the west of this Somerset seaside town along the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, to have travellers finish up, very weary-footed, at Poole in Dorset and a very large dinner/drink.
As many of you will be chortling heartily at the very thought, shorter South West Coast Path hikes from Minehead are of course available: 8.9 miles to Porlock Weir and from there 12.1 miles through Samuel Taylor Coleridge land to Lynmouth. And if you’re still chortling heartily at the very thought of Somerset sightseeing by feet, hop on Britain’s longest standard gauge heritage railway, the West Somerset Railway, at Minehead station for a relaxed and scenic 23-mile trip to Bishops Lydeard.
Another big pull of camping in Minehead? Its position right on the edge of Exmoor National Park (the first 35 miles of the South West Coast Path trails the park’s full coastline) and top cycling country in mountain bike trails and the 56-mile Exmoor Cycle Route. More relaxedly, Burnham, Brean and Weston-super-Mare are just along the coast: we believe there be beaches.
