- What is The Southern Coast to Coast?

What is The Southern Coast to Coast?

Background

When I first read about the Southern Coast to Coast (SC2C) trail I thought as others immediately tend to think - 'this is a trail around the southern coast of England' - but this is a misnomer. The SC2C trail goes from Weston-super-Mare on the West coast of England to Dover on the East coast. It's likely you have heard of Dover and their white cliffs if nothing else.

If you do a search for "The C2C footpath England" or "Coast to Coast trail in England" you will likely find a route that stretches from the village of Saint Bees on the West coast of England to Robin Hoods bay on the East coast of England. This route enjoys a number of the large national parks of England, including the Lake district, North York moors, and Yorkshire Dales national parks.

Whilst this trail is a beautiful route taking in breathtaking scenery and the most likely 'hit' on any Google search for "coast to coast in England", it is quite Northern. There is nothing derogatory to be read into the fact it is northern. It just means there is room for a SOUTHERN C2C.

Route overview

The two routes (C2C and SC2C) represent different challenges but bring the best scenery of their respective areas. The main route differences (aside from geography!) are distance and elevation. The C2C covers a distance of 192 miles and has a combined elevation of 26,600 ft whereas the SC2C is approximately 90 miles longer at 280 miles and has a combined elevation of around 28,000 ft. That's nearly the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest! To read more about the route, see this link

Not a weather map.


There are obvious comparisons to be made purely by the fact both trails go from coast to coast of the same country but the C2C was popularised by Alfred Wainwright in his 1973 Coast to Coast publication and has eclipsed the lesser talked about SC2C. It is my belief that both trails have a place on the long distance walkers to-do/bucket list and this blog brings a day-by-day guide to crossing the country using the SC2C.

Guidebooks

In 1993 Cicerone Press published the Ray Quinlan guidebook entitled "The Southern Coast-to-Coast Walk" which is, at the time of writing, sadly out of print but can be obtained from online book vendors. I picked a secondhand copy up from wob.com. This book post-dates the Alfred Wainwright coast to coast by some 20 years.

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