Left to right: Countryside Volunteer Derek Shottin passes the iconic landmark of the Severn Bridge linking Wales and England Installing the Wales Coast Path marker discs The path passes through Newport Wetlands A beautiful walk year-round
Let’s start at the very beginning
Chepstow – the entrance to Wales – is now the starting point for a walking route that runs along the country’s entire coastline. The Wales Coast Path, which officially opens in May, stretches some 870 miles from Chepstow to Queensferry in North Wales.
Lonely Planet – one of the world’s leading travel publishers – has described the Welsh coastline as ‘the greatest region on Earth to visit in 2012’, ahead of some of the world’s most iconic destinations. Lonely Planet author Sarah Baxter wrote of Wales’ selection in first place: ‘What a wonderful thing: to walk the entire length of a country’s coastline, to trace its every nook, cranny, cliff-face, indent and estuary. How better to truly appreciate the shape – and soul – of a nation? Well, in 2012 Wales will become the only country in the world where you can do just that.’ The Path links a pre-existing network
to new stretches that have been built over the past five years, with significant input from enthusiastic walkers. Derek Shottin is one of the Countryside Volunteers who, for many years, has supported the work of the local council by keeping an eye on several footpaths near his home. New to his care is a 3-mile stretch of the Wales Coast Path between Portskewett and Mathern, and one of his recent jobs was to install the first Wales Coast Path marker disks on the route. What will this new walking route mean to the area and Chepstow in particular?
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‘The official starting point will inevitably be a popular place to begin walking. Even if people aren’t intending to cover the entire Wales Coast Path they may like the feeling of having begun at the beginning. And for many walkers, it’ll be an entirely new stretch as several miles of new footpath have been created along the Severn Estuary. Chepstow already sees large numbers of walkers on the Offa’s Dyke Path or the Wye Valley Walk, and the town is working hard to improve its offer to walkers. Soon Chepstow hopes to be part of the Walkers are Welcome network of towns across the UK,’ says Derek. Unlike some of the high mountain
walks in this region, the Wales Coast Path should attract a steady number of walkers throughout the entire year. ‘Whenever visitors come, they may be surprised by the wealth of wildlife in this area. Up to 90,000 wading birds and wildfowl visit the Severn Estuary because, with one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, it has ideal over-wintering conditions. And with the path passing through the RSPB’s excellent reserve at Newport Wetlands, the route has year-round wildlife interest,’ Derek says. The initial 5-mile stretch of the Wales
Coast Path was opened last autumn with the unveiling of two stones at its starting point near the Old Town Bridge in Chepstow. A similar pair of stones – one of pennant sandstone from the Forest of Dean and one of halkyn marble from Flintshire – will eventually stand at the other end of the Wales Coast Path at Queensferry. To enhance the monoliths in Chepstow a piece of artwork has been commissioned from a local ceramicist. This work will celebrate the Wales Coast Path and its link with the Offa’s Dyke Path. Derek wonders how long it will be
before the first person walks along the entire border of Wales, not just the 870 miles of the Coast Path but also the 177 miles of Offa’s Dyke Footpath which runs along the border with England. ‘It’s a brand new challenge. I bet someone will conquer it before too long!’ says Derek. Simon Calder, the Travel Editor at the Independent, agrees, pointing out that ‘the completion of the Wales Coast Path, particularly added to the Offa’s Dyke path, means this is one country that you can walk all the way around and I think that’s a tremendous offering to put to the world.’
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