Post Christmas Walks In South West England
Sennen Cove in winter
Post Christmas walks are a feature of the British countryside. You need to walk off all that festive excess. But not too excessively. When you get to a certain age and over it is wise not to overdo things - especially when your physical-being is already labouring under the Christmas excesses.
So what’s recommended is a little series of post-Christmas hikes that get more demanding each time you go out.
Perhaps the under-50s can do what they like, but I reckon people over that age who’ve been hammering away at the food and drink for a few days would be well served by a short Boxing Day hike of just three or four gentle miles. I know fitness buffs who’d laugh at this - indeed I write these words after just completing a crazily difficult yomp over the most difficult terrain in Southern England, by which I mean Exmoor’s boggy and sodden Chains - but health-care experts tell me that just a couple of miles walked at a brisk-ish pace can do wonders for your ticker and other bits as well.
For example, a friend who has diabetes has one of those little testing devices which measures sugar levels in blood, and he informs me that he can bring his count down a good few points just by walking twice around the flat recreation ground near his house. My dog Finn wouldn’t even regard that as a pee-break - let alone a hike.
On the other end of the scale, I know people who believe in the big Boxing Day walk like some people believe in the Second Coming. Nothing will do for them but to punish themselves by yomping for miles over hill and dale in a guilt-ridden frenzy to make amends for the seasonal excess.
Let’s be sensible and go down some kind of middle road. Not that middle of the road needs to be boring. Take the short, fairly unstrenuous, walk from Sennen Cove to Land’s End as the perfect example of the genre. Simply walk west out of Sennen on the coast path which runs up Mayon Cliff to the National Trust’s historic little look-out building at the top.
Sennen Harbour
That's the climbing bit over and done with and you can look over your shoulder and see all of Whitesand Bay in its great curving glory - and then turn to peer south west where the cliffs march with so much majesty to reach Dr Syntax’s Head and, ultimately, Land’s End.
Dr Syntax’s Head? No, I don’t know why it’s called that either, but you pass it on the more or less flat stroll to that most iconic of all Cornish locations. And at Land’s End you can stop and stare at all that maritime wonder, proud of the fact that, just for a few minutes, you are the most south-westerly human beings on the British mainland.
At the other end of our peninsula, there’s nothing easier - or perhaps more dramatic - than a walk in the Somerset Levels. And this year, touchwood, you won’t need your snorkel of flippers to enjoy the vast flat landscapes of this very special area.
One easy option would be the four mile hike around the RSPB’s Shapwick Heath Nature Reserve. From the Shapwick-Westhay road, stroll along the old railway line south east to the reserve - but do take the detour through the woods around the ancient Sweet Track as you go. This is very easy going – there’s not a slope in sight - and you can stop off in the various bird-hides along the way and watch countless feathered friends. If you are there early or late, you will even stand a chance of seeing the famous starling murmurations.
Path to Ham Wall nature reserve near Shapwick
When it comes to easy walks, two organisations immediately come to mind. The South West Lakes Trust and the Forestry Commission are both ideal candidates when it comes to providing paths for people of all abilities - partly because they both look after what could be described as controlled environments.
The SW Lakes Trust has the region's reservoirs - and most of these have circular paths around their shores which tend, by their nature, to be fairly flat.
At Roadford Lake, just above the A30 on the Devon-Cornwall border, there’s Coombepark Walk which is a real lazy doddle because it only takes some 20 minutes each way. Access is from the dam-side car park, and the route takes you past the restaurant along Coombepark Valley towards the fantastic little cob shelter on a spur that stretches into the lake.
Up on Exmoor the huge expanses of Wimbleball Lake offer more water’s edge hiking. On Dartmoor, Fernworthy Reservoir has a truly magical saunter right around the region’s highest sizeable stretch of water.
Fernworthy Reservoir on Dartmoor
From lakes to forests. A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission in the West Country once told me: “We have a policy of open access where we are able to offer it - so where you get car parks and notice boards with forest walks, then the public is welcome to explore.”
One excellent area for a bit of post-Christmas walking - which offers stupendous views of the Exe Estuary and central south Devon as a bonus - is to be found at Haldon Hill above Exeter.
Another easy access forestry zone can be enjoyed at Cardinham Woods on outskirts of Bodmin. On Dartmoor the Forestry Commission has woods at Bellever where there’s a car park and countless easy routes, including a short trail down to the East Dart river.
And then there’s the newly laid, easy-access, footpath that runs down the River Barle from the central Exmoor village of Simonsbath to spooky and lonely Wheal Eliza… In fact, that might well be the route I’ll be taking to mark my own version of a healthy New Year
Barle Valley below Simonsbath
River Barle near Wheal Eliza
