Heading west from Poole through glorious scenery and under blue skys Ballard Point, Durlston Head, St Aldhelm's or St Alban'Head, Kimmeridge Ledges, Kimmeridge Bay and Worbarrow Tout are reluctantly left behind.

No problems except lack of overnight camp sites on the army firing ranges and, eventually, finding a site whose owner proposed charging £20 for a small backpackers tent pitched for an overnight stop!

After seven days on foot a welcome day of rest with family near Exeter.A bathroom, hot water and a bed for two nights was enjoyed. The weather during the first week was excellent especially considering the conditions during the preceding couple of months.

The days have given them plenty of memories, The local brews at the village inns, the dawn shadows caused by the rising sun on Chesel beach and the busy little beach at Beer being just a few.

Into the second week and the South West's retirement belt brought a breakdown in the weather and brought them several soakings and one total drenching followed by a night in a caravan to dry out .

The ferry at Plymouth took them into Cornwall, the real South West, I hope they remembered to spit over the side as they crossed the line. The weather at the end of the second week brought signs of an improvement , but better not dwell on that too long.

People who like statistics have measured the length of the South West Peninsula Coast Path from Poole to Minehead as 630 miles. They have also computed the amount of climbing involved, and therefore also the amount of descending (which most people say is more tiring than climbing) as equal to three times the summit height of Mt Everest!!!

Another week of cloud-induced challenges concluded with two days of sublime weather and some of the most dramatic and beautiful coastal scenery Britain has to offer, as Wendy and Phil reached The Lizard, the most southerly point of Britain, and the half way mark of the walk. In defiance of the weather and the usual practice of heading north from The Lizard, our two intrepid, but damp walkers have decided to head even further south, in search of some more reliable sunshine! The remainder of the South West Coast Path is now on the back burner, drying out ready for another year, and the Spanish Pyrenees are beckoning! Fingers crossed that they'll be swopping the brollies for sun-cream!

As you can see from the final batch of pictures we eventually made it to The Pyrenees and found some long overdue sunshine. We flew to Barcelona and caught a bus to the Aigues Tortes National Park, our very favourite corner of the Pyrenees. There we did three quite long and arduous hikes involving four wild camps in remote and romantic places. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch through this website: your comments kept us going through the difficult times. We were gratified when we got back to discover that it was still raining and had been since we fled the country, infact it's still raining now, a week later! — Phil and Wendy, September 7, 2008