Minehead to Porlock Weir
I have arrived in Minehead at 2 pm and decided to start walking straight away. It was sunny and the sky was clear. I have decided not to bother with food and water yet, since I was going to walk through a couple of villages that day. From the bus stop I walked along the waterfront untill I came to the SWCP monument:
The path is marked to start sort of perpendicular to the coast and you go up a steep hill in a zig zag. However, as I have found out later, that route is no longer used. Instead, all you have to do is carry on along the waterfront. I ended up going up the hill only to find myself at a dead end. I came back down, but to a different part of town where I found a supermarket and stocked up on some trail food. I then talked to a local person and he convinced me that I was actually walking the right way up the hill. I gave it another shot, and ended up doing an extra mile, but eventually I rejoined the Coast Path about 2 miles into it. It was still sunny, but the clouds were beginning to appear.
The Path is designed to cater for walkers of different ability and splits are common. The first day had a “rugged” option along the coast VS a flat inland alternative. I went for the former, to get a feel for the frequent level changes that would be one of the main features of this hike.
I could begin to see that I might get some rain later on. By the time I got to Bossington (I have filled up the water bottles there and got a little lost) a proper storm set off. I have put on the Mica and a rainskirt. I was walking along the beach about 200 meters away from the actual coastline and I could feel the splashes of sea water reaching me with the wind. This lasted for about half an hour and after that it only rained a little up untill the night. I got to Porlock Weir by 19.30 and headed for the only pub. It was a really nice place with a very low door, so you had to bend in order to get in. I quickly ate and had a pint and left at around 20.00. It was already getting dark. I have quickly found an unfenced field (well, actually it had a fence that was easy to get over) and set up the tarp in the A-frame configuration. I found it to be quite uncomfortable, because it is difficult to get into and the height is inadequate. It was still raining slightly, but I had no problems falling asleep.
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South West Coast Path 2009 