Making the South West Coast Path more accessible for disabled people

  • Report by Bob Cruwys

The South West Coast Path runs for 630 miles from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset and offers some incredible views along the way.

Now the path's association is trying to improve access for people with disabilities so that more of them can enjoy the experience.

In some places the route might be tricky terrain for even the most experienced hiker but other sections - for example at Westward Ho! in Devon - have been designed to be accessible to anyone, whatever their level of mobility.

The stretch of the South West Coast Path at Westward Ho! Credit: ITV West Country

Gordon Guest from Disabled Ramblers UK has been campaigning for years to get better access to places like the coastal path.

Gordon Guest said, "I'm absolutely passionate about opening it up and getting people into the countryside, getting people on mobility scooters into the countryside and doing things because, with modern scooter technology and types of scooters and range of scooters, you can go all sorts of places and do all sorts of things and even on this surface, a little four mph scooter would cope without any problem at all."

This may be a simple gate along the route but it is very tricky to operate from a mobility scooter. Credit: ITV West Country

The coast path does have plenty of barriers - a simple gate, which is necessary to stop livestock wandering away, is very difficult to operate from a scooter.

The South West Coast Path Association is working with Disabled Ramblers and other groups to try to identify obstacles like these and improve them. Volunteers have been out to see what needs to change.

Testing part of the South West Coast Path to see how accessible it is. Credit: ITV West Country

Alex Turner from the South West Coast Path Association said "It's a really good opportunity for them to understand the issues that disabled ramblers have when they are walking the coast path and the idea is that we want to improve our information that we provide to people and also see if there are upgrades that we can make to the path, really simple things like it might be a gate that's just not quite wide enough and things that we can do so that more people can access more of the path."

Kate Wass uses a mobility scooter and had no idea that she could get out onto the coast path. She said, "It's been absolutely fantastic. The views, I just can't describe them, they have taken my breath away."

Kate Wass had no idea that part of the coast path was accessible and wants to spread the word. Credit: ITV West Country

Kate added, "I feel now that we have got to advertise a little bit more to let people know that they can access some of these places. It's so important to everybody to be able to have access to these fantastic views, these fantastic facilities.

As part of its Easy Access review, the South West Coast Path Association is testing a number of its routes to make sure everyone is able to enjoy the stunning landscape around our coast.