*** COMPLETED - 6/10/2023 ***
 
THE ORIGINAL PLAN

When we both finally ‘retired’ at the end of March 2014 we wanted to set ourselves a challenge. Shortly after that, at a lunch party, we met an ex-IBMer who on retirement 20 years previously had spent the first 6 weeks walking the whole of the South West Coast Path from Poole to Minehead and, after the red wine kicked in, Fiona decided that this was the challenge, although we were now more than 20 years older than he was when he achieved the feat.
In the cold light of day we were still keen and so joined the South West Coast Path Association and started planning how this could be achieved, not in 6 weeks, but in sections a bit at a time over maybe 5 or 6 years and definitely before I am 75.
 
THE REVISED PLAN

Having made good progress by 2015 everything came to a halt in 2016, as far as walking the SWCP was concerned, what with my 70th and holidays etc, and then Fiona had to have a major operation in March 2017, followed by David being diagnosed with prostate cancer in early 2018 which led to a successful prostatectomy at the end of October 2018. By then Fiona had serious problems with her knees and was waiting for a knee replacement at the start of 2020 and then Covid-19 struck! and there then seemed little chance of doing anymore of the SWCP for the foreseeable future and completing it before I was 75 was a long lost dream! However, Fiona was keen that we should complete the challenge together and so with the help of 2 very good friends, Justine Blaber our pilates/yoga teacher and David Adamczyk a cycling friend from our club, we had a cunning plan! We planned a number of weeks where we rented properties in which to stay in the middle of significant sections of the SWCP. Then each day Fiona would drive us the start of the days walk and pick us up again at the end of the day and so on during the week until that section has been completed. The new target was to complete the SWCP by the time I was 77 in January 2023. We restarted in September 2020 staying at West Lulworth and walking the Isle of Portland to Swanage section followed by good progress in other weeks during 2020 and 2021.
BUT in February 2022 medical disaster struck again when, after catching a seemingly mild dose of Covid, Fiona suddenly collapsed, paralysed from chest to toe with Transverse Myelitis. She spent 4mths in hospital unable to move until finally a toe twitched and over the next couple of months she regained some use of her legs. After a further 6 weeks in a Neurological Rehabilitation unit she was able to walk for short distances with the aid of a stick and miraculously able to swim and ultimately to drive a car.
Having cancelled properties in April and May 2022 we were able to start our walks again in September 2022 with Fiona helping with the driving to and from each days walk. The target completion date was then, fingers crossed, the end of 2023.

                 “You can if you think you can”

This website is a record of each walk, what we saw, who we met, where we stayed, and how we got there and back. The record is meant for our own personal enjoyment – it may help others planning their own adventure, but anybody who is interested in our efforts is welcome to contact us.

To view the blog in the sequence Minehead to South Haven Point ...  https://davidlangan99.wixsite.com/swcpinorder