The Hardest Sections of the South West Coast Path, Ranked by Ascent

Ask ten walkers which is the hardest part of the South West Coast Path and you will get Hartland, Zennor, the Hangman and Lulworth in some order, from memory. This guide answers the question from the data instead: the ascent of every stage, measured along the mapped route, divided by its length. Then it explains what the numbers miss.

"Hard" here means two things. First, ascent per kilometre — how much of your day is spent climbing rather than walking. Second, the ratings on each stage page for terrain, remoteness and physical demand, which catch the days that are hard for reasons a profile does not show.

The ranking

All 52 stages, by ascent per kilometre. Grade and remoteness are the ratings on the stage page (remoteness runs 1–5; 4 means few exits and few facilities).

Two things stand out. The top twelve are all in Somerset, North Devon, north Cornwall or East Devon and Dorset — the Atlantic-facing and Jurassic cliffs. And the ratio ranking and the grade disagree in places, which is the point of the next section.

The top five, and why they are hard

1. Lynmouth to Combe Martin — 908 m in 22 km

The stage page calls it big ascents over the Hangman hills, and the numbers agree: the most climb of any stage and the steepest ratio. From Lynmouth the path passes through the Valley of Rocks, drops to Heddon's Mouth and climbs the Great Hangman, at 318 m the highest point on the entire path. Remoteness is rated 4 and water scarce: there is little between Lynmouth and Combe Martin, so carry what you need. Shade, as on every stage of this route, is minimal.

2. Tintagel to Port Isaac — 622 m in 15.2 km

Short, and that is what makes it deceptive. The stage description is one word — switchback — and the climb comes in a series of steep valleys between Trebarwith Strand and Port Isaac rather than one big hill; the highest point is only 110 m. It is graded hard despite being one of the three shortest stages in Cornwall. Give it the whole day.

3. Sidmouth to Seaton — 631 m in 16.3 km

The East Devon surprise. Salcombe Hill straight out of Sidmouth, then a run of steep red-cliff climbs past Branscombe to the chalk of Beer Head. Graded moderate, but with a steeper ratio than Hartland Quay to Bude. Water is moderate and there are villages en route, so it is hard rather than serious.

4. Porlock Weir to Lynmouth — 730 m in 19.4 km

Day two of the whole walk, through the Exmoor woods past Culbone Church and County Gate to the Devon border, with the highest point of the stage at 310 m. The warning on the stage page is remoteness — few facilities between the two ends.

5. Lulworth Cove to Worth Matravers — 737 m in 19.8 km

The Purbeck switchbacks through the Lulworth ranges, past Tyneham, Kimmeridge Bay and St Aldhelm's Head. Graded hard, remoteness 4, and the stage page warns of few exits — once you are inside the ranges you are committed to the waymarked path. The ranges themselves are open only on non-firing days; check before you go (the best-time guide covers the pattern).

The days the ratio undersells

Hartland Quay to Bude is only tenth by ratio but is the day most walkers remember as the hardest. The reason is in the columns the ratio ignores: 25.1 km, the fifth-longest stage on the path, with 856 m of climb, remoteness 4, physical demand 4 out of 5, and the stage page's own words — very strenuous, many steep combes, long and remote. The combes are the point: the coast here is cut by a succession of valleys, each one a full descent to the stream and a full climb out. Speke's Mill Mouth waterfall is the reward. The day before, Clovelly to Hartland Quay, is the same country in a shorter dose and is also graded hard for its remoteness.

St Ives to Pendeen is 14th by ratio but graded hard, with remoteness 4 and scarce water. The stage page says it plainly: very rough, slow, boggy ground, allow extra time. The path around Zennor Head and Gurnard's Head is boulders and bog for long stretches, and 20 km of it takes longer than the 589 m of climb suggests.

Seaton to Seatown is 11th by ratio but carries 785 m over 24.4 km, with Golden Cap — the highest point on the south coast of England — at the end of the day. The Undercliff at the start is long and enclosed with no exits, so you cannot shorten it once you are in.

Falmouth to Portloe, Worth Matravers to South Haven Point and Plymouth to Wembury are graded hard for a different reason: length. At 27.5, 27.5 and 26.9 km they are the three longest stages on the path, with physical demand rated 5, and Falmouth to Portloe also depends on two ferries. Plymouth to Wembury is the flattest of the hard stages — 317 m — and much of it is urban waterfront; it is hard on the feet rather than the legs.

The easiest stages

If you want the coast without the climbing, the bottom of the table is where to look.

Braunton to Instow is the flat estuary walk along the Tarka Trail beside the Taw — level tarmac, highest point 8 m. Its neighbours either side, Woolacombe to Braunton and Instow to Westward Ho!, are the flat middle of North Devon between the two hard blocks. Seatown to Abbotsbury and Abbotsbury to Ferrybridge are the Chesil Beach coast of Dorset — long, flat and exposed, with the warning on stage 48 being wind rather than hills. Hayle to St Ives is the shortest stage on the path and one of only two graded easy.

Hard by county

Somerset is the steepest on average but only two days long. North Devon is the hardest county in practice: it holds the two biggest climbing days, three of its eight stages are graded hard, and both hard blocks — Exmoor and Hartland — are rated 4 for remoteness. Cornwall's total ascent is the largest simply because Cornwall is half the walk; per kilometre it is no harder than Devon.

One caution about totals. The county figures above are sums of the measured stage ascents, and the site's FAQ explains why published whole-trail totals vary so much between sources: the answer depends on how finely the route is sampled. Compare days, not grand totals.