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 steep days are spread across every county — four in Cornwall, four in North Devon, two in Dorset, Somerset's Porlock Weir to Lynmouth, and South Devon's Dartmouth to Brixham at the very top. 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. Dartmouth to Brixham — 1,008 m in 17 km

The steepest stage on the path, and graded only moderate. The stage page's one warning is switchback cliffs after Kingswear: the path works round the wooded Froward Point cliffs and past Man Sands, dropping to the shore and climbing out again in short, steep pitches rather than over one big hill — the highest point is only 123 m. It rounds Berry Head at the end of the day to finish at Brixham harbour. Remoteness is rated 2, so it is steep rather than serious.

2. Tintagel to Port Isaac — 862 m in 14.9 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 126 m. It is graded hard despite being one of the three shortest stages in Cornwall. Give it the whole day.

3. Crackington Haven to Tintagel — 1,054 m in 18.3 km

Past the Strangles beach and over High Cliff, at 223 m the highest point of the stage, then down to Boscastle's harbour and through Rocky Valley to the clifftop ruins of Tintagel. The stage page warns of several steep descents. Graded moderate, with villages on the way, but it is the middle of three steep days in a row from Bude to Port Isaac.

4. St Ives to Pendeen — 1,093 m in 20.3 km

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 distance suggests.

5. Lulworth Cove to Worth Matravers — 968 m in 18.8 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 11th by ratio but is the day most walkers remember as the hardest. The reason is in the columns the ratio ignores: 24.2 km, the fourth-longest stage on the path, with 1,189 m of climb — the most of any stage — 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.

Lynmouth to Combe Martin is 9th by ratio but crosses the Great Hangman, at 318 m the highest point on the entire path, with 1,094 m of climb. From Lynmouth the path passes through the Valley of Rocks, drops to Heddon's Mouth and climbs the Hangman hills. Remoteness is rated 4 and water scarce: there is little between Lynmouth and Combe Martin, so carry what you need.

Seaton to Seatown is 7th by ratio but carries 1,167 m over 23.2 km, the second-biggest climbing day on the path, 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.

Worth Matravers to South Haven Point and Plymouth to Wembury are graded hard for a different reason: length. At 26.9 and 25.7 km they are the two longest stages on the path, with physical demand rated 5. Plymouth to Wembury is the flattest of the hard stages — 649 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 11 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. Abbotsbury to Ferrybridge is the Chesil Beach coast of Dorset — long, flat and exposed, with the warning on stage 48 being wind rather than hills — and the optional Portland circuit beyond it is exposed rather than steep. Lamorna to Marazion is the Mount's Bay shore through Mousehole, Newlyn and Penzance. Hayle to St Ives, the shortest stage on the path, is one of only two graded easy.

Hard by county

Somerset is the steepest on average but only two days long. Cornwall is next, and its total ascent is the largest because Cornwall is half the walk; per kilometre it is harder than either half of Devon. North Devon is fourth by average but the hardest county in practice: it holds three of the four biggest climbing days, three of its eight stages are graded hard, and both hard blocks — Exmoor and Hartland — are rated 4 for remoteness.

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.