Getting there & around · the South West Coast Path
Water and Resupply on the South West Coast Path, Stage by Stage
Quick answer. The stage data maps 248 water points across the 52 stages — 36 public taps, 14 springs and wells marked treat first, and 198 cafés, pubs, takeaways and shops that will fill a bottle. Water is rated scarce on 15 stages, moderate on 34 and abundant on only three, and shade is minimal on every one. The longest stretches between mapped reliable refills are Newquay to Perranporth (22.5 km), Newton Ferrers to Bigbury (21.5 km), Bigbury to Salcombe (21.2 km) and Hartland Quay to Bude (20.6 km). Carry two litres, refill at every point, and buy the day's food before you leave town.
- 248 across 52 stagesMapped water points
- 36, on 18 stagesPublic taps
- 14Treat-first springs and wells
- 15 of 52Stages rated scarce
- Minimal on all 52 stagesShade
- Newquay → Perranporth, 22.5 km between reliable pointsLongest dry stretch
Water is the thing the profile does not show. The South West Coast Path is famous for its climbing, but the reason a hot day on the cliffs goes wrong is more often an empty bottle than a steep combe: the stage data rates shade as minimal on all 52 stages, the wind dries you without your noticing, and the next café can be a long way off. This guide reads the water and supply points mapped on every stage page and turns them into the answers a planner needs — which stages are dry, how far between refills, where the taps are, and where the shops are.
The numbers come from the stage data behind this site. Every water point has a position along the stage, a reliability flag and, for public taps, a critical flag. Cafés and pubs are reliable when they are open; their hours are not in the data, and a beach café in November is not a beach café in July.
What the data maps
Across the 52 stages there are 248 water points. Sorted by kind:
| Kind | Count | What it means on the ground |
|---|---|---|
| Public drinking-water taps | 36 | Flagged critical; on 18 stages; free and open |
| Springs and wells | 14 | Every one marked "treat first" and seasonal |
| Cafés and takeaways | 110 | Reliable when open; many seasonal |
| Pubs | 40 | Reliable when open; often the only option in a village |
| Shops | 48 | Village stores to supermarkets; food as well as water |
Two things stand out. First, the reliable supply on this path is people, not streams: 198 of the 248 points are somewhere that sells something, and only 14 are natural sources. Second, the taps cluster on the south coast — Exmouth to Sidmouth alone has six, Ferrybridge to Lulworth five, Worth Matravers to South Haven Point five — while the north coast between Minehead and St Ives has three in total, at Lynmouth, Hartland Quay and near Newquay.
The stage ratings
Each stage carries a water rating. Fifteen are scarce, 34 moderate and three abundant.
| Rating | Stages |
|---|---|
| Abundant | 20 Hayle → St Ives, 24 Lamorna → Marazion, 44 Exmouth → Sidmouth |
| Scarce | 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 (North Devon); 17, 19, 21, 32, 35 (Cornwall); 36, 37, 39 (South Devon); 48, 50 (Dorset) |
| Moderate | The other 34 |
The scarce list is not the remote list. Braunton to Instow and Instow to Westward Ho! are flat estuary walks through villages but rated scarce because the mapped points sit at the ends, with 15 km and 17.7 km of Tarka Trail between them. Abbotsbury to Ferrybridge is scarce because the Fleet lagoon and Chesil Beach have nothing on them, and the one mid-stage refill — the East Fleet Farm shop — is seasonal. Read the rating with the map.
The longest dry stretches
The table measures the longest gap on each stage between mapped points that are marked reliable — taps, cafés, pubs and shops — counting the stage start and end as refills, since both are villages or towns. Springs are left out because the data says to treat them and warns they may be dry.
| Stage | km | Longest gap | What is in the gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Newquay → Perranporth | 22.7 | 22.5 km | Nothing reliable after the Newquay shops until the tap at Perranporth; Holywell spring at 14.8 km, treat first |
| 37 Newton Ferrers → Bigbury-on-Sea | 22.5 | 21.5 km | Nothing until the cafés at Bigbury; the Erme wade is in the middle |
| 38 Bigbury-on-Sea → Salcombe | 21.5 | 21.2 km | Chalybeate Spring at 10.5 km, treat first; the Ferry Inn at the end |
| 10 Hartland Quay → Bude | 25.1 | 20.6 km | Two springs at 11.7 and 15.3 km, treat first; then Sandy Mouth café |
| 19 Portreath → Hayle | 19.7 | 19.3 km | Mirrose Well at 3.2 km; then nothing until Hayle |
| 39 Salcombe → Torcross | 21.3 | 19.2 km | Salcombe café at the start, a takeaway at 19.2 km |
| 23 Sennen Cove → Lamorna | 19.2 | 19.1 km | St Levan's Well at 9.3 km, treat first; the café at Lamorna Cove |
| 2 Porlock Weir → Lynmouth | 19.4 | 18.9 km | Sister's Fountain at 9.8 km, treat first, in the Exmoor woods |
| 3 Lynmouth → Combe Martin | 22.0 | 18.0 km | Lee Abbey tea cottage at 4 km, then nothing over the Hangman |
| 9 Clovelly → Hartland Quay | 16.3 | 16.2 km | Nothing between Clovelly and the tap at Hartland Quay |
The pattern is the remote coast: the Hangman, Hartland, the mining coast between Portreath and Hayle, Land's End to Lamorna, and the South Hams estuaries. On the Hartland day the stage page says it outright — remote, carry supplies — and the hardest sections guide rates both Hartland stages 4 out of 5 for remoteness. Fill everything you have at Clovelly and Hartland Quay; there is a tap at the quay for the morning.
Two long stages do not appear because their water is at the start: Ferrybridge to Lulworth Cove has five taps and a shop in the first 5.3 km at Weymouth and then 17.3 km of nothing to Lulworth; Ferrybridge to the Isle of Portland has its cafés and a Budgens in the first 4 km and then 18.5 km round the island with only a spring. Fill up before the town ends.
Where the shops are
Forty-eight shops are mapped, and they fall where the towns are: Spar and Morrisons Daily at Newquay, Hayle and Swanage; a Co-op, Spar and Tesco Express through Falmouth; Aldi and Morrisons Daily at Newquay; village stores at Helford, Polruan, Porthscatho, Seaton in Cornwall and Abbotsbury. The useful list is the other way round — the 22 stages with no shop mapped at all:
- Minehead → Porlock Weir (1), Lynmouth → Combe Martin (3), Woolacombe → Braunton (5), Hartland Quay → Bude (10)
- Bude → Crackington Haven (11), Crackington Haven → Tintagel (12), Tintagel → Port Isaac (13)
- Hayle → St Ives (20), St Ives → Pendeen (21), Pendeen → Sennen Cove (22), Sennen Cove → Lamorna (23)
- Marazion → Porthleven (25), The Lizard → Coverack (27), Portloe → Mevagissey (31)
- Newton Ferrers → Bigbury-on-Sea (37), Bigbury-on-Sea → Salcombe (38), Salcombe → Torcross (39), Dartmouth → Brixham (41)
- Exmouth → Sidmouth (44), Sidmouth → Seaton (45), Seaton → Seatown (46), Seatown → Abbotsbury (47)
Several of these start or finish in a town with shops that are simply mapped on the neighbouring stage — St Ives, Bude, Exmouth, Sidmouth, Dartmouth — so the rule is not "no food" but "buy it the evening before or at breakfast". The ones to take seriously are the runs: Hayle to Lamorna is four consecutive stages with no shop on the path, and the pubs at Zennor and Treen and the café at Lamorna Cove are what there is. Newton Ferrers to Torcross is three.
Cafés, pubs and the seasons
The 110 cafés and 40 pubs are the everyday water of this path, and on most stages they are what makes a scarce rating survivable. The data marks a handful as seasonal — the East Fleet Farm shop and bar on the Fleet, the Crab House Cafe near Ferrybridge — and describes others by what they are: the Porthmeor Beach café is noted as the last refill before Zennor, the Gurnard's Head at Treen as an inn, the North Inn at Pendeen as a village detour from the stage end. Beach cafés keep beach hours; pubs keep pub hours, which can mean nothing between lunch and evening. Out of season, plan on the taps and the shops and treat everything else as a bonus.
The springs
Fourteen springs and wells are mapped, all marked "treat first" and seasonal: Sister's Fountain on Exmoor; two springs on the Hartland cliffs; the Olde Water Pump at Port Isaac; Holywell Spring near Newquay; Mirrose Well beyond Portreath; St Levan's Well near Porthcurno; a spring on the Lizard; springs near Talland Bay, above the Dart and on Portland; and the Chalybeate Spring on the way to Salcombe. Treat them as what the data says they are — a backup with a filter or tablets, not a plan.
How to plan a day
Open the stage page the night before and count the reliable points. If the stage is rated scarce, or the longest gap is over 15 km, leave with two litres full and the day's food bought. If it is one of the 22 with no shop, buy the next day's as well. On the remote-rated days — the Hangman, the two Hartland stages, Zennor, the Lulworth ranges — the packing list has a filter in the backup kit for a reason. And whatever the rating, refill at every café you pass, because on this path the one you skip is the last one.
Frequently asked questions
Is there drinking water on the South West Coast Path?
Yes, but unevenly. The stage data maps 36 public drinking-water taps across 18 stages, and the rest of the 248 refill points are cafés, pubs, takeaways and shops that will fill a bottle when they are open, plus 14 springs and wells marked treat first. Fifteen stages are rated scarce for water and no stage has any real shade, so two litres of capacity and a refill at every opportunity is the rule.
Which stages of the South West Coast Path have the least water?
By the stage ratings, the 15 scarce stages are 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 17, 19, 21, 32, 35, 36, 37, 39, 48 and 50. By distance between mapped reliable points, the longest gaps are Newquay to Perranporth (22.5 km), Newton Ferrers to Bigbury-on-Sea (21.5 km), Bigbury-on-Sea to Salcombe (21.2 km) and Hartland Quay to Bude (20.6 km), where the only refills mid-stage are springs to treat.
Can I drink from streams on the South West Coast Path?
The stage data marks 14 springs and wells along the route and labels every one of them "treat first" — Sister's Fountain on Exmoor, St Levan's Well near Porthcurno, the Chalybeate Spring on the way to Salcombe among them. They are also flagged seasonal, so they may be dry in a hot summer. A small filter is a sensible backup on the remote days; the reliable supply on this path is taps, cafés and shops.
Where can I buy food along the South West Coast Path?
In the towns and villages the path passes through. The stage data marks 48 shops on the route, from village stores to supermarkets in Newquay, Falmouth, Plymouth and Swanage, but 22 of the 52 stages have no shop mapped at all, including the whole Exmoor start, the Zennor and Land's End days and most of the Lizard. Buy the day's food before you leave a town and the next day's if the stage page shows no shop.
Are the cafés on the South West Coast Path open all year?
Not all of them. Beach cafés and seasonal campsite shops open for the summer, and the stage data marks several as seasonal — the East Fleet Farm shop on Chesil Beach and the Crab House Cafe at Ferrybridge, for example. Outside spring to autumn treat a mapped café as a possibility rather than a certainty, and rely on the taps, the shops and the pubs.
