Coastal walks

What do a fossil forest, ITV drama Broadchurch and cliff-top views towards France have in common? The Jurassic Coast, of course, all 95-majestic miles of it. Stretching from Old Harry’s Rocks in Dorset, a stunning collection of chalk stacks along the English Channel to Exmouth, the designated World Heritage route covers a stunning part of Britain’s coastline. Travelling from east to west, you can explore 185 million years of history via a visible fossil record contained in 70 different rock strata that line the cliff faces.

If you’re lucky, you might spot a school of dolphins playing off the coast, a pod of sunbathing seals or oystercatchers scavenging for mussels on this beautifully rugged stretch of coastline. If you’re not, you’ll still have the 16th-century Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island in full view for most of the walk. You’ll need to time your hike right, as the tide covers the only road in and out twice a day, leaving the three-mile causeway flooded. Once you’re on the island nine miles south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the circular five-mile hike starts from the main car park on the north side of the village and takes in the recently renovated castle, its historic limestone kilns and impressive walled Gertrude Jekyll gardens.

With wild, windswept beaches, desolate dunes overlooking the Irish Sea and epic low tides that reveal prehistoric animal and human footprints, Formby Beach is an unspoilt stretch of coastline that feels a million miles from the hustle and bustle of nearby Liverpool and Southport. Despite largely being a beach walk, there are plenty of other habitats to discover on the family-friendly three-mile hike, including a pine woodland home to hundreds of red squirrels, moths and butterflies and even several asparagus farms. But it’s the combination of the high dunes – that on a clear day let you see over to the Lake District – and the sprawling sandy beaches dotted with ancient footprints that make this walk a real winner. The 150 acres of unspoilt wilderness transports you to an alternate world where tax returns and social media haven’t been invented yet.

One of the most remote islands in the UK, St. Kilda lies 41 miles beyond the Outer Hebrides in Scotland – if you want to know how it feels to be the last human on earth, this is the place to come. The four-mile hike takes in the UK’s highest sea cliffs. It’s home to spectacular bird colonies, Conachair, the island’s tallest peak and Village Bay, which was evacuated in 1930 leaving only a dedicated band of scientists, military personnel, conservationists and day-trippers from Harris, Lewis or Skye to explore the rugged island.

At 630 miles long, the South West Coast Path stretches from Somerset to Dorset and is a serious investment in time and energy (not to mention blister plasters). However, the 13-mile hike from Weymouth that takes in Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door is a glorious one-day adventure that cherry-picks some of the best landmarks on the south coast.

A round trip that starts and ends at Kynance Cove, there’s a lot to love about this hike around the Lizard Peninsula, the UK’s most southerly point. Kynance Cove with its azure seas, rock stacks, large low tide pools and white sands is often called the UK’s best beach, and it’s not hard to see why. The path leaves from the National Trust car park and follows the coastline to Lizard Point, past some brilliantly named locations, including Bumble Rock, Lion’s Den and Bass Point, before arriving in Pen Olver. Here, you’ll find two small huts used by Nobel Prize-winner Guglielmo Marconi. The cabins have now been turned into a small radio museum, paying homage to Marconi’s work and are well worth visiting on your way.