Exmoor's 70th Anniversary

The 19th of October marks the 70th anniversary of Exmoor National Park, a stunning expanse of upland countryside known for its expansive moors and broad-leafed woodland, not to mention a varied and well-walked coastline.

To celebrate this major anniversary, the Exmoor National Park Authority have been putting on all sorts of events, from virtual walks, social media splurges and bridge-building to important work on the park’s stretch of the England Coast Path.

You can find the full list of anniversary events on Exmoor’s official website, but read on for our favourite walker-centric highlights.

Exmoor on Social Media

#ExmoorDay is an annual event on the 19th of October, the day the Exmoor National Park was first established. Over the next few weeks, oodles of facts about Exmoor will be posted to the tag as the park authority work hard to showcase the park’s brilliant range of landscapes and history. Just follow #ExmoorDay on your favourite social media platform to enjoy boundless walking inspiration.

Looking for even more about Exmoor? Check out Exmoor’s 70 Sites for 70 Years initiative. These blog posts are being posted day by day as we move towards October, and will ultimately delve into the backstory and modern-day significance of seventy sites within the Exmoor National Park.

We particularly enjoyed reading about the Tarr Steps, a favourite spot amongst our Two Moors Way walkers.

Opening the England Coast Path in Exmoor

Earlier in this anniversary year, the Exmoor National Park Authority officially opened their leg of the England Coast Path, following Exmoor’s coastline from Minehead to Combe Martin.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may be perplexed by this news: surely the South West Coast Path has spanned this stunning section of coastline for years? And that’s true, but in the longterm, the England Coast Path will also guarantee access to the coastline from the path itself, and in the meantime, the park authority has altered the trail in several places to include previously inaccessible cliff tops and beaches.

Revised sections of the South West Coast Path

1. The Rugged Coast Path. The South West Coast Path took a moderately inland route here before, while the new route cleaves closer to the coast itself, clambering up the famous viewpoint of North Hill (which, if walking from Minehead, you will have seen from below while peering west from Minehead’s beach) and heading west above the craggy cliffs, with brilliant sea views to enjoy.
2. Hurlstone Point. Continuing from the Rugged Coast Path, the new route clambers around Hurlstone Point, host to an old coastguard station and some great views along the coast.
3. Gore Point. From Porlock Beach, the revised route continues down by the surf along this wide low beach of grey pebbles, with long views back towards Hurlstone Point.
4. Glenthorne. Here, the new England Coast Path cuts closer to the sea, heading through woodland and then along the edge of the Glenthorne Plantation.
5. Lee Abbey. The South West Coast Path follows a length of road here; two revisions have been made at either end of that stretch to reduce the amount of road walking.
6. Cobbler’s Park. This reroute brings the trail seaward, introducing brilliant new views over the ocean.

You can find marked-up OS maps of these revisions in the Exmoor National Park press release about the England Coast Path opening. The original trails remain open as public footpaths, and provide good fall-back points in the event of coastal erosion.

Constructing Great Bradley Bridge

Exmoor Day is also set to mark the opening of the new Great Bradley Bridge. This broad pedestrian bridge will allow walkers, horseriders and cyclists to safely cross the River Barle on the Two Moors Way after erosion compromised the path to the original crossing downstream. This video shows the project in progress and talks a little about the recycling initiatives involved in the construction.

There’s still time to help fund the project, which is 75% of the way to its target at time of writing, through the “bridge the gap” Great Bradley Bridge appeal.

We look forward to seeing our Two Moors Way hikers crossing this impressive structure next year!

Walk for Exmoor

You may be familiar with the rise of virtual walking challenges, but if not, Exmoor’s 70for70 challenge may be the perfect introduction for you. The aim is to drive donations to CareMoor, the charity that helps look after Exmoor, by walking 70 miles before the end of October.

You can cover these miles wherever you like, on a local walk, at the gym, or even on a long-distance holiday in an entirely different part of the country. It all counts! Just log your daily miles and the virtual route will show you all the sights you might have seen in Exmoor itself. This is a clever ploy, we think, by the Exmoor Park Authority. Even a few snippets of Exmoor are sure to lure you to the park next year (if the overall celebrations don’t get you there sooner still).

Find out more about the challenge and register here.

Explore Exmoor Yourself

Find the full list of celebrations, including the annual Exmoor Dark Skies Festival, here on the Exmoor National Park website.

We provide a host of walking holidays that explore parts of this brilliant National Park, too. Combine a sweep through the western flank of Exmoor with a run along the coast and into the North Devon National Landscape on the Tarka Trail; combine the park with its southern sibling, Dartmoor, on the Two Moors Way; wander inland through western Exmoor and into the Quantock Hills on the Coleridge Way; or enjoy those freshly improved coastal trails on the South West Coast Path.

On all these trails, Exmoor offers stunning moorland views beneath a collossal expanse of sky, with glittering streams to cross and great pubs in local villages. We highly recommend it.

Cass Jenks

Marketing and Strategy Consultant

Writer, editor and Google-wrangler at Contours Holidays, Cass spends each weekend on the trails, walking the dog or plummeting downhill along Wales’ best mountain biking tracks.

Read more blogs by Cass Jenks