As millions prepare to head for the coast on the last Bank Holiday of the year, the new biggest killer at the seaside can be disclosed today. It is a walk by the shore.

The fast-growing popularity of walking for pleasure along beaches and cliffs has led to it becoming the main cause of recreational deaths on the British coastline.

The number of people who die on a seaside walk tends to rise and fall each year depending on the weather but this is the first time that walking has killed more people than either swimming or diving. The particularly poor weather so far in 2007, including high winds and driving rain, is likely to have played its part in increasing this year’s toll.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has warned walkers on the coast to take a stick with them and to check weather forecasts, tides and the condition of coastal paths.

A spokesman for the agency said: “Walking everywhere is popular. You can’t get further than 72 miles (115km) from the coast in the UK. Broadly half to three quarters of the population is within an hour’s drive. ‘It’s a lovely day, let’s drive to the seaside’ – it’s a British thing.”

However, six people died while taking a walk between January and July this year. Five were killed swimming and two sub-aqua diving. “Tomb-stoning”, the new craze for jumping from a height into the sea, has led to five deaths in the first seven months of 2007. Of the dead walkers, three slipped, tripped or fell; one was buried under a landslide; one followed animals into the water; and one was an old lady who was ill.

A spokesman for the agency said that this year’s breakdown was a fair representation of the typical types of walking death.

Walking is the most popular seaside leisure activity and by far the fastest growing, according to the agency’s research. Figures indicate that almost one in eight – 12.2 per cent – of Britons go for walks on the coast, against 11.5 per cent who take part in beach leisure activities and 10.6 per cent who swim outdoors.

The ranks of walkers are rising more than five times faster than those involved in growing pastimes on water such as motorboating, kitesurfing or surfboarding. A campaign has been launched by groups including the Ramblers’ Association for a right to roam throughout England’s coastline. Scotland’s beaches are already legally accessible and a coastal path is being created around Wales.

But the Maritime and Coastguard Agency warned people to be aware of the risks, such as some cliff paths being less safe than others.

A spokesman said: “Look out for the weather, the gradient, the foothold. Is it exposed? Is there a handrail? The wind, as it comes over a cliff, is full of eddies that can take you over the edge.”

Then there is also what some coastguards privately call the “lemming effect”. The spokesman said: “Animals are a surprising source of accidents. ‘My dog chased a rabbit over a cliff, I went after it. Guess what?’ It’s a terrible thing to say but, if your pet goes into the water, you just have to call for assistance.”

Older people, though no more likely to be killed or injured walking along the coast than the young, are advised to choose appropriate routes.

Walkers on sandy beaches are at risk from treacherous tides in places such as Morecambe Bay, the Wash, the Exe and Scottish estuaries.

Blackpool has an unenviable reputation for dog walkers’ deaths. Two 16-year-old boys drowned when they were swept out by a wave while trying to save their border collie two years ago. A 14-year-old girl saw her father die last month trying to save two dogs from the North Shore. “They are beautiful, long, flat, sandy beaches,” the agency spokesman said, “but people underestimate the undertow currents.”

Nobody could have predicted the tragedy that befell Caroline Palser, 55, who was buried by a landslide as she strolled along the beach at Whitehaven, Cumbria, on New Year’s Day.

The Ramblers’ Association advised walkers to tell someone details of their route. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency added that, proportionately, there were still fewer walkers dying than swimmers and divers because walking was vastly more popular.

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