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Route Beer - Branscombe - Beer County Devon Difficulty Moderate to Hard Distance 5km (3 miles) Typical time One hour OS grid reference: TL395115, Explorer 194 and Explorer 174 Starting point Beer Head car park

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Blister rating: 2/5

View rating: 4/5

Why I love this walk

This walk is strenuous but at the top are the most fantastic views across the open seas. You sometimes get peregrine falcons up here too, which is another thing that makes it special.

My dad first introduced me to this route. He’s always been very fit, which may be where it all started with me. He’d make us go on these walks from quite an early age: not doing it was never an option.

This one is scarred on my psyche. We’d drag our way up these huge cliffs, huffing and puffing and wingeing — it was like child abuse — but at the top it was just amazing.

Monty Halls Great Escape: Beachcomber Cottage is published by BBC Books, £11.99

THE ROUTE

1 From the start/end point, keep the sea on your left as you walk south along the path, coming eventually to a clifftop route.

2 Continue along the relatively level white cliffs until you arrive at Beer Head. Enjoy the views to Portland Bill in one direction and Torbay in the other.

3 Turning west, take out your camera as you will want a picture of the spectacular chasm of Under Hooken, created in 1790 when part of the cliff broke away and slipped down. Follow the path into the chasm, and along the well-maintained path and on towards Branscombe Mouth. This section of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site is truly magnificent.

4 Branscombe Mouth used to be the scene of fishing and smuggling and then was used to land coal. Now it is the scene for much more idyllic pastimes.

Follow the path up the valley and then on to a tarmac section.

5 On reaching the road, fork left to visit the Old Bakery and Forge and the National Trust information point to discover more about the valley. The old mill at Manor Mill farm has been restored by the National Trust and is open to the public on summer weekends.

6 Walk back to Beer on the inland footpath from Vicarage, climbing steeply back up the valley side.

7 A short distance after reaching the top of the hill the path forks giving you a choice of attractions on the way back to Beer. You could keep left and go by the unique Beer Quarry Caves . . .

8 . . . or join the farm track taking you past Pecorama Pleasure Gardens.

9 Rest and relax in Beer before taking the short walk up to your starting point. Source: www.southwestcoastpath.com

Contributor: Pete Youngman

Things to see

Spectacular coastal views of the Jurassic coast in an area shrouded in smuggling legend

Pub rating: 4/5.

Pub: The Masons Arms

The Masons Arms in Branscombe is a 14th-century inn, ten minutes walk from the beach. Serves local lobster and crab and meat spit-roasted over an open fire

Where to stay

Combe House Hotel
Ken and Ruth Hunt run this Elizabethan country house hotel with a small team of waiters, maids, gardeners, chefs and Jeevesian bartenders, for whom nothing is too much trouble

The Masons Arms
see above

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