Guided Trail on the Coleridge Way

47 miles. 8 - 12 miles and up to 1,400 feet of ascent in a day.

Day 1: Arrival day

Day 2: Nether Stowey to Bicknoller - We start the week from Coleridge Cottage at Nether Stowey (possibly with a brief tour, if the National Trust are able to arrange for the building to be open outside normal hours) before heading out through the village and the foothills of the Quantocks, via the remains of a Norman castle and the site of Walford’s Gibbet. After walking through pleasant woodland, we arrive at Holford and pass Alfoxden House where Wordsworth and his sister spent most of 1797. From there we contour round the north end of the Quantocks Ridge to finish the day at the village of Bicknoller. Distance 10 miles with 950 feet of ascent

Day 3: Bicknoller to Roadwater - From Bicknoller we head more or less due west. We cross the West Somerset (steam) Railway, and then the border into the Exmoor National Park. We visit the attractive villages of Sampford Brett and Monksilver, and should enjoy excellent views over the Bristol Channel; there is an acknowledged viewpoint which is a good spot for lunch. Following field and moorland paths, we end the day at Roadwater, which used to be an important junction on the long-extinct West Somerset Mineral Railway. Distance 9¼ miles with 1,100 feet of ascent

Day 4: Roadwater to Wheddon Cross - We leave Roadwater from the Valiant Soldier Inn and head past a Bronze Age burial chamber on our way to Luxborough. We cross the Brendons over Lype Hill, at 1,388 feet the highest point on the ‘official’ Coleridge Way, and walk beside the route of an ancient ‘hare path’ (probably a Saxon army road) before dropping down to the old Exe Valley turnpike at Wheddon Cross. Distance 8½ miles with 1,400 feet of ascent

Day 5: This is a day without any walks programmed, giving you the opportunity to explore the local area independently, or to use the Country House facilities.

Day 6: Wheddon Cross to Porlock - From the road at Wheddon Cross we walk down through the woodland of the Raleigh Manor estate, with the route then contouring around the eastern slopes of Dunkery Beacon and Robin How, through Brockwell Woods, and on to the viewpoint of Webber's Post – there is a good chance of seeing deer along this stretch.  The path then tracks through the National Nature Reserve of Horner Woods to Horner village, before dropping steeply into Porlock for the finish of the 'official' Coleridge Way at the visitor centre. Distance 8½ miles with 1,000 feet of ascent.

Day 7: Culbone to Lynmouth - We start our longest day – an entirely HF Holidays' addition to the Coleridge Way – from an old coaching inn high up on the turnpike road linking Porlock and Lynmouth.  We soon drop onto the South West Coast Path, to take in the Glenthorne Estate with its abundant wildlife.  More particularly we pass farmhouses where Coleridge occasionally stayed, and get a distant view of Ash Farm where he wrote the mystical ballad ‘Kubla Khan’.  After Countisbury and the highest sea cliffs in the country, we have the best of all finishes: down the long green path to Lynmouth with the sea on one side and the hills on the other. Distance: 10¾ miles, with 1,400 feet of ascent

Day 8: Departure day