Dunster to Minehead - March 2026
| Dunster to Minehead - March 2026 | |
| The weather wasn't great with a low-hanging cloud bordering on fog and mist, but it was dry. So, off we went to walk from Dunster Beach to Minehead Beach. Our route was planned as an easy/flat 6 mile hike along the beach and South West Coast Path. | |
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| Recent storms meant that the beach path had been closed. While we pondered the signs that stopped us as the golf course, several joggers just breezed past us and they seemed to ignore the closure and detour signs. There was a little soggy wet map provided to us who didn't dare to ignore the closure. We also accessed the website as they suggested (nationaltrail.co.uk). As always it was a bit tricky to sort out where we were in relation to the map. | |
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| We gradually figured it out and our route ended up being an 8-mile hike along roads in stead of along the beach. Of course there was the picnic lunch and another cup of tea at the end to keep us happy. | |
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| We parked Percy at a very handy parking lot at Dunster Beach. There was plenty of space and the fee was reasonable especially since there were toilets and a kiosk. Still, some people refused to pay and were parked lining the already narrow road leading down to the beach. | |
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| Our hike started on the sand, but we quickly realized that the sand was too soft for walking in. Even with a lot of rocks and pebbles, we gave up and climed up onto the grassy dunes. Little cottages were lining the sand dunes - ready for holiday makers. Some cottages looked quite derelict while others were being renovated. The colour scheme seemed to be restricted to shades of green. We don't know if that is a written rule, but no one had dared to go toward red or blue colours. | |
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| Where our path detour skirted the golf course we were warned to beware of flying golf balls. While there were quite a few people out playing, we did not have to duck even once for a flying ball. | |
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| It was a bit sad to not being able to walk along the official coastal path, but the detour went along a public footpath - nicely organized through a farm and properties in the village. We came upon a group of bird watchers who were all eagerly pointing their binoculars over a flooded farm field. The were very busy making notes and we didn't interrupt them to find out what they were looking for. When we returned in the afternoon, they were all gone. The birds had flown and all we could see were Canada geese. | |
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| In the village of Dunster we came past these cute dog statues. Very life-like and with knitted scarves and all. Couldn't resist taking their photos. | |
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| Spring is in the air and all the daffodils were cheering us up. The big upside of living in a country with plenty of rain is that the grass and fields are so GREEN all the time. Long gone are the months on end of shades of brown grass we had in Australia. | |
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| We had to cross the train line at Dunster Station. It was fun to see an old-fashioned train traffic sign, and then then steam train was right there fired up and ready to go. | |
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| After some uneventful walking along route A39 (with nice wide foot/bike path), we arrived at Minehead Beach. We learned that "Minehead" has nothing to do with explosives nor with extraction mines. The name is from the Old English word for a hill 'myned'. This is because of the big hill at the south end of town. As you can see from the photo, said hill was hard to spot on this day. Below is a comparison photo from a sunny day. | |
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| We found a spot on the beach to have our picnic. It was nicely out of the wind so we could make our tea and have a rest. The sea wall even provided something to lean on. | |
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| In addition to the usual mandarins, nuts, raisins, chewy bars, KitKats - we had brought scotch eggs! Yummy. Hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and covered in bread crumbs. Then baked in the oven. Perfect picnic food. | |
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| Rob was happy to enjoy his hand-made chocolate-orange (mandarin-KitKat)! | |
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| This is also a chance to point out how tiny the sea wall is in Minehead. We had to sit down to hide from the wind. Now in Burnham we have a real sea wall (size shown by Hild and Adelheid standing next to it). High tides of up to 12 metres is not a problem here. | |
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| Along the path in Minehead is this monument to the South West Coast Path which we were on. We have no hope to finish the whole 630 mile (1,014 km) hike to Poole. | |
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| Near the Minehead harbour we found these fun art installations made of recycled materials. We spotted pans, wheels, nails, fishing rods, horse shoes, garden tools, gas canisters and more. | |
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| Rob enjoying the view from Minehead harbour wall. | |
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| In the fog in the distance we could see Butlin's Minehead Resort. As we have pointed out before, this looks a bit like Denver International Airport - from a distance... | |
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| We spotted a thatched house called "Ithaca", so we had to take a photo of that to remember our home town in New York. Hopefully no one was inside the house wondering why someone was taking a photo of their home... | |
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| On our way back out of town we stopped to study the turn-table at Minehead train station. The steam train we saw earlier in Dunster was nowhere to be seen, but there were several carriages waiting for an engine. | |
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| When we arrived back in Dunster after our 8-mile slog, we were tired but pleased with our efforts. We welcomed both a bathroom visit and a cup of tea in the back of Percy. A peaceful end to a busy day. Peering at ships in the Bristol Channel, we used marinetraffic.com to discover which ships were going where. Good fun. | |
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Mar 2026