Writing the Blog
This website provides an accurate description of our walks. During my research while writing them, I discovered a wealth of fascinating information about various locations and features along the route, which I have also included.
We did this walk for enjoyment and certainly didn’t want to turn it into a chore. As we walked, we concentrated on enjoying the experience, appreciating the wonderful scenery and navigating the challenging terrain.
We didn’t have a notebook with us, and even if we had, we wouldn’t have had time to use it! However, I did have my GPX tracks and took as many photos as I could (although if I’d stopped to record every wonderful scene, we’d never finish a walk!) and, together, they helped piece together the walk descriptions later.
To compile the description of each walk for this website, verify details, and identify geographical features, I utilized OS maps from my Outdooractive app, Google Earth, various websites, The Official Guide to the South West Coast Path as well as their Exploring Series leaflets, Paddy Dillan’s book, and ChatGPT.
I found the brilliant South West Coast Path photo tour website to be particularly helpful for identifying geographical features. ChatGPT, while useful, did occasionally produce odd results, such as relocating The Little Hangman to the west and generally confusing landmarks along the route.
- Walking The South West Coast Path by Paddy Dillon (Cicerone)
- Official Guide to the South West Coast and website link
- Exploring The South West Coast Path link
(These are the North Devon & Somerset leaflets but link to others) - South West Coast Path – a photo tour link
- Outdooractive link
I also utilized a few AI tools to refine my descriptions. At times, my initial attempts sounded a bit like lists—”we did this, then we went there, and then we did this…” You might notice some instances of ‘flowery’ language, which isn’t typically my style, but I kept it because it flowed nicely!
GPS Tracks Issues and Vagaries
The GPX tracks were generated using my Fitbit Sense 2 and are therefore subject to the inconsistencies of tracking devices. To make them more compatible with the website and the apps that created the maps, I ‘minified’ some of them, which means I automatically removed excess points to make file sizes smaller. This improves functionality, but if you zoom in on the interactive maps, you may notice that the track doesn’t align perfectly with the path because the reference points are spaced apart. It might appear as though I took shortcuts, but I assure you that I did not!
The vertical accuracy of GPS satellites tends to be quite limited and readings can fluctuate by several metres, making them only approximate.1 When I mention elevation gained, I have either used the results generated by the Outdooractive app with the original GPX files or data from my Strava account both of which I assume use the underlying map to do the elevation calculation rather than the actual GPX file.
Information and Trip Details
I hope this blog will assist others in planning their own trips. I’ve included information about the places we’ve stayed, where we’ve eaten, and our travel methods to and from each walking stage, along with some timetable details. While these options worked well for us, they may not be the best fit for you, so please check everything.
As I write this, it’s been over a year since we began, so keep in mind that circumstances can change during that time. I’d hate to be the cause of you missing the last bus or ferry!
Technical Stuff
From time to time, I needed to edit the GPS files. Occasionally, my Fitbit decided to keep ending the tracking prematurely and I ended up with several separate files. Sometimes, the filesizes were too big and had to be made smaller. Whatever the need, GPS Studio was a great tool to manipulate and correct the files.
The Interactive Maps on the website were producing using GPS Visualizer. A simply brilliant tool that turns GPS files into a map with features like elevation charts and stats. For those with a bit of technical know-how (and a text editor), the resulting maps can be customised using an array of settings.
We created the Custom Gallery Lightbox plugin to display photo slideshows ourselves, as the available WordPress plugins were bloated and didn’t meet our needs. The coding was done by ChatGPT. It took numerous attempts to achieve a satisfactory result. This version is the best we’ve managed so far. While it’s a bit of a compromise, it performs most functions adequately although its handling of portrait images could be improved.