Somerset Coast Walk - Day 5: Burton to Steart

Walk: Somerset Coast - Day 5: Burton to Steart

This is a fantastic opportunity to join walkers on the 80 Miles in Eight Days Challenge for part of their walk.

On day five we head back to the coast from Shurton, again skirting the Hinkley Point C construction site. This area is full of folklore and our route passes Wick Barrow a Neolithic burial mound, also known as Pixie’s Mound after a farmer repaired a pixie’s paddle thinking it was a child’s toy, and was rewarded with a freshly baked pixie cake! We re-join the coast at Stolford with its raised storm bank protecting old shoreside cottages.

Leaving Stolford we enter an area of common land passing first Catsford Common and then Wall Common as we make our way to the Stert Peninsular. Heading up the wilder ocean side of the Peninsular we pass the village of Steart to reach the Tower Hide at the top of the peninsular and where we take the winter route back through the village and into the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s Steart Marshes.

WWT Steart Marshes is a working salt marsh providing natural flood defences for the area and a home for waders and overwintering birds, including Shelduck, Avocets, Plovers, Dunlin, Curlew, Oyster catchers and Egrets and many more. This area is at the heart of the new Somerset Wetlands National Nature Reserve, and is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Conservation Area and a Ramsar important wetlands habitat. We end the day at the main WWT car park.

Along the entire Challenge route there are stamping stations for the Somerset & Exmoor Coast Trail Passport with maps, diary pages and spaces to collect stamps on your walk.

Look out for events, offers and promotions at the location of the walk each day, some of our supporters are timing activities to make your trip as enjoyable as possible with special treats such as packed lunches or cream teas available at the start or end of your day’s walking.

Due to the challenge nature for some participants of this walk, we have made the decision not to accept dogs on the walk.

Full details of the itinerary and walk leaders will be distributed prior to the start of the challenge.

Itinerary:

We meet at the end point of your day’s walking at 9am, where there will be parking available. Here you will be joined by Walk Leaders and back-markers and driven to the start location to walk back to your car / transport.

At the start location, walkers opting not to use our transport may join and, following a briefing for the day, the walk will begin.

Where public transport is available at start and / or end locations it is shown below as PTS (public transport available at the start) or PTE (public transport available at the end), this is based on services running as normal for the time of year.

Further information will be included in the walk information pack sent out before the walks.

Day 5 – Burton to Steart (Moderate)

Terrain:

Difficulty level - Moderate

Distance - 11 miles

Duration - 5 - 7 hours

Day 5 on the King Charles III England Coast Path is on terrain that would be considered easy (flat with no stiles), however we have classed it as moderate given the distance to be walked.