At the beginning of September 2017, Natural England announced that work had officially started on all stretches of the England Coast Path, the latest, and most ambitious, National Trail.  

The England Coast Path – the world’s longest continuous coastal trail – is an inspirational project born out of years of Ramblers’ campaigning.

Initially Ramblers helped to win the Marine and Coastal Access Act, which made the coast path possible, when its funding was in doubt our members fought to keep it on track, and our volunteers across the country have been working tirelessly to walk, survey and map out the best route. The final trail will be almost 3,000 miles long, and it is more than just a path - for the first time it gives the right of access to open coast, it allows people to walk over access land to explore beaches and foreshores, right up to the water’s edge. This means that, often for the first time, there will usually be secure public rights to use popular coastal areas such as beaches, sand dunes and cliff tops without the expensive and time-consuming process of creating a Public Right of Way.

You can see where this land is – it is shaded pink on the digital 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps. An example is shown below – this is the current northern extent of the ECP, north of Mablethorpe.

In Lincolnshire, the first stretch, from Skegness to Mablethorpe, opened in February 2019. This was the eleventh section of the England Coast Path to open.

 

Above (left) Rural Minister Lord Gardiner officially invited guests to an opening ceremony in the North Sea Observatory, Chapel Point, to join him outside in the sunshine for the ribbon cutting.

Above (right) Mike Casey, former Chairman of Skegness and Horncastle Ramblers (second left), and Ramblers' Footpath Officer Barry Smith (second right) pictured on the new Coast Path with Natural England’s Interim chief Executive Marian Spain (left), Rural Minister Lord Gardiner (centre) and Councillor Colin Davie, Executive Councillor for economic development at Lincolnshire County Council (right). Mike and Barry have worked tirelessly to bring about the opening of the England Coast Path on their patch of coastline.

As of March 2022, the section of the path from Mablethorpe north to the Humber has been partly approved, with the remaining section from Saltfleet to Humberston needing adjustment. Skegness south to The Wash, has yet to be approved.