DK - Unforgettable Journeys Europe: Discover the Joys of Slow Travel

An empty road winding towards Mount Pico in the Azores

Hiking through the Bernese Alps in the shadow of the Eiger, Switzerland

Humankind has been traversing the landscape for thousands of years. First, we walked to find food and to trade goods; now we scale mountain ridges, tackle long-distance footpaths and trace entire coastlines. Europe has it all, so put on a pack and go, whether you want to wander through wildflowers in the Alps, trek across northern Spain or follow the rugged shores of Portugal or Albania.

AT A GLANCE

ON FOOT

South West Coast Path

The Islands Way

Pembrokeshire Coast Path

Fife Pilgrim Way

St Cuthberts Way

Rob Roy Way

Slieve Donard

Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk

MacGillycuddys Reeks

Pico

q Rota Vicentina: The Fishermens Trail

w Levada do Caldeiro Verde

e Parque Nacional de Garajonay

r Caminito del Rey

t Cami de Cavalls

y Camino de Santiago

u Carros de Foc

i Alsace

o Rheinsteig

p Liberation Route Europe: The Netherlands

a Wadden Islands

s Malerweg

d Watzmann Traverse

f Rennsteig Trail

g Salzburger Almenweg

h Adlerweg

j Eiger Trail

k Tell Trail

l Tour du Mont Blanc

z GR20

x Il Sentiero degli Dei

c The Cinque Terre

v Alta Via 1

b Mount Triglav

n Velebit Trail

m Jnokove Diery

, Kprovsk tt

. Albanian Riviera

/ Vikos Gorge

! Lycian Way

@ Piatra Craiului Main Ridge Trail

Soomaa National Park

$ Kungsleden

% Galdhppigen

^ High Coast Trail

& Laugavegur Trail

South West Coast Path

LOCATION England START/FINISH Minehead/South Haven Point DISTANCE 1,023 km (634 miles) TIME 68 weeks DIFFICULTY Moderate, with some challenging sections INFORMATION www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk; check tides, ferry timetables and firing-range restrictions to minimize detours and delays

Follow Englands wild southwestern edge for a rollercoaster of a trail, which undulates via tiny fishing villages and secretive coves.

The dramatic coastal scenery at Kynance Cove, on Cornwalls Lizard Peninsula

Theres always someone with you on the South West Coast Path. Not necessarily another human being for, although this trail traces some of Englands most popular shores, its still easy to lose the crowds. But still, theres always someone or rather, something with you here: the ghosts of seamen and smugglers, authors and artists; the cawing choughs, the hovering peregrines, the bobbing seals and basking sharks. This National Trail, which wraps itself around almost all the sea-facing edges of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, is wild in nature but has countless stories to tell.

Its roots trace back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when import duties were high and bootlegging was rife along these craggy, isolated shores. In response, a coastguard service was founded and a coastal path created, so that these new lawmen could more easily patrol the multitude of outcrops, inlets, bays, beaches, coves, crannies and clifftops, looking out for marine miscreants and their ill-gotten gains.

Well, praise be to the smugglers. For the path that resulted is one of the best in the world, hugging a varied, spectacular shoreline thats slapped and kissed by a sea shaded emerald, turquoise and indigo. Its also deceptively tough. Though the South West Coast Paths highest point North Devons Great Hangman is only 318 m (1,043 ft), this trail dips and rears and rolls and plunges so often that by the time youve completed the lot, youve climbed nearly four times the height of Mount Everest.

It doesnt ease you in, either. From the start in Somerset (most hikers begin in the resort town of Minehead, on the north Somerset coast, and walk anticlockwise), youre soon tackling the outrageously romantic but lung-busting edge of Exmoor National Park, home to the highest sea cliffs in the country. Theres respite around Devons flat Taw-Torridge estuaries, but from the hill-tumbling fishing village of Clovelly, things rollercoaster ravishingly into Cornwall, no rest for the thighs.