5000 Kilometres, 9 countries – One Footpath the E9

The UK section of the European Long Distance Route –E9 ‘The European Coast Path’ will be officially opened by Sir John Johnson, LDWA President and Jan Havelka, President of the European Ramblers Association. There will be a buffet lunch funded by HF holidays (www.hfholidays.co.uk ) at the Sandbanks Hotel, Poole at 1pm. The ceremony takes place at Poole Head (GR 050884), 1 mile NE of Poole Harbour in Dorset on Saturday 21st September 2002 at 2.30pm, followed by a short walk.
 
 
The European Long Distance Paths, E-routes, were originally created by the European Ramblers Association, and now cover much of Europe, allowing walkers continuous way marked routes across many countries. The E9 is to follow the coast of Europe from cape St. Vincent in Portugal to Narva-Jõesuu in Estonia. It will cover 5000 kilometres (3125) and cross nine countries. To access the UK section, ferries can be taken from Roscoff to Plymouth (or other crossings on route) and at Dover; the ferry to Calais rejoins the mainland route.
 
 
The LDWA is an ERA member, and has played a large part in the development of the UK section of the E9.This follows the south coast of England from Plymouth to Dover (705km/441 miles), visiting classic coastal features such as Purbeck, the Solent the Seven Sisters and Shakespeare Cliff, as well as the region’s two future National Parks, the New Forest and South Downs. An optional route visits the Isle of Wight. It also opens up new possibilities for British walkers, linking the Saxon Shore Way and South West Coast Path to create a continuous way marked route of almost 1,000 miles around the coast of southern England from Gravesend to Minehead.  
 
Notes For Editors
 
The Long Distance walkers’ Association (LDWA) represents the interests of long distance walking enthusiasts, and is recognised by the Sport UK as the national governing body for this activity. With an active membership covering over 40 local groups including Dorset the association provides expert knowledge on this particular sport. It also organises its own and publicises other events throughout the country, ranging from 20-mile events to its annual flagship 100-mile challenge walk, next year to be held in the Yorkshire Dales.
 
Information on these and other activities are given in its tri-annual publication Strider.
 
Contacts for further information
 
Peter Morrill - publicity@ldwa.org.uk
Tom Sinclair - secretary@ldwa.org.uk
 
The LDWA’s web site www.ldwa.org.uk includes information about long distance paths/trails, challenge walks across the UK and contacts for the LDWA local groups.
 
You can go direct to the Dorset LDWA group site via www.ldwa.org.uk/Dorset and contacts for the Dorset LDWA group are:
 
Peter Scriven - Secretary Dorset group pas@pascriven.fsnet.co.uk   
Derek Watkinson - Chairman Dorset group watkinggg@yahoo.com