King Charles III England Coast Path

The King Charles III England Coast Path is a long-distance National Trail running around the coast of England. In Hampshire a 52 mile stretch of the Path is open and forms part of a nationwide project that will eventually become one of the longest walking routes in the world.

In Hampshire you can now walk from Calshot to Portsmouth via Gosport along the Coast Path.

The Calshot to Portsmouth section starts at Calshot Spit where you can visit Calshot Activities Centre.

Walkers reaching Hythe can take the ferry to Southampton Town Quay before heading to Woolston and nearby Netley Abbey, the remains of a 13th century monastery and Royal Victoria Country Park.

Continuing through to Hamble, at low tide you can view the remains of St Andrews Castle a 16th Century Henrician Castle built to defend the Solent by Henry VIII.

Walkers can cross the River Hamble using the Hamble-Warsash Pink Ferry and head through the Hook-with-Warsash Local Nature Reserve.

Especially worth a visit in winter is Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve which you will pass by on your walk as you head towards Gosport.

Finally, you can walk to historic Portchester, overlooking Portsmouth Harbour where you can also visit Portchester Castle or Wicor Nature Reserve.

The England Coast Path was renamed the King Charles III England Coast Path in 2023 to commemorate King Charles’ coronation.

Coastal Margins

The Coast Path creates an uninterrupted walking route around the coast, but it also creates a coastal margin which will allow ‘open access’ to the coast to people on foot.

The margin includes all land between the trail and the sea and gives rights of access on foot for people.

In the coastal margin, you’ll usually have new rights to enjoy areas like beaches. Some areas will not have such rights because they’re:

excepted land, such as cropped land or buildings and their courtyards or gardens
not suitable for public access, such as a saltmarsh or mudflat (s25 exclusion)
not suitable for public access due to nature conservation or heritage preservation (section 26 exclusion)

Be sure to use the coastal code when walking along the coast – our colleagues at Bird Aware Solent have some great advice.

Next Steps

We now have approval for 2 further sections of the King Charles III England Coast Path in Hampshire – going from Portsmouth to South Hayling Beach and from South Hayling to East Head in West Sussex adding approximately 45 miles of coast path. Works will progress on these sections during 2024 with plans to officially open in 2025.

To view the official map, look for facilities providers along the path or check the route outside of Hampshire please visit the National Trails website.