Five unspoiled UK coastlines with spectacular walks

Most of us will holiday at home this year, but that needn’t mean busy resorts. These unsung shores offer seclusion and hikes galore

According to the Ordnance Survey, mainland Britain has around 11,000 miles of coast, which may seem excessive in a country that is just over 600 miles long. That is because we wiggle a lot – what mathematicians soberly call the Hausdorff dimension. But if you swam around the island, keeping about half a mile offshore, you’d probably only need to cover about 2,000 miles (which seems so much more doable!). Whichever number you choose, long stretches of the UK coast don’t get the attention they deserve – and as lockdown drags on, their salty call intensifies. Here are five of my favourites – worthy of exploration, as restrictions allow.