Stop 1
Strete Gate
SX 835 456
The walk begins just outside Strete, close to where the road takes a north-wards detour inland.
Before the coast road was built in 1855, the path to Strete was nearer the sea, following the route of the present South West Coast Path.
Just north of Strete Gate was once the site of a fishing village called Strete Undercliff.
Looking south from Strete Gate the shingle ridge stretches out all the way until the village of Torcross, just visible in the distance 3 miles away.
The shingle ridge was formed after the last ice age, about 7-10,000 years ago. At this time polar ice melted, causing sea levels to rise. The rising sea levels pushed shingle in from the English Channel, forming the ridge you can see today. A close look at the pebbles making up the shingle, suggests they come from a wide variety of rock types, which can be seen from their different colours and textures.