About

Quintin Lake by Oldbury Nuclear Power Station, Severn Estuary. P

The Perimeter is a photography project by Quintin Lake based on walking 10,000km around the coast of Britain in sections. The journey started on 17th April 2015 at St Paul’s cathedral and I’m following the coast clockwise. I expect the journey will take around 5 years.

I’ll be walking two to three months per year and the daily distance will be 20-40km depending on the going. I’ll be camping in the wilder parts and staying in guest houses in urban areas.

Why do this? I hope to learn more about our mysterious island nation and I can’t think of anywhere else where each footstep leads to such different surprises, beauty and strangeness.

“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible”
Oscar Wilde





59 thoughts on “About”

  2. Gary says:

    Really enjoyed the first 14 days. I’ve put it in my RSS feed because I don’t want to miss a day of it.

  3. Mike Jane says:

    Quintin- Recently, we have bumped into you twice on your South Devon/ South Cornwall stretch. We are about 60% through the Southwest Coastpath and just wanted to wish you all the best. We hope we see you again sometime.
    Very best wishes
    Mike & Tony

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Mike & Tony, It was great to meet you both and an inspiration not to “Take to the chair” in retirement. Thanks for the best wishes and I hope you have fair weather for your remaining 40%. Hope our paths cross again, Quintin

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  5. Peter says:

    “Why do this? I hope to learn more about our mysterious island nation and I can’t think of anywhere else where each footstep leads to such different surprises, beauty and strangeness.”

    I share your sentiments. Will you share your surprises and thoughts, maybe in a book?

    All the best Peter

  6. Mike Jane says:

    Hi Quintin
    I think Tony and I have now bumped into you three times in three different seasons and we continue to be inspired by your project. We have only about 3 days to go before we finish the Southwest Coast Path- like you we love every minute of sharing our lives with the sea and the land and when we finish our anti-clockwise journey we are going to turn around and walk it the other way. We hope to see you again soon.
    Good luck and very best wishes
    Mike Jane

    • Quintin Lake says:

      I kept an eye open for you as I finished the SWCP coming into Minehead expecting to bump into you for a forth time! Very well done on finishing and the fact you want to go back and do it again is testament to the pleasure of the experience, I imagine knowing what is around the corner will help with pacing oneself to savour the best bits.

  7. Mike Jane says:

    Hi Quintin
    Great to see your progress on this epic journey and also to see that on 1 Jan 2017 you adopted the motto “Solvitur Ambulado”.
    Tony and I adopted this motto when we began our Southwest coast path journey just over two years ago- it describes perfectly what walking means to us.
    We finished the coast path about three months ago and after a few trips going the other way, we have now decided to walk it anti clockwise again but this time in sequence rather than with a number of different starting points. We start from Minehead tomorrow and I plan to keep a daily diary with two or three photographs for each section which will illustrate the most iconic scenes for each section.
    Very best wishes to you for 2017.
    Mike

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Hi Mike,
      Its very apt for us wanders isn’t it. Congratulations on completing the SWCP and good luck for the repeat journey, From my recent camps in south Wales I’ve seen the lights of Minehead over the Bristol Channel which seems like another world.
      All the best for 2017.
      Quintin

  8. tanjabrittonwriter says:

    I know I am joining your journey somewhat late, but I find your idea inspiring and wish you continued luck. I am looking forward to reading your future posts, and to catching up with at least some of your previous ones.
    Best wishes, Tanja

  9. John says:

    Brilliantly ambitious, wonderfully obsessive, fabulous photos – hats off to you sir and I wish you the very best with this mammoth undertaking – most inspiring!

  13. Nick Metcalfe says:

    Quentin,
    Congratulations on your journey so far. My wife, Lyn and I are completing the SWCP this year having enjoyed every minute. We do a week at a time and will complete it in 3 years. Each year we have completed a book and are now working on a massive coffee table picture book of the whole experience. I am still struggling to find Bridges Rocks on the OS Map …. you took one of St Georges Island do you have a grid ref? Great picture .

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Nick, Thanks! That sounds like a great way to approach the SWCP. I’m sure you find, as I do, that doing it in sections gives one time to reflect on the previous leg and research the next one which makes the overall journey a richer experience St Geoges Island is 2km due south of Looe. Bridge Rocks are 1.5km west of the Island adjacent to the SWCP. It is only marked on 1:25,000 scale, on 1:50,000 that area is called Hore Stone. Good luck with the rest of the walk and the book.

  14. venturewild says:

    Quintin-
    What an incredible undertaking! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your journey! Your images are more than just inspirational! We’ve never had the opportunity to undertake something so immense, but are fellow travelers and are always so humbled and warmed knowing the world is full of other humans interested in just a little bit more than the average! Thanks again for sharing!

    Cheers!
    Katie & DJ
    http://www.venturewild.net

  15. Emily Wahl says:

    Love what you’re doing! My photographer husband and I are attempting to travel over the entirety of Oregon in order of its geological history. It involves a lot of hiking, though we aren’t traveling entirely by foot:) Some documentarian friends of mine are in Ipswich. I’ll share your project with them, and maybe they can put you up near the end of your journey.

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Thank you that would be welcome. What a fascinating project you are undertaking, and an interesting way to see the landscape in a new way. Good luck with it!

  16. smackedpentax says:

    Fantastic! What an adventure. I had half planned to do it myself when I retired, however I have now retired and unfortunately have had a knee replacement, so I isn’t a good idea. But good luck – I will be following your adventure with interest (and a little jealousy). Hope it all goes well for you and take some good photos 🙂

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Many thanks for your best wishes! My knees are sore today so I’ll be trying (unsuccessfully) to take it easy 🙂

  17. Amanda On A Small Blue Planet says:

    Just found your blog courtesy of Discover on WordPress, really fantastic photos and I love walking the coastal path. It’s magical. In fact I think I may have to plan for more of that in the future!

  18. Paul Kilgour says:

    Congratulations on reaching Blackpool Quintin! A grim but wonderfully photogenic place. I’m enjoying this thing of yours very much. Keep going 🙂

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Most of the lighthearted & behind the scenes pics in rectangular format below the daily maps are iphone. All the square format images are Canon 5dsr which is 50 megapixel so I can print them large

  24. Sylvia says:

    On planning the second part of my SWCP, around Cornwall, I came across your site. For I love photography very much your pictures are very inspiring to me! Most of them I like very much! Thanks for sharing, I´ll keep following you around! And hope to go on myself soon …

  25. hana says:

    Found your website on WordPress. Awesome ,fantastic and interesting adventure ! i will bookmark this website and see your picture, and also wait until you finish the walking.
    have a happy day!

  26. musingsfromthecam says:

    Hi – I only found out today, the very last day, about your walk via a news item on the BBC website. Congratulations on such a great achievement and a beautiful journey. I very much hope you will publish a book of your adventures, as the images on the BBC site are tantalisingly wonderful and I’m sure you have many great stories to share. Well done on such a beautiful, inspirational achievement!

  27. Joerg says:

    Hi Quentin,

    great project. Great pics. So many great shots, really nice.

    You should read “How long is the coast of Britain?” by Benoit Mandelbrot…

    Then you realize that you did not walk 11.000 km but many many more …

    Have a great time,
    Jörg

    PS looking fwd to your forthcoming book

    • Quintin Lake says:

      H Joerg, I knew of the Coastline paradox but never knew Mandelbrot wrote a book about it, a shame it seems to be unavailable now. Cheers

  28. MJ says:

    Hi Quintin – found your article in The Guardian. Better late than never. I live in the US and have booked a Norwegian Cruise around your grand and glorious isle for June 2022. I image I’ll be a land-facing doppelgänger for your sea-facing adventurer.

    Thanks for sharing. BTW, was the foot injury the only one you sustained?

    Wishing you the best, Mary Jo

    • Quintin Lake says:

      The cruise sounds brilliant, hope you have a good time. I had a stress response (early stage of stress fracture) in my tibia aswell.

  29. Cat says:

    Hi Quentin – I have so enjoyed your walk around the British coastline, your photos are always so mesmerizing and thought-provoking.

    Interesting watching your various BBC interviews, as one of the interviewers mentioned the “in between places,” and I was thinking about your walk in relation to the long walks that Rory Stewart has also taken, and written about.

    Someone mentioned above about Mandelbrot’s take on the coast, and it’s now available online: http://li.mit.edu/Stuff/CNSE/Paper/Mandelbrot67Science.pdf

    Thank you so much for sharing over the past few years, and we’re really looking forward to your book, too.

    Cat

    • Quintin Lake says:

      Hi Cat,
      I’m a big fan of Rory Stewart’s walking writing so I know what you mean. Thanks for sharing the Mandelbrot paper and your kind comments.
      Quintin

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