Bosham to West Itchenor in West Sussex

It is an extraordinary undertaking, but it also now has a record in its own right, doesn't it?

It's the longest coastal walking trail in the world.

Oh.

The longest managed coastal walking trail in the world.

The other important thing, though, about the coast path, it's different from our other national trails, 'cause the legislation that set this path up doesn't just make a path.

It also means we now have a right of access to the coast.

So we have access to the dunes, to the beaches.

It's a broader area, not just a path.

And that's also important given our changing coastline, that if the coast moves, the path moves with it.

So you might have walked in parts of Devon and Cornwall where the path is falling into the sea, and you either, you have to take quite a longer inland diversion to avoid it.

We won't have that problem in the future.

The path will be able, will move in.

Landowners have agreed that the path can move as the coast moves.

You must have had to communicate with tens of thousands of people to make this possible.

25,000 individual landowners.

Often many of those farmers, of course.

Not all farmers, but a lot of it passes through farmland.

It was a big undertaking.

It's a very long path.

2,700 miles, of which 1,000 is brand new rights of access, um, as opposed to upgrading what we already had.

And we had to do that with the agreement of the landowners.

We had to work with them, agree the best route, agree whether any restrictions were needed so their businesses could continue with the path passing through them.

With those 25,000 different landowners, presumably you, you had to have some pretty difficult conversations.

How, how did it test your diplomatic skills, and how did you win people round if they objected?

Yes.