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A 17-year-old student from Truro High School is walking the entire Cornish section of the South West Coast Path to help raise £7,500 towards much-needed repair work on the Coast Path.

As part of her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, Jessica Hinton-Rowe will brave the notoriously rugged 296-mile Cornish coast over 24 weekends to help raise money towards a £40k project to help solve severe coastal erosion on the path between Land’s End and Sennen Cove (above).

Says Jessica, whose stepfather Nigel Pickin is CEO of Cornish Cottage Holidays, one of the sponsors of the SWCP website: “I will be walking sections at the weekends varying in length between 6.8 miles and 13.9 miles. The plan is to reach Land’s End on December 29 and to finish in April next year. I love walking and the views along the South West Coast Path are breathtaking, so while this is going to be a tough challenge – not least because I’m giving up so many of my weekends – it’s something that I’ll be able to look back on with pride and tell my grandchildren!”

Toby Lowe, Countryside Officer, from Cornwall County Council, says: “The coastal erosion at Land’s End and Sennen Cove has steadily become worse over the past five years and has left a large visual scar on the landscape. The aim of the project will be to pitch as much of this section of path as possible with the money available. On behalf of Cornwall Council, may I wish Jessica the best of luck with her walk.”

The Land’s End project is a joint project between Cornwall Council and the National Trust as it covers both land owned by the National Trust and parts of the SWCP managed by Cornwall Council.

To sponsor Jessica visit her Just Giving charity page at www.justgiving.com/Jessica-Hinton-Rowe