The Path is the tenth studio album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands, released in April 2003.

As such the album is endorsed by various organisations who own different parts of the path, namely The Countryside Agency, The National Trust and English Heritage Commission,.and the music is ambient instrumentals inspired by different locations around the coastline.

[3] The duo hoped that, with the album, listeners would be inspired to discover or rediscover the "endless fascination" of the coast path.

[7] Critical praise greeted both releases, and the duo embarked on The Cold Frontier Tour in November 2001, where they played a great deal of unreleased or "rare" material.

The band's live album Cold Cuts (2002), which was drawn from material from the tour, was released to positive reviews.

It stretches for 630 miles (1,014 km), running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset.

Show of Hands are from Devon, the only English county to have two coastlines, and the South West Coast Path crosses both of them.

[3] Describing the coast path, the duo noted that "the full 630 mile adventure around the coastline of the southwest peninsula has now become the region's most popular attraction.

From the Exmoor National Park to Poole harbour there is no better way to enjoy our dramatic coastline, its wildlife, history and culture," and the duo hoped that, with the album, listeners would be inspired to discover - or rediscover its "endless fascination".

"[15] The Path was released on 14 April 2003 on Compact Disc by the duo's own record label Hands on Music with the catalogue number HMCD18.

[18][20] The same track was also performed live by Knightley in an acoustic variation for his BBC Radio 4 documentary Open Country in 2010.