Preparation
How to have an adventure
The road would wind up-hill for many miles and on this journey it also winds down to the very end; Robin Hoods Bay. My days would be governed by daylight hours with the dark hours reserved for sleeping.
Alfred Wainwright is famous for his detailed exploration of the English Lakes in Cumbria and his series of books covering that region for the benefit of walkers. He is also famous for plotting a route across England from St Bees Head on the west coast to Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast; a route that crosses the best of the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors National Parks. For me, the most notable aspect is that he completed this body of work as a single individual. How one person can still dominate the writing on walking in the English Lakes, and how one man can publish a walk that is still so popular today, is a mystery to me.
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| St Bees Head, viewed from nearby St Bees |
The Coast to Coast walk when viewed on an Ordnance Survey map does not follow public rights of way in all cases but is legal as it uses permissive paths or access land. Walkers on the path will often be in dispute with fellow walkers on the correct route as there is limited signage and guidebooks and maps will differ on the precise detail of the route. The discrepancies are often around which way to bypass a farmyard or whether to arc right on the road for half a mile or arc left on a permissive path. I carried two aids to navigation, a book with written directions and maps and an A to Z style booklet with larger route maps, and was often in dispute with myself. The walk has taken on a life of its own with land owners or tenant farmers putting up signs on their land to keep walkers on a preferred path. This might be to direct people around the perimeter of farmsteads on permissive paths rather than through the centre of farmyards which could be dangerous. In one notable case the National Park has devised, signposted and published three variations to a given section of the walk to both aid the walker and reduce erosion; different routes are suggested at different times of year with the boggiest route advised for summer. It is too easy to forget that walking on a farm's grass is to walk on their crop and farmers will occasionally try and steer the walker to minimise crop damage. Navigation means studying the detail on the map and the visual signs and clues on the near ground, mid and far distance as you map out your route. OK folks, a quick English lesson aimed mostly at me. I had to try and purge all my incorrect references to "Ordinance Survey" to the correct "Ordnance Survey" when I typed up a short bibliography to wrap up my writing. But ordnance, if all those war films are to be believed, relates specifically to military munitions whilst ordinance relates to law such as an authoritative order or a religious rite. OS maps surely have more in common with an authoritative reference to the heights, highways and byways of our countryside than ammunition? Like so many innovations it turns out that the Ordnance Survey has its roots firmly planted in military history. Though the French Revolution started in earnest in 1789, it rumbled on for quite some time (let's not get into that debate) and with the risk of revolution spilling over to England's shores the defence ministry of the time was tasked with a survey of the south coast to aid troop and ordnance movement. The ministry at the time was called the Board of Ordnance.
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| Approaching Robin Hoods Bay |
At the time of writing (autumn 2021) there is a review being undertaken to assess if a National Trail could be developed based on the Wainwright route. Though some would argue that this goes against the spirit of the existing route its supporters say it will allow funding for path maintenance and signage to aid walkers. The Wainwright purist may maintain that if you are not fit and cannot read a map and navigate in low cloud then you shouldn't be out walking. On my walk I heard of someone who was expecting good camino-style signage and spent his mornings being lost until he found someone to guide him. Another person who had good skills managed to loop back off the top of the fells to the settlement they had left that morning and had to take a taxi on to that night's destination.
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| Heading eastwards towards Keld |
The walk benefits from being remote for much of the time and this also presents a challenge as accommodation is limited and you are advised to plan and book ahead for food. The guidebooks are clear that you are recommended to book accommodation in advance and they will also provide itineraries based on 11 to 15 day walks. Booking accommodation means you are committed to your schedule. What the guidebooks and websites lack are strong enough health warnings and I came across a few people who had been perhaps over ambitious in either their daily mileage or their luggage (weight) carrying ability and had to adjust their trip. You don't get to practice a walk like the Coast to Coast (C2C) and though you can try two long days back to back, practice with your tent in the garden, or climb a big hill, when you put this all together day after day it is a different proposition. It is the Rosthwaite to Patterdale section which involves two big climbs and descents that seems to trip people up. Splitting that day into two 10 mile days by stopping over in Grasmere feels like two easy days among many other 'easy' Cumbrian days so why not roll that into one big glorious hike and use that to cut the time (and budget) down. Many use luggage transport services and some discover these quickly if they struggle with their belongings.
Which brings us to cost. Too often the cause of problems I observed was due to people trying to shave a few days off their journey to save money as accommodation is expensive, and if you add luggage transport the Coast to Coast can be an expensive trip. Adding camping or even legal wild camping to the mix reduces costs significantly though you need to factor in the cost of lightweight camping gear if hauling your own kit. I opted to mostly camp and to carry my own kit. There are many kit lists out there to help with packing though having learnt from a recent cycle tour I focused on essential camping gear, navigation tools, and a full set of hill walking gear that would keep me alive on the fells and most of which I'd be wearing. I had planned meals out with family on-route, a 5k parkrun mid-way and a 10k race at the end. With this in mind I took basic kit for the runs, and trousers and shirt for evenings. OK, running shoes with no socks, walking trousers and a casual shirt would not be my normal night out attire but after a 13 mile hike with a full pack you really don't care.
Travelling from coast to coast across varied landscapes makes it clearer that the public paths that emerged from popular use are sometimes not in the best place for both today's walker and farmer. The old pack-horse trails that follow a path of least resistance from one valley to the next are fine, but the old direct routes from farmstead to church that cut diagonally across fields which may have suited low traffic in a time when church attendance was almost mandatory may not now suit the farms where additional fencing is in place and additional styles are be required to be maintained. How does a farmer divide up his or her rectangular field into strips with temporary electric fences when walkers are following the public path on the diagonal.
This page is about my preparation though I have rambled on a bit - pun intended. I used a 40 litre rucksack on the basis that I shouldn't be carrying more than would fit in a pack this size and that worked out well. The pack was probably around 8kg without food or water. I had just one 800 ml water bottle as it was September and I would drink lots each morning before setting out. The actual distance covered depends on the precise route taken and any intentional or unintentional diversions you take but I am going for the 192 miles version as that is what appears at the end point on the wall of the Bay Hotel in Robin Hoods Bay. This hotel also hosts "Wainwrights Bar" which holds the log book which I signed on completing the walk. Of course you can walk east to west into the prevailing wind and benefit from some training miles on gentler ground before tackling the Cumbrian hills and a few do that and benefit by saving the best 'till last.
One decision I had to make was whether to go digital or paper for navigation and to my mind the decision to go paper was definitely right. I used both a convenient AZ maps booklet of OS maps for the route and also a guidebook and in practice used the AZ maps booklet for navigation and the book for points of interest. If you feel you want digital as backup so you can use GPS to find where you are then make sure you download any mapping before departure as phone signal for downloads can be poor in the valleys and also on the remoter fells.
Starting at the seaside town of St Bees the itinerary I followed is fairly standard and in part determined by availability of accommodation in two of the locations. Distances are very approximate. The seemingly modest 8 miles to Patterdale was not so easy when taking into account the amount of ascent and the unplanned walking between campsite and food and why wouldn't you want to stay in Grasmere. The rest day in Colburn (near Richmond) worked well as a rest and laundry stop.
- Ennerdale Bridge, 14.5 miles, camped alone, breakfast and packed lunch provided
- Rosthwaite, 14.5 miles, camped on popular site, ate carried food as nothing to be had
- Grasmere, 9 miles, camped outside YHA and made use of Grasmere's food shops and cafés
- Patterdale, 8 miles, camped and made use of nearby Glenridding's food shops
- Shap, 16 miles, used a bunk house, sole use of room, local pub and full breakfast at bunk house
- Kirkby Stephen, 20 miles, camped, curry night with fellow walkers and co-op for food
- Keld, 12 miles, camped and relied on carried food
- Reeth, 10.5, camped and with pubs fully booked made lucky use of an excellent café
- Colburn, 13 miles, relied on family for food
- Colburn, 0 miles, a rest day with a simple 5k parkrun
- Oak Tree Hill (just east of Danby Wiske), 13 miles, B&B with evening meal and breakfast
- Clay bank Top, 19.5 miles, B&B with evening meal and breakfast
- The Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge, 9.5 miles, camped with excellent pub food and breakfast
- Grosmont, 13 miles, camped in a pod after a late lunch in the rail station café
- Robin Hoods Bay, 16 miles, for the first time managed lunch at an intermediate pub
- Rambling Man (Coast to Coast Walk)
- Wainwright Society (Coast to Coast Walk)
- A Coast to Coast Walk, A. Wainwright (2014 walkers edition revised by Chris Jesty)
- The Coast to Coast Walk, Martin Wainwright, Aurum Press
- A-Z Adventure Series, Coast to Coast Walk with Ordnance Survey Mapping
- Doreen Whitehead's B&B accommodation guide
- UK Camp Sites
- Google Maps (for campsites)
- National Trails
