Day 1: St Bees - Overnight - The Manor, Main St St Bees
Day 2: St Bees - Cleator Moor (13.7km) - Parkside Hotel, Parkside Rd Cleator Moor
Notes: Nice accomodation but a few kms off the track and at the start this matters! Also I'd recommend walking a bit further to Ennerdale Bridge to make the next day a bit shorter. My navigating needs work, as I was only using the Alltrails app and it kept stopping. I also got better at interpreting the guidebook (which is really good).
Day 3: Cleator Moor - Borrowdale (30km) - Glaramara, Borrowdale
Notes: I tried to catch the bus back to the start of the trail and ended up not going over Dent, which by the time I arrived at Borrowdale, I was very glad for! I also stuck the the lefthand side of the lake. And yes the forest trail seems to go on forever as per the guide book. The trail took me past Black Sails YHA and although quite isolated is a lovely spot to stay at and would make this day a little shorter, tackling Loft Beck the next day. This is a hard introduction to the Coast to Coast early on but depending on the distances you choose the next couple of days are easier (or perhaps they just seem that way.)
Day 4: Borrowdale - Grasmere (17.5km) - The Little Inn, Red Lion Square Grasmere
Note: Really enjoy the lake district, and I was very lucky with the weather as it notoriously wet.
Day 5: Grasmere - Glenridding (14,6km) - Beech House, Glenridding
Day 6: Glenridding - Shap (25.9km) - Kings Arms Hotel, Main St Shap
Today is tough! You think the climb up the highest point on the trail, Kidsty Pike is the hardest part, but for some reason the downhill and wander through truly lovely fields to Shap just seem to go on and on. Although lovely scenery, to be honest we'd had enough by the time we got to our accomodation. P.S that was everyone's thoughts not just me.
Day 7: Shap - Orton/Raisebeck (10,5km) - George Inn, Front St Orton
This was a short day and I think this is the best idea, rather than a rest day, have a short walking day. Orton is lovely and the chocolate factory is awesome.
Day 8: Orton - Kirby Stephens (22km) - Old Croft House, Market St Kirby Stephens
The landscape is becoming more like the "typical" english countryside.
Day 9: Kirby Stephens - Keld (19km) - Butt House, Keld
Marvel at the 800 yo cairns, "the nine standards" and beware of the peat bogs ("read the vegetation" shout out to my Finnish hiking buddy, lol). Woo hoo, halfway.
Day 10: Keld - Reeth - (17.5km) - Black Bull, The Green Reeth
Day 11: Reeth - Richmond (16.1km) - Frenchgate 66, Richmond
Day 12: Rest day Richmond - in hindsight although nice I think it's better to have a short walking day as a rest day rather than staying in the one spot.
Day 13: Richmond - Danby Wiske (24.4km), School House, Danby Wiske
Notes: Fairly flat walking and in many ways a bit boring by the end. I stopped at Danby Wiske but many continue onto Ingleby Arncliffe, which makes for a big day but probably a good plan. I also saw a group take a shortcut, their leader had walked the coast to coast before, which I think would be a good idea.
Day 14: Danby Wiske - Ingleby Arncliffe (19 km), Elstavale, Ingleby Arncliffe
Notes: Although officially 19km ended up only 14km and I arrived quite early. Note to future hikers, accomodation providers don't take kindly to you arriving early! Given it is so busy and they have a lot of work to do to get accomodation ready between guests. Signage is now better as we've joined the Cleveland Way, although the Coast to Coast has since been declared a national trail, so signage may become more uniformed along the entire route.
Day 15: Ingleby Arncliffe - Chopgate (18km), Buck Inn Hotel, Chopgate
Notes: This is another challenging day, with 4 big climbs, that often look like there is no way through the rocks until you get there. Stunning views but high winds too. You need to organise a lift to and from this accomodation. Which is quite dated and expensive for what it was.
Day 16: Chopgate - Farndale (7km), Feversham Arms Church Houses, Farndale
Notes: After the first climb onto the moors, the rest is flat walking on abandoned trail. For some reason I thought it was only 7km but ended up being 14km and as I had to reach the Lyon Inn by a certain time, I was a bit stressed out and by the time I'd reached the Inn, fed up with the buffeting winds. Having said that, I made it in good time and had a lovely afternoon resting and housekeeping.
Day 17: Farndale - Grosmont (26.6km), The Gallery B&B, Front St Grosmont
Notes: Second last day! Back up onto the moors then drop down into English countryside and the setting for Heartbeat. Fitness is definitely improving, and although tired by days end, I can feel that is it getting easier.
Day 18: Grosmont - Robin Hoods Bay (24.4km), Thackwood B&B, Mt Pleasant E
Notes: the final day is a revisit to all the landscapes and for me all the weather from cold rain & wind to sunshine. Highly recommend stopping for a snack at Foss Falls. It was lovely walking along the cliff edge into the bay. It was really busy, and I was kind of sad that it was over but also happy .... and tired.
General notes:
1 I "slackpacked", my main bag was couriered between accomodation each day. The company I used was Sherpa Van, they were good but it was very hard to work out the cost of the accomodation. Consequently a lot of the accomodation was quite expensive.
2 Favourite food, cream teas (we call them devonshire teas in Australia) scones, jam & cream, and good old bangers (sausages) and mash. And Crabbies, alcoholic ginger beer, yummo.
3 For me having a big breakfast and snacks along the way then dinner works well.
4 Carry some cash, as a couple of times there was no card facilities and there was a bit of a scramble to get cash to pay.
5 I carry my thermals with me, this worked well especially as a couple of times the bags were delayed arriving and at least I could have a shower.
6 Handwashing was sufficient. In fact because I couldn't find a laundry, I used my "Scrubba" bag to wash, which is great. Thanks to heated towel rails most things dried overnight, plus most hiking clothes are quick dry, but using this method even my jeans washed and dried.
7 Train! The fitter you are the more you will enjoy it. Plus remember to enjoy the journey. Don't be in a rush to get to the next destination.
Check out Part 2 of my UK hike - East to West on Hadrian's Wall
Be free to live your best life
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