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The
Coast to Coast has been named among the world's best walks ahead of
world-famous hikes to the Inca Trail, Everest and Mont Blanc. It
came second in a search to find the 50 best walks in the world, it was
only behind the Milford Track, in New Zealand, according to
Country Walking magazine. Richard Baker, deputy editor of Country
Walking magazine, said a list of up to 60 walks was sent out to guide
book writers and other experts who came up with their top 50. He told
BBC News that he was not surprised at the popularity of the
Coast-to-Coast: "It has mountains, valleys, moors and lakes. There
is a great camaraderie on the walk. It also appeals to all people. It is
not an easy walk and you have to be fairly fit." Bill Scott, from
Vancouver, Canada, has completed the walk twice with his wife, and plans
to do it next year. He said: "I am surprised it is not first out of
the 50. What I know of walks throughout the world, the Coast-to-Coast is
second to none. "It has many different facets and is a cultural
experience as well as a physical and mental challenge. "The
cultural experience is typically British and specifically English. The
humour, the personalities and characters of the people you meet - they
have a style about them and an environment they generate themselves
which cannot be emulated anywhere in the world. But it is not a walk in
the park."
General
Information
Duration
of tour: 15 days (14 nights)
Season:
31 March to mid October.
Starting
point: St Bees
End
of tour: Robin Hood’s Bay
Breakfast:
in the UK will generally consist of sausage, bacon, eggs etc, cereals
and fruit will also be available. It is important for you to tell us if
you have any dietary requirements when you book your holiday so that we
can inform everyone that you are staying with.
Baths:
it is not normal for your room to have a bath, the main reason being
that it takes up a lot of space, some hotels/guesthouses may have a
separate room in the house where a bath is available to guests, but in
the main it is showers.
Single
Supplements:
are payable on most of our tours. The single supplement guarantees the
privacy of your own room, however, rooms can at times be small and in
some places may not enjoy the same facilities as double/twin rooms.
Luggage:
When staying in hotels, sometimes your luggage will have been taken to
you room awaiting your arrival. However don’t be surprised if your
luggage is waiting for you to take it up to your room.
Route
Notes: Please
note that 1 set of route notes per room booked is included in the cost
of the holiday. If you require more sets of notes then there is a charge
of £25 per set ordered. Route notes are not issued to clients joining
an escorted departure.
Accommodation:
The hotels described are our usual accommodation, however if these are
not available then alternatives are used.
Getting to the Start
Convenient
Major city and international airport: Manchester Airport 4-5 hours
by rail via Carlisle.
Outward
journey from London: Train from London Euston to Carlisle. Then
local train from Carlisle to St Bees (1 hour 15 mins). Then short walk
from station to hotel.
Inward
journey to London at end of tour: Bus/taxi from Robin Hood’s Bay
to Scarborough. Then train from Scarborough to London. National Rail
website is www.nationalrail.co.uk
if you want to look at the journey involved.
Grading
Moderate to
Challenging. Some long days and steep climbs and descents. Generally
however undulating. Mixed weather can be expected. We would not
recommend the route for first time walkers. Note that often the trails
in the Lake District especially are steep and rocky at times.
Waymarking
Despite its
justifiable popularity, this is not a National Trail. Waymarking is
variable or erratic and you will have to use map interpretation for much
of the time, especially at times of low visibility, so you should be
accustomed to using map and compass.
Your Accommodation
Note
that the sheer popularity of this tour may mean that we cannot get you
into the accommodations described below for the dates of your tour. We
will endeavor to get you into a similar standard of accommodation
nearby, but please appreciate that there is limited accommodations.
Also, although we aim to get you into accommodations with ensuite rooms
this is not always possible at a couple of places on your tour you may
be sharing bathrooms, especially if you book a single room.
q
Night 1: St
Bees. A
17th century sandstone barn situated on the main street in the coastal
village of St. Bees! The barn was initially converted in the 1980's into
a large guesthouse and self-contained flats. All rooms have a colour television and tea & coffee
facilities.
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Night 2:
Ennerdale. Overnight
at a friendly, family owned hotel, of three crown standard. Enjoy a home
cooked meal of local produce including fish and game in season. A
traditional feel is retained by the hotel, with its open fire, and the
fully licensed bar serves a range of beverages including locally
produced ale. There is limited accommodation here so we also use the
nearby village of Rwohr who offer a pick/drop off service which is free
of charge.
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Night 3:
Borrowdale.
Tonight we stay in a small and long established guesthouse. It is set
in a beautiful small hamlet town. A popular peaceful retreat for former
clients. Ensuite facilities are not available here as it is a listed
building that changes cannot be made to.
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Night 4:
Grasmere. Our small family run guesthouse is conveniently placed in the center of
this delightful village. Grasmere
is one of Lakeland’s most celebrated villages, and there is time
either this afternoon or tomorrow morning to look around and visit the
poet Wordsworth's home at Dove Cottage.
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Night 5:
Patterdale.
Tonight’s accommodation is popular with visitors and local people
alike since the early 1800’s. Many a tale could be told of events that
have taken place in all its lifetime, including the time when Wordsworth
was in our very bar as news arrived that Nelson had died at Trafalgar.
This is a listed building so the rooms are small, to change this
would spoil the character of this wonderful coaching inn.
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Night
6: Shap. The proprietors will welcome you to their guesthouse in
the village of Shap. The village offers an interesting insight to the
history of the area, and the old Shap Abbey is nearby.
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Night 7:
Kirby Stephen.
This accommodation has many unusual features, and is of an exceptionally
high standard. It is a Grade II listed Georgian town house full of
character, with a friendly relaxed atmosphere.
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Night 8:
Keld.
Accommodation in Keld is at a medium sized guesthouse, offering a
gateway to the Pennines "The Backbone of England".
Traditional Yorkshire fayre is served in an attractively
decorated dining room, and there are tea and coffee making facilities in
all rooms.
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Night 9:
Reeth. Formed from a terrace of traditional Cl6th miners' cottages, a peaceful
and comfortable hotel with courtyard and garden, renowned for its
cuisine.
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Night 10:
Richmond. The extremely picturesque North Yorkshire town of Richmond, with its
cobbled market square and Norman castle, is an ever-popular destination
for visitors. Our accommodation is in a, very comfortable, guest
house within easy reach of all the sights in Richmond
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Night 11:
Osmotherley. Tonight's accommodation is set in an extremely picturesque village on
the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.
All rooms are ensuite and have tea and coffee making facilities.
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Night 12:
Blakey. We
stay at the Lion Hotel in this bleak moorland location. This pub hotel
has been a refuge from the elements for 400 years or so, and very cosy
it is to! Normally there are a large number of species of Real Ale and
great dining in either the bar or the restaurant.
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Night 13:
Egton Bridge or Grosmont. Another listed building will be the accommodation for tonight.
Situated alongside the River Esk, the inn is actually mentioned
in the Norman Doomsday Book of the 11th Century, and the oldest part of
the building dates back almost as far.
Some rooms are en suite, and there is a TV and tea and coffee
making facilities in all rooms.
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Night 14:
Robin Hoods Bay. Our
final night is spent in an elegantly refurbished victorian guesthouse
with many original features.
Included
Bed
& Breakfast throughout. Ensuite facilities where available.
Luggage transfers from Inn to Inn. Full route notes and map package (for self-guided clients).
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Outline
Itinerary
q
Day 1 St
Bees: Travel
to starting point on the edge of the Irish Sea with views across to the
Isle of Man. You should have time to visit the Abbey church, which has
features on the local history and has a display on a mummified knight
that was discovered in a lead coffin from the graveyard. If you have an
extra night here, you can follow the coastal path or quiet inland roads
to the attractive town of Whitehaven, with its marina and great museum.
It is famous in the annals of the US navy as the site of an elaborate
raid on the British mainland by one John Paul Jones during the American
War of Independence.
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Day 2 St
Bees to Ennerdale Bridge: Climb
from the beach taking a footpath along red sandstone coastal cliffs of
St Bees Head with England’s only breeding colony of Black Guillimots,
then inland over hilly ground to the edge of the Lake District National
Park. Dent Hill is the first real fell that we cross and will give you
some indication as to whether you are fit enough for the pursuivant
days! Although short, there follows possibly the steepest descent of the
whole tour down to Nanny catch Gate and beck a delightful stroll along
which brings us to the final descent to leafy Ennerdale Bridge. (14.5
miles / 23.5km, 6 hours). The day’s total ascent 780 metres / descent
665m).
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Day 3 Ennerdale
Bridge to Borrowdale: A
quiet and scenic footpath along the shore of Ennerdale Water, with a bit
of a easy scramble under Angler’s Crag at Robin Hood’s Seat. A long
walk on a forest track then continues to Black Sail Hut, which is the
smallest Youth hostel and originally a shepherd’s hut. A steep climb
follows up the Lowther Beck before traversing some of the Lake land
fells, perhaps with views down to Buttermere. Finally we reach the
‘drum house’ which marks the descent path to the Honister slate mine
workings with its useful cafe to Borrowdale; perhaps the most delightful
valley in the Lakes with its crags and broadleaved trees. This is a
delightful ensemble of hamlets, Seatoller (the wettest place in
England), Longthwaite, Rossthwaite and Stonethwaite. Delightful
riverside paths connect the places and their pubs, together if you have
sufficient energy left of an evening. You might be interested to know
that ‘thwaite’ is old Norse for paddock. (16 5 miles / 26.5 km, 7
hours). The day’s total ascent 765m / descent 785m).
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Day 4 Borrowdale
to Grasmere: Classic
Lakeland scenery over Greenup Edge to Easedale and Grasmere Hopefully
you will have enough time to visit the Wordsworth Museum at Dove
Cottage, William Wordsworth’s grave at the church and the famous
Ginger bread shop! (8.5 miles / 13.5 km, 5 hours. Via Helm Crag –
recommended). The day’s total ascent 750m / descent 760 via Helm
Crag).lassic Lakeland scenery over Greenup Edge to Easedale and
Grasmere (10 miles 6 hours. The day's total ascent 750m/descent 760m via
Helm Crag).
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Day 5
Grasmere
to Patterdale: Over
Grisedale Pass (2000 ft) and around the small mountain lake of Grisedale
Tarn to Patterdale In good weather if you are reasonably strong, the
best option is to take the route up St. Sunday Crag, for some
exceptional views down across Ullswater as you descend to Patterdale,
possibly the most breathtaking of the trip (7.5 miles / 12 km, 5 hours
(standard route). Add 2 miles and 2 hours if include detour via Summit
of Helvellyn. Add 1 ½ hours for detour of St. Sunday Crag. The day’s
total ascent: 900m / descent 805m via the recommended route over St.
Sunday Crag).
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Day 6
Patterdale
to Shap: Some
would say this was the most difficult stage especially in bad weather
when you do need to be ready with map and compass.
The day starts with a steep climb up past pretty Angle Tarn, and
then up and onwards to a critical cairn where you turn off the route to
High Street to go up and over Kidsty Pike (2560 feet, the highest point
on the whole route) and then descend steeply to walk along Haweswater, a
huge body of water conceived in 1929 to supply Manchester with drinking
water, drowning a couple of villages in the process. You then undulate
through fields to Shap Abbey, the most easterly point of the Lake
District National Park. This was the last Abbey to be founded in England
in 1199 and the last to be destroyed in 1540. It nevertheless is a
pretty place to pause with some new interpretation signs. After this
continue into Shap, the old granite mining town with several pubs and
shops. (16miles / 26 km, 7-9 hours. The day’s total ascent 1174m /
descent 1009m).
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Day
7 Shap to Kirkby Stephen: There
follows a hilly section across Limestone Moors with limestone pavements
in places strewn with ‘erratic’ boulders moved there by glaciers.
Finally we drop into the gentler climes around Orton, a diversion of
about a mile can be made to this quaint picturesque village with
Kennedy’s Chocolate factory to lead you into temptation. Walking now
between Cumbria and The Yorkshire Dales, there is a lot of attractive
farmland to cross with a section of moors around Sunbiggin Tarn, which
is an important site for birds. A steep descent to the Scandal Beck at
Smardale Bridge makes for a nice late lunch stop. Then ascend over
Smardale Fell for the pretty descent into Kirkby Stephens and attractive
market town, with St. Hedda’s Church containing the 8th
Century Loki stone relating to Norse Mythology (20.5 miles / 33 km 8
hours. The day’s total ascent 808m / descent 950 m).
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Day 8
Kirkby Stephen to
Keld or onto Thwaite: Climb
out of town to the cairns of Nine Standards Rigg (661m / 2170 feet) with
its array of obelisks. This is an ancient possibly boundary feature that
no one has any real knowledge of. It marks the Watershed of England.
Next we cross squelchy moors down to Keld in Swaledale If it is a wet
and cold day you might relish a scone and tea made on the farm at
Ravenseat, where they breed prime rams. The moors then become
increasingly gentler as you walk into Keld with its many waterfalls and
old stone barns. (14.5 miles / 24 km, 6 hours to Keld, Thwaite is an
additional 3 miles. The day’s total ascent 780m / descent 575m to Keld).
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Day 9
Keld to Reeth: Wild
moorland with long-abandoned lead mines, a magnet for the industrial
archaeologist (12.5 miles / 20 km,
5 hours). There is also a pretty lower alternative route via
Swaledale if you have bad weather or even if you don’t! There is a
really nice pub in Gunnerside on this lower option. (11.5 miles /
18.5km, 5 hours). We end up in Reeth an attractive Green Village which
flourished at the height of the mining age and today does well out of
tourism, hence a collection of pubs and tea shops. The day’s total
ascent 838m / descent 911m via the higher route.
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Day 10 Reeth
to Richmond: A
morning walk through pretty Swaledale lined with limestone crags on
either side, allowing time in Richmond for shopping (note most shops
closed Sunday) and sightseeing in Richmond whose Norman Keep towers
above the Swale on one side and the ancient cobbled market square on the
other. You can also follow the swale to Town Falls, which are quite
impressive when the river is in spate. (12.5 miles / 20 km, 5 hours. The
days total ascent 395m / descent 510m).scent 510m).
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Day 11 Richmond
to Osmotherley: This
is the longest and flattest day of the tour, bridging the gap between
the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors National Parks. A gentle
rural day, walking out from Richmond beside the River Swale and across
the fields to Catterick Race Course, then threading our way to Brompton
on Swale, an ideal first lunch stop in the church yard before trundling
along beside tiny streams and quiet country roads reaching the village
of Danby Wiske with its Green and sole pub at14 miles / 22.5km, 5hrs. A
second lunch break is advised. From Danby it is primarily a road walk
although there are cross-country sections. There are two hills towards
the end, a short climb to (what was) East Harlsey Castle, and then with
the North York Moors pressing ever closer we have to carefully cross the
main A19 road to take a lovely woodland footpath up the hill to
Osmotherley. On the way one can visit Mount Grace Priory (built 1398)
this is a ruin but there has been restoration work and there are
remaining duck ponds and drainage features. Osmotherley is a quaint hill
village with 3 pubs to choose from, and Britain’s oldest functioning
Methodist Church 1754. John Wesley came to preach here (24 miles / 39 km
9 hours. The day’s total ascent 375m / descent 292m).
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Day 12 Osmotherley
to Blakey: A
strenuous day with repeated ascents and descents in the Cleveland Hills,
then across heather moors to Rosedale This is a roller coaster walk. A
steep stretch from Osmotherley introduces us to the North York Moors,
sandy heather clad hills with areas of forest. After coming off Scarth
Wood Moor, there is a long ascent up Live Moor and Carlton Bank (408 m)
before descending to Lord Stones Café, almost hidden in an off road
embankment, ready for coffee time. There then follows the succession of
Cringle Moor, Broughton Bank and White Hill all at or over 400 metres.
You loose and then re ascend 100-200m between each one. White Hill has
an area of sandstone boulders called The Wainstones that you thread
through on the way up. Great views in clear weather, Roseberry Topping,
Vale of Mowbray and back to the Pennines. From the road at Claybank Top,
we then follow a moorland ridge up over Round Hill (454m) and maintain
our height as the path follows the line of the old dismantled Rosedale
railway line. The moor is bleak in bad weather punctured in places by
standing stones some marked with inscriptions. There are enticing views
at times into the fertile upper valleys of Farn and Esk dales, but
especially if it is misty, wet and cold, the arrival at the ancient Lion
Inn at Blakey is a great relief. (21 miles /34 km 8-9 hours. The day’s
total ascent 1021m /descent 880).
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Day
13 Blakey to Egton
Bridge or Grosmont: After
a bit of a road perambulation past a white cross called Fat Betty, there
follows an easy undulating descent down to beautiful wooded Eskdale. You
also get some views opening up to the sea. The latter part of today's
walk follows a pretty path through the woodlands on the banks of the
River Esk, where we come across the ‘Beggars Bridge’ a parabolic
stone structure that has a story of love lost and love refound! Egton
Bridge features a church with relics of the Catholic Martyr, Oliver
Postgate. A really pretty setting, the river is famous for fly fishing
and has some interesting stepping stones which enables you to hop (or
wobble) between the two pubs faster than using the road. (10 miles /
16km, 4 hours. The day’s total ascent 265m / descent 616m).
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Day
14 Egton Bridge to Robin Hoods Bay: Following
a delightful private road to Grosmont, you might get there in time to
see a steam engine pull out for Pickering. There then follows a very
steep pull up across heather moors with views down to Whitby and its
Abbey. But the sea and journey’s end is still tantalizingly far as the
route abruptly changes course to visit the May Beck valley with its
Falling Foss waterfall. A last area of high moor brings us to the coast,
where the last 3 miles are spent on the coastal cliff path to Robin
Hood's Bay, which appears almost by surprise as you near it. This is a
village of red roofed houses clustered around its harbour on the North
Sea coast marking the end of this 190 odd-mile crossing of England.
Normally a drink at the Bay Hotel follows a paddle in the sea (both
optional activities) (16 miles / 25.7 km, 7 hours. The
day’s total ascent 775m / descent 770m.)
PLEASE
NOTE: It is generally normal practice when staying in hotels that you
check-in on or after 2pm and checkout by 10am the following morning.
Guesthouses/bed & breakfast establishments are normally check-in on
or after 4pm and checkout by 10am.
Extending Your Tour
It is
possible to shorten a long walking day by adding in an extra night
enroute. If this is something you are interested in doing then please
correspond with a member of staff and they will be happy to advise you.
Escorted Departures 2012
EWCC13
Sun 13 May – Sun 27 May
EWCC10
Sun 10 June
– Sun 24 June
EWCC08
Sun 8 July - Sun 22 July
EWCC05
Sun 05 Aug - Sun 19 Aug
EWCC16
Sun 16 Sept - Sun 30 Sep
IMPORTANT
NOTE: On escorted tours you will spend 2 nights in Kirkby Stephen and a
taxi will transport you between Keld/Kirkby Stephen/Keld, which is
included in the cost of the tour.
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