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Coast to Coast

July - August 2019
Val and Bob are hiking Wainwright’s 300 km Coast to Coast Trail, passing through three National Parks: the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors. Read more
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  • Coast to Coast
    1

    Farewell to Lakeland

    August 2, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We left Patterdale around 8:30 after a nice breakfast (as always). We had a long day today and for once it didn’t rain all day. In fact, it didn’t rain at all! The long climb out of Patterdale took us over the High Street chain of ridges. We passed Angle Tarn, with a flock of Canada geese on it. Then we climbed up to the High Street. This is a long line of ridges on which the Romans built a road to move their legions to and from the key forts in West Cumbria. The road stays high on the ridges and we followed its path for a short distance. Then we climbed to Kidsty Pike which is the highest point on the Coast to Coast path, at 780 meters. From there the valley of the Eden River and farther away the Yorkshire Dales came into view and we said goodbye to Lakeland. But it didn’t let us go easily. The path down to Haweswater Reservoir was steep with a couple of handholds needed. The path along the Reservoir was also long and rock filled. Once we got passed that and into the rolling hills, there were a lot of mud holes and wet patches. So it was a long day getting into Shap. But Margaret, our hostess at the Brookfield House, made us a pot of tea and served scones. After that and a shower we were fine again and went out for dinner at the local hotel nearby - the Greyhound. So all is good. We’re getting an early start tomorrow - it’s the second longest day of the trip.Read more

  • Coast to Coast

    A Rest and Recovery Day?

    August 3, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We had a long day yesterday but our guidebook said not to lose heart. Even though today was to be even longer (32 km) it’s easy going and so it should be considered a rest and recovery day. Well we made it ok after 8 1/2 hours and were pretty tired when we arrived at the Old Croft House in Kirkby Stephen. we didn’t feel rested and recovered. We took a slightly longer route today to see the town of Orton and our Old Croft B&B owner actually spotted us there while he was there visiting at noon, so knew we were on our way. We saw some interesting things today. This is limestone country so we passed a few quarries and farm buildings and fences built with limestone rocks. We saw limestone pavement which is limestone with cracks between blocks looking like paving stones. We last saw this in the Alps. We passed several stone circles and pillow mounds, which are a bit mysterious and used to be called “giant graves” but people now think they were used for drying bracken. We passed a few Neolithic settlements but there wasn’t much to see; just ridges and mounds in the ground. There were a few monuments we passed. One is called “Robin Hood’s grave” but look as we might, we couldn’t find it. We passed a disused railway line with a viaduct still standing. A steam train passed us tooting it’s whistle with black smoke pouring out. Kirkby Stephen was a welcome sight after a long day. The owner Nick was very welcoming and we have dinner lined up at the Black Bull hotel tonight.Read more

  • Coast to Coast
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    Through the Peat Bogs

    August 4, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    We traveled from Kirkby Stephen to Keld today. The weather was nice all day and we arrived early so that we could enjoy sitting and relaxing a bit. It’s 6:30 now and pouring rain out with loud thunder and lightening.
    From Kirkby Stephen we climbed to Nine Standards, which is a high hill over 600 meters with great views in all directions. There are nine cairns which are very old but no one knows why there are there. One theory is that it was to fool the Scots into thinking the English had a lot of soldiers nearby. From there we picked our way carefully through the grasses avoiding the peat bogs. We stepped around lots of flowing water and mud holes and it was slow going. We stopped at Ravenseat farm where they serve tea and scones and it’s obviously popular with the locals as well as hikers. The owner (Amanda Owen) is famous in these parts for moving here from a city and having nine kids and raising sheep. There has been an ITV series about her and a book. From Ravenseat we walked to Keld where we are staying at the Butt house. We were able to actually do a laundry here! Supper is here too with other guests which is nice so that we don’t have to go to the local hotel in the rain. Keld is a very small town with only a few buildings.    Read more

  • Coast to Coast

    To Reeth via the High Route

    August 5, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We left Keld with cloudy and cool weather and walked towards Reeth. The Pennine Way crosses the path of the Coast to Coast at Keld, and we walked along it for 100 meters or so until it veered off. We then passed a whole succession of old mining buildings and waste rock piles from the centuries of lead mining in this area. Britain produced half the world’s lead in the 19th century. We passed an old smelter from that period that had warnings not to climb on its crumbling walls. Much of the higher elevation walk was rock piles and gravel roads but as we descended we saw more and more of the heather and peat moss. There were grouse everywhere. Grouse hunting is a big business here. The land is privately owned by several Dukes. They manage the grouse population with controlled burns of the peat and heather. August 12 is the start of the grouse hunting season and it’s called “the Glorious 12th”. People are charged 20,000£ to shoot and get to keep two grouse and the rest end up in restaurants. It’s way more expensive than a week long hunt in the Yukon with an outfitter. We entered Reeth around 3 pm and had drinks at the Buck Hotel. Then we had Yorkshire ice cream cones. Reeth is cleaning up from a terrible flood just a few days ago. Tonight we’re going to the King’s Arms for dinner.Read more

  • Coast to Coast
    1

    On to Richmond

    August 6, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We walked from Reeth to Richmond today, which wasn’t too far (16 km) and only 260 meter ascent. The weather spit rain a few times, just enough to make us stop and put on our jackets before it quit. It’s amazing how the laws of probability work on the trail. You stop for a pee just as people show up. You stop to eat a snack in an inconvenient spot and then find a nice spot around the corner. You meet a traffic jam at the narrowest spot in a road. But the good luck balances the bad all in all. At one point today we met a sign saying the path was closed with no indication of where to go. So we decided to follow a bridlepath down to a paved narrow road which went past farm buildings. We got off track - luckily a farmer came out to tell us that we were about to go into a field with a bull. He set us on the right path, so that was an example of good luck, especially since Bob was wearing a red shirt; but it was a little awkward trying to figure out the way around old farm buildings, passing a dead sheep, avoiding stinging nettles and thistle. There are bridlepaths everywhere but most are badly grown over and poorly marked. I guess people don’t walk much anymore and certainly don’t take bridled horses. We got back on the Coast to Coast path at Marske, the ancient home of the Hutton family, with a big obelisk on the hill dedicated to a Hutton from 1816. The trail was great from there to Richmond. We arrived early (around 2:30) and had coffee at Costa, and visited a nice pet shop. Then we checked into our B&B (Williance House) - beautiful room with a window seat! Our limbs are tingling from going through stinging nettles today when we were detouring.Read more

  • Coast to Coast

    Across the Vale of Mowbray

    August 7, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    This section of the hike left Richmond and ended at Ingleby Cross. It was 35 km long and is the longest section we will be doing. This section is called the Vale of Mowbray and crossed from the Swale River valley to the Cleveland Hills. It was mostly flat with lots of farming. We saw fields of barley, wheat, corn, rapeseed and hay. The roads and paths were lined with beautiful trees like oak, willow, ash and maple. As has been the case all along, the Coast to Coast avoids large towns and takes the public bridle paths. Many of these paths are rough and consist of squeezing through a stile or going through gates and looking for where the grass or shrubs have been trodden down. The scenery was quite nice though and we had beautiful weather today.
    We passed over the Catterick bridge and on the other side walked along the River Swale where the remains of a Roman embankment are still obvious. We also stopped at Bolton-on-Swale and visited St. Mary’s Church, where we saw the monument and plaque to Henry Jenkins, who reputedly lived to be 169 years old. We stopped at Danbe Wiske and had lunch and bought two ice cold cokes. When we got to Ingleby, we had to cross the A19 which is a divided expressway. There was no overpass or underpass! We took our time and dashed to the median and then across. We arrived at our B&B in Ingleby (the Ingleby House Farm) pretty tired. For dinner we went to the Blue Bell pub and saw a few of the other walkers we’ve run in to.    Read more

  • Coast to Coast
    1
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    Along the Cleveland Hills

    August 8, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We spent the day walking along the Cleveland Way which goes up and down the edges of the Cleveland Hills. There was a nice stop along the way at Lordstones where we had a coffee. We met lots of friendly Yorkshire people interested in where we were from. The Cleveland Way is a very nice path and easy to follow with flagstones along most of the path, which was a welcome change. We were picked up at the Clay banks pullout and driven to the B&B in Chop Gate, which is 6 miles south. We’re now having a nice dinner. We’re finding the meal portions in the UK way too big for us. It’s become like the US. Tomorrow looks very wet and windy as rainy weather is blowing in and we have 30 km to do tomorrow.Read more

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