Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Itinerary
St Bee's to Ennerdale Bridge
Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite
Rosthwaite to Patterdale
Patterdale to Shap
Shap to Kirkby Stephen
Kirkby Stephen to Keld
Keld to Grinton Lodge
Grinton Lodge to Catterick Bridge
Catterick Bridge to Ingleby Cross
Ingleby Cross to Clay Bank Top
Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale
Glaisdale to Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood's Bay to Scarborough

Miles 13.0
14.5
15.4
15.5
19.3
14.0
12.2
14.0
16.7
11.2
18.5
17.4
15.1

      Required Ordnance Survey Maps:
      (Explorer Series 1:25,000)

• OL33 St Bee's Head to Keld
• OL34 Keld to Robin Hood's Bay
• 303 Whitehaven and Workington
• OL4 English Lakes - North Western Area
• OL5 English Lakes - North Eastern Area
• OL19 Howgill Fells & Upper Eden Valley
• OL30 Yorkshire Dales - North & Central Areas
• 302 Northallerton & Thirsk
• OL26 North York Moors - West
• OL27 North York Moors - East
  
  
• Read personal journals of walking the Coast to Coast Path on my Links Page

Ominous clouds shroud the tops of the Lakeland hills	The dreaded Haweswater section lies just ahead

Awful weather on the tops but we still managed to bag a few peaks to supplement my 50 peaks challenge and even for Deke a new one in Rest Dodd. It wasn't much fun at height though being squally and persistently damp throughout the remainder of our time in the Lakeland Fells. The weather eventually cleared and the sun came out during our descent from the superb Kidsty range and during the walk alongside Haweswater Reservoir.  Question - Has anyone else who has done the Coast to Coast looked to the reservoirs dams and seemed to walk eternally towards them without them seeming to get any closer? What a boring bit of the walk blocked in by the water companies screening of the reservoir to the right and the formative hills of the Lake District closing you in to the left. After the tiring reservoir stretch we collapsed for a bite to eat at the little hamlet of Burnbanks. It was here we first met a Canadian couple (Roy and Moira Ferguson from Gwelf) who were doing the walk. Roy and Moira accompanied us on the remainder of the days walking to Shap. We were to meet them again.

Haweswater below, Lakeland is now behind us	The ruins of Shap Abbey

In the evening we stayed in the Crown Hotel bunkhouse (as Steve, Dave and I did in 1994) and we got a real roaring fire going. Only snag, Deke in doing the good deed of drying out our clothes managed to burn my socks to the point of disintegrating the toes of one and rendering them useless. Luckily I had another pair for tomorrow. In the pub during the evening we met another couple, Chris and Zarina Brewer who were to become good companions during later legs of the walk.

The crossing of Lakeland on the first third of the walk is a good enough reason in itself to embark on the Coast to Coast walk. It doesn't get any better than this start but don't feel the real walking is done yet. The Lakes will have given you the stamina to go on (and in my case the blisters and collapsed knees!) but tiredness sets in during the middle stages of the journey where the obstacle of the Pennine watershed has to be overcome. After this look forward to the delightful walk through Swaledale, a delight in itself if not with the enormity of the Lakes.