in a couple of weeks I'm off to try and do the coast 2 coast - anyone done it yet this year? If so any advice/potential problems?
I'm a fairly seasoned walker, but my LDPs have normally only been 1 week (Cumbria Way, Dales Way, Hadrian's Wall, bits of the Thames Path) so this is an extension beyond my normal comfort zone.
I'll be camping, and where I can't find an official site may have to slide into my nice green tent on the QT, with possibly a couple of nights in hostels.
Its a 2 week jaunt for me, and having being born with a major heart condition I'll be doing it for charity - though everyone whose walked with me knows that if I have an off day I've no ego about sitting a day out.
Paul... If only you were going in a couple of months, instead of a couple of weeks. A pal of mine is going to be walking the route, but he'll be starting a week after you, so there's no point me asking him for feedback.
You'll be climbing more on the Coast to Coast than you did on your other trails, and for twice as long. My only advice is... just take it nice and steady, and if it gets stressful just drop your pack, sit down for a rest, and remember that you have plenty of time. Sounds as though you'll probably do that anyway!
Weatherwise... it hasn't rained for ages and the route is pretty dry underfoot. However, from past experience it's likely that Nine Standards Rigg will be as boggy as ever. For some reason, there are parts that never seem to dry out properly. On the other hand, if the weather changes in the next week or so, a dose of heavy rain could soften everything up again. With moorland fires being reported here and there around the country, if it's still dry when you're walking the route, let's hope that you don't run into one of those!
Cheers Paddy, I'm doing it early to try and avoid the hottest of the hot weather... I'll stick anything I remember up to help anyone else trying it.
Yup, I'm one of those walkers quite often passed, sitting on my camping mat reading my book for a while wondering why people are rushing to the next hill;-)
Thanks for the luck, sometimes I think I'll be needing it
I've walked the C2C forty-seven times and shall be doing it twice more this year. Over the years, I've improved on Wainwright's route and details can be found here (not sure that the link works)
It is a strenuous route and many inexperienced walkers suffer because they set themselves a punishing schedule in order to complete it in a fortnight. Take it steadily and consider taking a day off in Kirkby Stephen to recharge your batteries.
If the bogs are bad between Nine Standards Rigg and Keld, the worst can be avoided by walking via Jack's Standard and Millstones (see the link above).
I strongly recommend that you avoid the twenty-five mile miserable slog across the Vale of Mowbray between Richmond and Ingleby Arncliffe by taking the bus from Richmond to Northallerton and another from Northallerton to Ingleby Arncliffe (consult www.traveline.org.uk for the timetable).
Accommodation is often a problem but in May the pressures should not be quite so great.
Good luck, take it easy and enjoy a wonderful walk!
I strongly recommend that you avoid the twenty-five mile miserable slog across the Vale of Mowbray between Richmond and Ingleby Arncliffe by taking the bus from Richmond to Northallerton and another from Northallerton to Ingleby Arncliffe.
I wouldn't dream of spoiling a long-distance walk by missing out a whole day. I wild-camped that particular stretch one bitterly cold winter and it was excellent!
Each to his own point of view, Paddy, but I find it difficult to understand how you can describe this section, of which seven miles are on roads and, according to Wainwright, is dead flat and does not cross a single contour, as 'excellent'. Try walking in on a hot summer's day! If you describe this particular day as 'excellent' what superlatives can you employ for the rest of the route?
Well Hugh... I left Kirkby Stephen and climbed into deep, soft snowdrifts on Nine Standards Rigg. Initially, I was pleased, because for once it wasn't boggy! Later, it was a nightmare as I kept sinking waist-deep in the snow, and finally bailed out to the road to reach Keld, simply because it had been ploughed. As for the River Swale and the waterfalls at Keld... I couldn't even see them as they were completely buried in snow. Stands to reason that I couldn't locate the route either, or even farm tracks. Drystone walls and fences were completely buried, and the snow was now chest deep, so it was impossible to make any further progress through it. So... to cut a frustrating walk short... I followed the road to Richmond. After that, the Vale of Mowbray provided an 'excellent' walk, and in conditions that I guess neither Wainwright nor yourself have ever experienced. The rest of the route, however, I'm afraid I'd have to describe as 'bloody awful' in those conditions!
I know Wainwright suffered in the Vale of Mowbray, encountering blocked paths, so that he had to follow roads, and I know that you only walked across it once in the early days, when nothing much would have changed. However, things DO change, and the paths are now fully open for those who want to use them.
As for contours... if a good walk was all about contours... surely you'd give up walking in the south of England and spend all your time in the Himalaya!
My plan is to walk all the miles, unless I get myself injured, a day of flat doesn't bother me at all (I'm a slow, plodding, marathon runner) and will probably be good for my system.
Made it to Kirkby Stephen and my left foot erupted into the worst set of blisters I've ever had (the boots and socks had done plenty of miles loaded and unloaded, so I fear it was just one of those things). That said from Ennerdale to Patterdale was very wet, the streams which on day walks I have just stepped over I was wading through to just under my knees!!!
Apart from that all was fine, the last 2 (Patterdale to Shap & Shap to KS) were hard days, and the only ones which weren't wet.
The only navigational hitches were coming into Shap, there's a diversion around a footbridge just past Burnbanks being repared which threw most of those I talked to, and the path across the gorse before Shap Abbey was misleading (by about a mile) again not just me!
The tea shop in Orton was closed for renovation, which was a huge blow (at least to me)! But I don't think that rest would've made a huge difference.
The blisters are strapped, there really was no way of carrying on, so I've 110miles to do another week.
