Coast to Coast Part 2 2012
Coast to Coast Part 2 2012St Bees to Richmond
In 2010 my brother Ian and I completed our first section of the Coast to Coast from his house in Richmond to Robin Hoods Bay. Unfortunately Ian had to have an operation on his heel in 2011 so we postponed this completion of the journey until 2012.
Preparation
Plans began in October 2011 when I booked all our accommodation and began printing off maps from Streetmap.co.uk at 1:2500 for our route. A few days before our departure I discovered that for £12.50 I could buy 750 sq miles of OS 1:2500 mapping on the free Memory map App which I had downloaded on my iphone. I believe you now have to pay £4.99 for the iphone App. This allowed me to download all the maps we would need for our route and so have GPS backup as well as our printed maps. I even bought myself a map holder complete with compass from Aldi for the grand sum of £1.99. Using treasury tags and A4 plastic wallets, cut to the size of my new map holder, I made a back to back booklet with all our necessary maps in walking order. Ian booked our baggage transfers from Sherpa in Richmond. I stocked up on cereal bars, chocolate bars, nuts, flapjacks, crisps and fruit for packed lunches. I took the train from Wigan to Darlington and was picked up on Saturday evening by Ian and taken to his house in Richmond.
Day 1 Sunday
24th June 2012 St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge (10½ miles)
After
a large egg and bacon barm, we left Richmond at 10:00am with Marie,
Ian's wife. Ian then drove us to our first B&B, The Cloggers in
Ennerdale Bridge, where we dropped off our bags at 12:30 and then drove
on through Cleator Moor to the beach at St Bees to begin our walk. The
no pies shop in Cleator was open. We had passed through sun, torrential
rain and more sun on our drive but luckily it was sunny again for the
start of our weeks walking. Our boots were donned and our packs were
decorated with England car flags as the football team were playing in
the Euro 2012 that night. We said our goodbyes to Marie after
she
had taken our photos by the Coast to Coast plaque and then she drove
off back to Richmond. Next job was the ceremonial toe dipping in the
Irish sea and collection of a St Bees pebble.
We
had decided to skip the cliff walk and headed into St Bees and then
took a path past St Bees School and through the fields alongside the
railway to the bridge under the railway where we re-joined the
Wainwright route. The path soon disappeared under water due to the
heavy rain and some delicate treading was needed to avoid getting our
feet wet with 8 more miles still to walk. We soon arrived at the old
disused mineral rail track path and made our way towards Cleator Moor
stopping briefly to eat the sumptuous packed lunch Marie had
provided. We left the pleasant rail track and onto
Wainwright's
Passage towards Cleator Moor. The no pie shop was shut by the
time we reached Cleator Moor. We found the route down to the bridge
across the river and made our way towards Dent Hill for out first climb
of the week. This soon brought out a sweat from us as the sun was quite
strong.
From the cairn at the top
of the hill we enjoyed views of Scotland and the Isle of Man. The path
along the top of the hill soon developed into a swamp and careful
treading along the top of an old sunken wall was necessary, as our
sticks sank at least a metre deep into the mire on either side. We
headed straight over the hill and decided not to take the Wainwright
meander through the woods. This was our first of many mistakes as the
descent proved to by extremely steep on very smooth damp grass and
began to tweak my dodgy knees. The recent rain had turned the path
below into a raging stream and after some deliberation it proved
necessary to race through about 12 feet of a 9” deep stream to
reach the continuation of the path. We then made our way through Nanny
Catch gate and up through our first pleasant lakeland valley. At the
head of the valley we encountered several grazing horses. The road down
gave us our first glimpse of Ennerdale. A
refuelling stop
at the Fox and Hounds was made before heading for our B&B.
A quick shower, England
shirts worn and off back to the Fox and Hounds for the match. We made
use of the pubs free wi-fi to communicate with our wives via Skype as
no phone signal was available on any of our 3 mobile phones ( 3, Virgin
and O2) The pub was packed with a large group of teenagers
who
were on a weeks holiday in the camping barn. We decided that we didn't
need a full meal and began to fill up on crisps washed down with
Ennerdale Brewery's best ale. A conversation with the chap next me
revealed that the Ennerdale Brewery was in the nearby hamlet of
Croasdale in a barn on his farm. We informed him that our surname was
Croasdell but requests for discount fell on deaf ears. England
performed their usual nearly men role and we made our way back to the
B&B for a good nights sleep well sedated with the local brew.
An early rise at 7:00 am and packed lunches prepared and backs packed, together with our neatly furled England flags which were put away for the rest of the journey, and then labelled ready for collection by Sherpa. As my walking routine is to wear a clean shirt at night and then walk in it the next day I had to bravely venture out in my England shirt after last nights exit from the cup. I then spent a few minutes filling in my Wainwright diary with the events of the previous day whilst Ian caught up on the news and weather forecast on our in room TV. Fair weather was forecast for today. Down for breakfast at 7:50 where we helped ourselves to a choice of 3 cereals and orange juice. This was followed by egg, bacon, a meaty sausage, tomato and fried bread washed down with coffee and topped off with toast and jam. On the road for 8:25 we stopped for a photo under our nearly surnamed road sign. We had decided to take the path on the north shore of the lake as we were told the southern Wainwright route was all ups and downs and a scramble at times. After following a clear path toward the lake we found ourselves in a narrow path between two strands of barbed wire only to discover a lone bull in the field to our left with only a single strand of wire for protection. We gingerly made our way along this path until we met a lane which led to the car park at the end of the lake.
As we approached the car park we observed a man getting out of his car and assembling his wheelchair.The man soon passed us on the forest road and sped off towards the head of the lake We continued steadily up the forest road and were surprised by the number of vehicles that passed us presumably going to and from Gillerthwaite hostel and field centre.
Eventually we passed the head of the lake and headed up towards Black Sail hut. As we reached the hut at about 12:00 we were met by the man in the wheelchair on his way back down. He had obviously worked up a sweat as he was now stripped to the waist. We stopped for lunch at Black Sail and waved off a young Amercian guy off to climb Pillar. An older chap arrived and we found out he was originally from South Shields but now living in Australia. He was just completing this section as he had had to miss it out on a previous crossing due to ill health. A man and woman arrived and were delighted to find tea making facilities of which they took advantage. Lunch over, we headed off toward the Loft Beck path and began the steady climb out of Ennerdale on the well made path which was almost like a staircase at times. Half way up the chap from South Shields overtook us closely followed by a young german couple carrying massive rucksacks which they informed us were not too heavy. On reaching the top after much stopping for rests on the pretext of admiring the view, we were treated to spectacular views back over Ennerdale water and Crummcock water with Wainright's beloved Haystacks between. The couple we had seen at Black Sail caught up and passed us after stopping to take a picture for us and telling us they were also coast to coasting.
As we followed the path towards Drum house we noticed some students ardently carrying out a survey of the flora and were rapidly passed by a fell runner who seemed to be a little older than us. He reached the tramway in the distance and then began running back. It was then we noticed the couple we had met earlier who were heading off in the wrong direction along the tramway. We tried shouting to advise them of their mistake but got no answer. This couple were henceforth known to us as the Wongwayers. On reaching the tramway we were caught up by a couple from Derby who informed us that they had also seen the couple going the wrong way and that they had dined with them the previous night. You must now have realised that I walk slowly as everyone passes us. At the end of the tramway we began the descent to Honister slate works and my knee again began to ache with every downward step.
We passed the slate works
and made our way down the old track beside the road. Ian was delighted
to find and old bottle in a stream beside the road which had obviously
been unearthed by the recent heavy rain. We were then passed by the
fell runner who was now leading a small group of Dutch coast to
coasters whom we nicknamed the Cloggies. We were then passed again by
the Wongwayers who had got to the other end of the tramway before
discovering their error. About 15 minutes later we caught up
with
the Cloggies who were mostly showing some concern to a young man in the
party who had apparently sprained his ankle. As the problem
seemed to be under control we carried on only to be passed by the
group,
a few minutes later, who had left the young man to make his own way
down
to Rosthwaite. As they sped past the athletic leader muttered that he
couldn't walk slow and that the young man was ok. Eventually the
delightful Borrowdale came into view and our days walking was nearly
done. We made our way to Stonethwaite and arrived at our B&B at
Stonethwaite Farm at 5:15 and were pleased to find Sherpa had delivered
our bags. We relaxed on the bed with a large mug of coffee and rested
up for an hour. After a quick shower we then headed for Rosthwaite to
find some dinner as the Langstrathdale Hotel pub right next to Stonethwaite Farm does not
open on Monday's. Half an hour later we reached the pub, the Scafell
Hotel, after an unecessary detour through Rosthwaite village. A home
made burger and chips was ordered by both of us which, when it arrived,
turned out to be frozen chips and a slightly browned assembly
of
steak tartar between two bun halves and no greenery. After a couple of
varying quality pints we decided to head back to the B&B only
to be
met by the Wongwayers together with the couple from Derby we had met on
the tramway, who insisted we stopped for more beer. As the lady was a
smoker she asked if we could stay in the beergarden. This proved to be
a mistake as we were worried to death by midges. Two more pints later
we made our excuses and headed back to Stonethwaite. Ian,
unfortunately, managed to fill the gaps in the soles of his trainers
with sheep droppings.
Day 3 Tuesday 26th July Stonethwate to Grasmere (6 miles)
8:00 We ate a full English breakfast at Stonethwiate Farm B&B of egg, bacon, sausage, beans and mushrooms plus toast, cereal and yogurt and were on the walk by 8:25. A steady climb began up towards Greenup Edge. We were soon passed by the couple from Derby who had stayed in Rosthwaite overnight. As they were heading for Patterdale that day we said our goodbyes and watched them stride off into the distance. Ian spotted a plaque by the side of the path in memory of Gordon Hallworth who had died on that spot. A sobering thought
. 
As we made our way up the
steep path we were passed by the young German couple we had seen
yesterday with massive backpacks which they assured us were not that
heavy. Sooner them than us and thank goodness for Sherpa.
Eventually the good if steep path became a scramble up a section of
boulders to be rewarded with excellent views pack down the valley into
Borrowdale from the top of Lining Crag.
When we reached the top we
walked down across Greenup edge and decided it was time for lunch. This
section was almost swarming with hikers of all ages going in all
directions. We were overtaken by the Cloggies and when we enquired
about the young mans ankle, the group leader told us that he was fine
and a bit a of a drama queen. He did seem to be walking ok
but we
both thought he was a bit harsh. Lunch over we made our way
up to the high level route which forked off to the left.
The walk along the ridge was more of an up and down
trek
than a ridge walk and our visibility was spoiled by the clouds that
rolled in with our first rain of the walk. My knee was now
giving
me considerable pain with every downhill section. Our
B&B for
the day was at Town Head farm, about a mile north of Grasmere, so we
took a path to the left just before the climb up to Helm Crag.
A lot of
work had been done
on this path allowing us to zig zag down the steep slope to the beck at
the bottom. A short stroll along a lane and we were finished hiking for
the day at about 3:00 pm. We were greeted with coffee and cake which
was most welcome. Shower and a rest whilst writing up the
days
events then a cup of tea and more biscuits whilst
watching
the numerous different birds feeding at the bird tables in the garden.
A debate ensued about what the green birds we saw were Ian insisting
what I thought were Greenfinches were actually Siskins. Ian’s
smart phone was unfortunately used to prove himself correct only to be
backed up by the landlady. At 6:00 we donned out raincoats
and
trudged through the rain down the busy A591 to the Travellers rest
where an excellent meal of cumberland sausage and mash was consumed,
along with several pints of Snecklifter. Just as we were
about to
leave the Wongwayers arrived so we had a couple more pints
with
them then headed back to the B&B on a
detour along
the lanes to avoid the traffic. Still pouring down with rain.
The
landlady welcomed us back and hung our coats above the fire to dry out.
In bed for 9:00 and soon sound asleep.
Day 4 Wednesday June 26th Grasmere to Patterdale (8 miles)
Up at 5:00 and an upset stomach 2 visits to the loo and immodium taken with panicky thoughts about finding an outdoor loo later in the day. Downstairs for an excellent breakfast of mixed fruit and yogurt followed by egg, bacon, 2 sausage mushrooms tomatoes and fried bread. I decided to strap up both knees with crepe bandage to try to relieve the pain during steep descents. 8:25 began walking in the pouring rain. A long wet slog up Tongue Gill began. We decided to take the left hand path which continued to climb steeply before turning right along an easy traverse back to the main path up to Grisedale Tarn. On reaching the tarn we were both disappointed due to the extremely low clouds making the tarn barely visible. Any thoughts of taking the higher level path to Patterdale were quickly dismissed and we pushed on down Grisedale valley.
We noticed
all the dogs
were “kenneled “ for the night in two landrovers parked in
the farm yard. We found our room was toasting hot and our
socks
were nearly dry. Ian suggested we leave the radiator on and open the
window open a bit. This was an extremely poor idea as I had a draught
on my neck and was woken at about 1:45 by many barking dogs. Eventually
the dawn chorus of sheep and birds made us rise at 6:00 for some coffee
and cake.
Day 5 Thursday June 27th Patterdale to Shap (15 miles)
Eventually went down for breakfast at 7:30 . Slight panic as we were donning our boots as the lone camper had left an identical pair of Brasher boots next to mine. After reaching for reading glasses I realised that his were actually size 8 whilst mine were 8½. As our B&B, Greenbank Farm was about a mile and a half south of Patterdale we had decided to take an alternative route up Hayeswater Gill to reach the Wainwright route behind The Knott. We were out walking in the rain by 8:00 and were immediately attacked by a horde of clegs (horseflies) that bit us mercilessly. The rain became heavier as we approached Hartsop village and we decided to take shelter under a tree to be joined by a local dog walker who gave an account of a chap he had found wandering about one night in the previous week. The unfortunate man had left Patterdale in the morning, got lost and disorientated on the fells and had come down Hayeswater Gill thinking he had reached Haweswater. The rain ease a little so we pushed on up Hayeswater Gill towards the tarn.
When we reached the lake I
took what shelter I could under a tree and changed my soaking wet socks
for a dry pair. I swear I wrung half a pint of water from each sock.
The luxury of dry feet lasted about half an hour in the driving rain as
we plodded on along the up and down scramble along the lake. We stopped
for lunch during a brief respite in the rain and then ploughed on
towards the dam at the end of the lake which did not seem to be getting
any closer. Every little stream off the fellside had changed into a
rushing torrent which we waded through relentlessly with already wet
boots. I vowed to invest in some waterproof gaiters when I returned
home. The highlight of the day was spotting a red squirrel on
a
wall beside the path which scurried off before our cameras could be
uncovered. The rain ceased as we reached Burnbanks and
trekked
through the fields in a brief outbreak of the sun towards Shap. Our
path was halted for a while by an extremely deep if relatively narrow
rushing stream. Eventually we found a slightly narrower section and
jumped across with thoughts of falling as we scrambled off the opposite
bank. Ian informed me that the rain had stopped his camera
working. I told him that my iphone was struggling with the wet and kept
switching itself off. After a brief photo stop at
Shap
Abbey we passed through a gate to find a much welcome plastic bucket
full of cans and bottles of beer,cider, pop etc. with an honesty box
attached.
We continued onward over a
river which was in a raging torrent of brown water and made our way
along quiet lanes to Shap to our B&B at Ings Lodge.
We were
given large wad of dry newspaper to stuff our soaking boots and line
them up with about 20 others pairs by a raging fire. We went to our
room and removed our wringing wet clothes and dived into a warm showers
to get some warmth into our bodies. Ian’s knees and my
upper thighs had been rubbed red raw with walking in wet shorts.
Liberal amounts of vaseline were applied and we dressed and rushed off
to find somewhere to eat. As it was now approaching 8:30 we went
into the first pub we found which was ominously empty apart
from
the resident drunk and the village idiot. The barmaid appeared and we
ordered and paid for two chilli con carnes which was the only food
available. The barmaid scrutinised the £20 note I proffered which
had been dyed red from a notelet that had been in my soaking wallet.
We ate, drank a couple of moderate pints and made our way
quickly
back to Ings Lodge where we enjoyed a bottle of real ale in
front
of the fire. The Irish guys we had almost seen on Kidsty Pike appeared
and told us they had found a pub further down the street with an
excellent choice of food and beer. We changed the wet paper in our
boots for dry paper and headed up to bed for a much welcome sleep.
Day 6 Friday June 28th Shap to Newbiggin (14 miles)
Our sitting for breakfast was 8:15 and when we went down we found our boots were nicely dried by the fire. Mueslii followed by a good fry up of egg, bacon sausage and beans, Off to the supermarket to stock up on a packed lunch and on the road for 8:45. We had to refuse a lift to Orton by a scouse expat Shappite who thought we were mad. Headed off down the main street and then across the railway bridge and M6 footbridge past the quarry and off onto the moors. We were passed by many groups of Coast to Coasters including the Wongwayers. Half way across the moor we came across a massive erratic and of course posed for the obligatory pushing the boulder photo.
We had a long chat with a
farmer who told us that he had sold off his lower fields and only
farmed the high fells. We carried on towards Sunbiggin looking for
somewhere to shelter from the wind to have the rest of our food.
After finding a less than suitable leaning wall with very
little
cover we quickly devoured our remaining food and carried on to the
moor. We then took a path too early and ended up trekking through grimp
and mire to get back on the correct path. We took a path across
Ravenstondale moor which led straight to Newbiggin. We later discovered
this path formed part of the Dales High way. When we arrived at our
B&B we were shown to an excellent room with its own ensuite
almost
as big as the bedroom. The landlady had booked us a table at the Black
Swan, Ravenstondale for 7:00 and after a quick shower and change she
gave us a lift to the pub. The food and Black Sheep beer, at
the
very busy pub, was excellent. At about 9:30 the
landlady
picked us up and took us back to the B&B and gave us a tick box
list to choose what we wanted on our fried breakfast. Of course we
ticked every box.
Day 7 Saturday June 29th Newbiggin to Muker (20 miles)
Breakfast at 7:30 grapefruit, strawberries and muesli followed by a fry up of egg, bacon, beans a rather average sausage tomatoes and toast. Walking by 8:00 straight on to the old Smardale Gill disused railway nature trail, now managed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Rejoined the Wainwright route at Smardale bridge where we made our way up onto Smardale Fell with magnificent views of Smardale Viaduct. Unfortunately the rain started much earlier than forecast and full waterproofs had to be donned.
We plodded on for another 7
miles along the fell road and our first glimpses of the head of the
Swale came into view. The rain was heavier than ever and I could not
stop thinking of a well known Chris Rea song “The road to
Hell” as we reached signs of civilisation about 2
miles before Keld we had to rest up for a few minutes on a welcome
roadside bench and admire a local who was pedaling ardently
up
the steep hill we had just descended. Onwards again and Ian pointed out
the waterfall where he and his daughters had been wild swimming earlier
that year. Eventually we reached Keld and were met by Helen, the female
Wongwayer with a glass of wine in hand outside the Keld Lodge. She
informed us she had had to miss today’s walking as the walk from
Shap to Kirkby stephen had taken the skin from her feet and that she
had taken the taxi today and left her husband to walk with some others
they had met in Kirkby Stephen. We told the landlord who had just
appeared of our intention to take the corpse road over Kidson Fell
to Muker and he suggested that we follow the Pennine way
route
down to a lower level path to Muker. We took his advice and made our
way onwards towards the river and the Pennine way route. Ian has never
forgiven me for my next mistake. We then continued on the Pennine way
instead of taking a well signposted path to Muker. We
continued
to climb up the fellside on a path that was more of an obstacle course
with every foothold needing to be searched for with our tiring legs. We
had now been walking for 10 hours with a couple of very short breaks
and the pleasant meadow path to Muker we could see below continued to
taunt us. Eventually we reached our B&B,
Swale Farm in
Muker, at about 7:45 and quickly changed and rushed to the pub to try
and get a table for some food. The pub was packed and we ordered 2
pints of Black sheep and joined the queue for tables with a numbered
wooden spoon. 2 pints later we managed to obtain a table which we
shared with an older couple who were extremely friendly. Our
meal, of Steak pie chips and vegetables, was very good when it arrived.
Fed and watered we made our way back to our B&B and were in bed
for
9:50 and asleep by 9:51.
Day 8 Sunday June 30th Muker to Richmond (20 miles)
8:00
the best breakfast of the walk consisting of thick bacon, meaty
sausage, black pudding, egg, mushroom and tomato with toast grapefruit
and cereal. Out walking by 8:30 through gentle drizzle. As we
were planning to walk approximately 20 miles to Richmond today we
followed the extremely picturesque paved path through several
meadows back up the Swale to a footbridge across the river.
Ian
pointed out many times that this should have been our finishing stretch
yesterday at the end of a 20 mile trek. On reaching the other side of
the Swale we made our way downstream through a steady drizzle of
rain. We continued on this path for about a mile
and a half
to Gunnerside bridge where we crossed the Swale to the right hand bank
and continued on a pleasant track, called Dubbing Garth lane
past
a makeshift gypsy camp. Several cyclists passed us on this track and
were surprised to find 2 loose horses, presumably from the gypsy camp,
grazing on the verges just before a closed gate across the track. We
continued along this pleasant track for a while and then stopped for a
snack on an old roller parked by the track. It was then we realised we
had not filled all our drink bottles and resolved to do so at Reeth. We
came off this track onto a short stretch of surfaced road where we
turned left and crossed Isles bridge to the left bank of the Swale. We
continued down the bank on an unusual path built on top of a wall
presumably built as a flood defence. Eventually this became a path
through several meadows until we had to leave the riverside track and
join the B6270 which we followed for about 200m before taking a
footpath on the left through the fields towards
Healaugh.
No sooner had we left the road that a procession of about 20 antique
tractors came trundling along at about 15mph followed by a queue of
frustrated car drivers.
As we
passed through
Healaugh we noticed several houses with names like “The Old
School
House” and “The Old Post House”. Another village that
had lost its heart in the modern need for efficiency. We left Healaugh
and took the footpath to Reeth on the right . Unfortunately we made the
common mistake of following the track too far down towards the river
and having to find our way back up to the footpath which stays closer
to the road. We reached Reeth about 1:30 and stopped for a
welcome couple of pints of cider and a pickled egg at the
Black
Bull. Then we set off for Richmond not realising we had forgotten
something. We crossed the fields on the path to High Fremington and
decided we would miss out the path through Marrick Abbey and head
straight for Marske. This proved to be quite a long road walk
and
when we stopped for a snack and drink just before Marske we realised we
had not stocked up on drinks as we had planned in Reeth. As we passed
the place where the Wainwright route from Marrick joins the
road
to Marske we were surprised to see a large ring nosed bull looking over
the stile at us. This gave us some justification for avoiding that
section. We continued down into Marske, on a toe crunching steep
descent, hoping to find somewhere to get a drink to no avail. Leaving
Marske we soon found the path across the fields towards Applegarth
Scar. Dehydration was now beginning to take its toll as we
crossed Paddy’s footbridge and climbed up to the White Marker
stone on the track to West Applegarth farm. We trudged on for another
mile past West Applegarth farm before collapsing in a heap
for a
rest on a grassy bank through shear exhaustion accelerated by lack of
water. 10 minutes later we got up and made our weary way
towards
Whitecliff wood. The track path through the wood was quite muddy in
parts due to the recent heavy rain. We left the woods a carried on
towards High Leases.
Ian
commented that the large new house that had been built here had caused
much damage to the road due to many heavy construction vehicles that
had brought building materials. This was evident further down the lane
where the side of the road had collapsed into the ditch. We passed the
sign for Richmond and head down the track and into Westgarth field for
the last half mile of the journey. We were met outside Ian’s shop by
his wife Marie who welcomed us home and took our finale pictures in
front of the well photographed plaque which Ian displays for Coast to
Coasters on the side of his shop. Another 20 miles had been covered
today with the unforgivable mistake of not carrying enough drinking
water. I made a sign of dissent at the plaque and we both headed inside
for a welcome beer and hot meal. Feeling a great sense of
achievement we both vowed to never again attempt two 20 mile walking
days back to back without sufficient supplies of water.
However
we both remarked on the excellent standard of health of our feet with
not a single blister. This was no doubt helped by our lack of
heavy backpacks for the first time. Baggage transfers for us from now
on.
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