Morris Dancing - with sticks and hankies

We have many stories of the places visited on the walk or as walk support crew. It was busy towards the end and the internet access during the day was very poor, so these stories are being added in no particular order. 

We had a great day at Richmond Castle on Sunday 12th. A surprise addition was a visit from the local Morris Dancers. Singing, bells on socks, clicking of sticks, waving of cloths. 4 dances were great, more would require a greater love of the art form....

Chris Images Days 1 thru 4

St Bees and the start

Day 1

Day 1

Day 2 Ennerdale Waters

Day 2

Day 2 Haystacks

Day 2 Haystacks

Day 2 Rosthwaite

Day 3 to Grasmere

Day 3 morning

Day 3 Helvellyn ascent

Day 3 top of Helvellyn

Day 4 on way to 9 standards rigg with Rod

Day 4

Day 4

Nine Standards Rigg

And again

day 4 finish

Day 10 - The End of the Road

We got up early to ensure a triumphal entrance into Robin Hood's Bay later in the day. We were underway at 8am and were at Grosmont a few hours later.
A large number of train enthuisiasts were hanging around the station, there was both a steam and diesel engine at the station.
The last long ascent up Grosmont Hill up to the moor, then some woods walking with the famous Hermit's Cave carved out of rock followed.
One of the things about Alfred Wainwright and the walk he devised is that the walk never goes directly towards the ultimate destination. We almost walked to the Abbey at Whitby on the coast before turning south to Robin Hood's Bay.
We saw a sign indicating 2.5 miles to go, however, we had slowed right down and it took us almost another two hours to complete.
There was no marching bands nor spectators to greet us, apart from the applause of the 2 crew. I guess all the seaside tourists were wondering what the 2 oldish guys walking slowly towards the water were on about.
We dipped our boots in the North Sea and we were done.
Both Chris and myself would like to acknowledge the wonderful efforts of our partners; without their help we would not have made it.
Distance covered - 200 miles, 325km

days - 10
fitbit stats to come when downloaded

Day 9 - Just When You Thought You Can Take No Moor

The weather had cleared and we were technically in for a shorter day. We had a minor sleep-in and did not get on the track to 9am. From Clay Bank Top we climbed up onto the North York Moors, following an old railway line for 10 miles to Blakey Ridge. We saw nothing more than several thousand sheep and the odd walker.

After refreshments and lunch at the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge it was back to more moor walking for the afternoon. We passed Great Fryup Dale and entered Glaisdale at 4pm; the first time we were truly on time.

We both are feeling worse for wear; Chris has a sore calf and limped for most of the day, Bill has swollen feet and both now have a significant number of blisters.
However, only the one day to go.
Distance covered - 34km

Day 8 - Cleveland Hills Attempts to Finish Us Off

Day 8 was another long day of 39km, this time we had blisters and aches and pains to contend with.
When walking around 10 hours per day all we seemed to do was have breakfast, make lunch with ingredients purchased by the crew, drive to the location, walk, drive back to the accommodation dog tired, have a wonderful dinner prepared by Bronwyn and Cate, write the blog entry and fall into bed.
Today we drove to the locale of Clay Bank Top prior to the walk so that we knew exactly where to meet.
We left Danby Whiske at around 9am, unlike the last few days the weather was dry. There was lots of farm walking, we eventually met with the A19. The run across 4 lanes of traffic is generally considered the most dangerous aspect of the walk for most people, especially since the English generally drive well in excess of the 70mph speed limit.

Lunch in Ingleby Cross was followed by access to the North York Moors where we followed the Cleveland Way.

The track was designed by a sadist, for the last few hours we climbed 200 metres and dropped 200 metres sharply on 4 to 5 occasions. It was extremely slow going, we finished at Clay Bank Top around 7.30pm absolutely spent.

Distance covered - 39km
Distance remaining - 62km

Day 7 - Rain, Rain and more Rain

Day 7 we woke to the sound of rain once again. We drove to Reeth in the rain and it did lighten a little for the start of the walk.
We started early as we had another long day planned. Following the Swale initially, we passed the Marrick Priory and ascended the Nuns' Steps. From here we had a break under the shelter in St Edmund the Martyr in Marske. The English dont do covered shelters very well and you need to find your own.
A few days back one of the locals commented to us that the weather will improve and that it will start to rain, and did it rain today.
We met Bronwyn and Cate at Richmond and found a spot to have lunch; this included a special treat of vanilla slice each.  From Richmond we traversed the Vale of Mowbray, which involved a significant amount of both walking down street lanes and through wheat fields.
One of the signs we saw in a forested area that afternoon was Beware of Army Exercises, we could hear the sounds of machine gun fire in the background, as well as helicopter and jet fighters overhead. They did manage to miss us.
We arrived at Danby Whiske late in the afternoon, wet socks put paid to our blister free feet.
Distance travelled - 39km

Day 6 - All Downhill from Here

Woke again to more rain, luckily it cleared again by the time we got to Kirkby Stephen to start the day. We were combining 2 days walk into 1, so we were off to an early start.
There was a descent climb up to Nine Standards Rigg, at the top there are 8 and a bit cairns each around 3 metres tall. They looked very eerie in the mist as we were now in the cloud.
We headed down the blue route to Ravenseat Farm, where the owner serves tea and scones to passing Coast to Coasters in the middle of nowhere. She had just had her eighth child three weeks ago, self delivered overnight, and continued her service the next day.
We were also invited into an old house that was being done up by the owner, the house had not been lived in for 60 years and had needcd a huge amount of work.
We reached Keld for lunch; this is officially the half way point.
The afternoon was spent following the Swale downstream to Reeth, we came in at around 7.30pm. It was another difficult day.
It must be a myth that around 100 people walk each section each day, we did not see another Coast to Coaster for the whole day.
Distance travelled - 38km,
Time - 11 hours
Photos to follow

Day 5 - Dales, Fells and Sheep

Day 5 started by packing all our belongings with Bronwyn and Cate moving base to Richmond, Yorkshire after dropping us off at Shap.
The weather started like many other days, cloudy with the threat of rain. However, we were fortunate in that the rain held off once again. In fact, we both got sunburnt despite our best efforts. Chris looked the part with a new hat and buff purrchased by Cate in Keswick.
Shap is truly the end of the Lakes District; the mountainous terrain is replaced with rolling hills where nothing more than grass and gorse grows.
We had to keep a close eye on navigation due to the many changes in direction required, especially if we are leading the charge with everyone else following. The only real town that we passed during the day was Orton, the rest of the trip we saw nothing more than the odd farm house.
We passed by Sunbiggin Tarn and Smardale Bridge before arriving at Kirkby Stephen at around 4.30pm. This was our earliest finish since Day 1.

Distance travelled - 33 km, time taken 8.5 hours

Day 4 - Great Views if You can See

Day 4 started off cool and cloudy. The morning section of the walk involved walking up Kidsty Pike, a peak just short of 800 metres.

One of the interesting things about walking is meeting the various folks walking the track. To our knowledge there were only three other groups that we met from Day 1. There was the Dutch Belgian couple who were doing the walk in 2 halves; the St Louis mother and daughter who were speedy and dedicated walkers who also tackled Helvellyn and the taciturn English father and son who we only got a few words and grunts from.
Every time we took a break one of the parties above would charge past after exchanging a few words.   During the morning ascent we entered the low lying clouds, it was like this all the way to the top. A few of the walkers were telling us how wonderful the views are on a clear day. But it was not to be for us. We saw Angle Tarn in the mist, and could vaguely make out Helvellyn.

From there it was a steep descent to Haweswater, it was these steep descents that are murder on the knees. The walking poles came in handy for the second time within a 24 hour period.

Along the banks of Haweswater, Then through the towns of Bampton, Burnbanks and Rosgill Bridge completed the walk to Shap.

There was one enterprising young lad who had set up an honesty box with drinks and chocolate bars enclosed; the coke went down a treat.
Distance covered - 25km, time taken 8 hours.
For those interested in Fitbit stats we covered 60,000 steps and 670 flights of stairs in a 24 hour period; not too shabby for 2 blokes on the wrong side of 50.

Day 3 - To Hell(vellyn) and Back

We left Rosthwaite bright and early because we knew we had a lot of work to do. The weather forecast was for ideal conditions, this was the one day that we hoping for such. We headed up Greenup Gill passing many students doing their Duke of Edinborough outdoor education course. We arrived at Greenup Edge as one of the first groups. One thing about the walk is that Cumbrians do not want to encourage coast to coast walkers and therefore have no sign posts. We were wanting to get the 3 crags to the north of the track; however we zigged rather than zagged and got to a crag after following the track for half an hour. We realized our error and spent the next hour or so bush-bashing down a very steep valley to regain the track.

We arrived at Grasmere (famous home of Wordsworth) at around 2.30pm feeling very low. Fortunately we were met by Bronwyn and Cate with pizza and coke in hand. Our main aim of the day was to get to the top of Helvellyn (3rd highest peak in England) and come down Striding Edge. Our plans were in tatters as Helvellyn is a 2 hour detour from the standard walk.

We set of refreshed but dreading the additional 950 metre ascent that we had in front of us should we decide to still follow the original plan. We sprinted up (at least it felt like that to me) to Grisdale Tarn where the decision was to be made to follow the path down to Patterdale or continue to Helvellyn. We of course chose the later, we did not travel half way around the world to then abandon the one must do.

The ascent went on for ever, we eventually reached the top at around 6.30pm. We were greeted by a couple of young Melbourne women who were dressed as though they were going for a stroll down the street. We were running late and decided to descend via Swirrel Edge; this was initially a very steep descent. Reading the stats later, 5 people have been killed this year on Striding Edge and 2 on Swirrel Edge.

Our crew had given us Kendall Mint Cake, we had some slabs just prior to setting off on the descent, this assisted in remaining focused coming down. We arrived in Patterdale at 8.30pm, 12 and a half hours after starting. I used to do those sorts of hours in the past, but not for the last 20 years.
The good news is that we have sore feet from the pounding, but very little in the way of blisters.
Distance covered 32km

Castlerigg Stone Circle

How many roads can you travel to NOT get to Castlerigg Stone Circle? Many. Too Many. Signposting is great from the north, on the A66, but seriously lacking from other directions, even though it is just on the edge of Keswick. Yesterday we kept discovering how tiny lanes can be, today we more organised and made earlier descisions to not travel when the only way out might be in reverse. Here are some photos of the 3300 BCE stone circle with spectacular 360 views of the Lake District.

Day 2 - Do we or do we not stack hay

Day 2 started just like day 1, we woke  to rain on the roof. The forecast was for a wet morning followed by drying conditions from around midday. This we thought would put paid to our desire to take the high route from the end of Ennerdale Water over Red Pike through to Haystacks due to the low lying cloud.

We ended up walking through to Black Sail YHA in the rain, together with Frank and Vicki from Midlands UK. It is Vicki's brother, Mike Hartley who holds the record on the Coast to Coast walk of 39.5 hours, something that will take us 5 times longer to achieve.

After lunch at Black Sail shared with around 50 others, the weather improved and we decided to backtrack and at least 'bag' Haystacks. This would mean we have 2 of the 230 odd Monroe peaks.
We shared this climb with a young 7 year old who kept pace with the 5 adults walking together to the top.

After Haystacks we meandered to the Honister Slate Mine, which really is a blight on the landscape. We then continued to Borrowdale and met our crew at Rosthwaite. They had completed their afternoon tea at The Flock Inn and were waiting patiently for our arrival due to no mobile phone coverage during the whole day.

distance covered - 26 km, cumulative distance - 51km, distance remaining - 259km
Time today - 8 hours