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Coast to Coast Walk in England - done!

I was going to post a follow up about my walk on my original thread on this topic but comments had been closed. I didn't know that happened.

Anyway, I completed the walk on Wednesday and it was a fantastic experience. We were a group of eight for the first six days and four for the rest of the walk. We did the walk in 14 walking days with no days off, and agreed that a day off would have broken our momentum. Our leader had done the walk before and kept track of directions. Most of the way is well signposted now.

Days 2 and 5 were the most difficult for me and it felt good to rise to the challenge. I am used to climbing and didn't have trouble with it, but some sections had steep descents and others had tricky footing which wasn't easy. To prepare, I tried to do long (15+ mile) walks on consecutive days.

The landscape was gorgeous and the changes in landscape as we walked west to east was wonderful to see. Fourteen days outside in the English countryside is bliss to me.

We were lucky with the weather with light rain on maybe four days. We didn't need our rain trousers until the last afternoon. I was comfortable in a tee shirt and had warmer clothes, mittens, dry bags, etc in my pack. I hemmed and hawed as to whether to take two pairs of shoes/boots but ended up with just my leather hiking boots which were comfortable every day. I didn't have any blisters, and light to medium weight wool socks worked well. Gaiters weren't needed as it wasn't very wet and there are now stepping stones in the boggy section after Nine Standards.

My family did see us finish on the Robin Hood's Bay webcam.

I flew in and out of Manchester and went a couple of weeks early to do some longer walks in the UK before starting the C2C. Stuart, I loved Grange-over-Sands. What a pretty town! I walked to Cartmel one day and had sticky toffee pudding. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to see Barrow-in-Furniss.

Thank you to those who responded to my original post with advice and good wishes.

Posted by
1103 posts

What an accomplishment! Way to go, Grier! Completing that walk is really something special and truly something you will always remember! Happy for you!

Posted by
144 posts

Well done, the C2C is firmly on my bucket list.
You should come back and tackle the South West Coast path next!

Posted by
12392 posts

Very pleased it went so well for you.

We now have a new long distance walk in Cumbria - the 120 mile Westmorland and Furness Way has officially opened after a nearly 80 year gestation period.
We don't rush things here!!

The Pennine Way may be your next aim - Edake in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.

Posted by
1439 posts

Thank you all!

I've done parts of the South West Coast path and would like to do more.

I didn't know about the new Westmorland and Furness Way. Thanks for the tip! The Pennine Way looks like a challenge.

I plan to do the Great Glen Way in Scotland next autumn.

Posted by
1439 posts

Laurel,

Regarding boots vs shoes, it seems to me it's a personal preference and it depends on the trail conditions. When I walked in boggy ground in Yorkshire last year, the mud grabbed my hiking shoes and I nearly walked out of them a few times. I noted that the "best" walkers in my group were wearing boots, not shoes, and I immediately bought leather boots when I returned from that trip. I think everyone in my C2C group wore boots. While we didn't encounter boggy conditions on the C2C, those starting a week after we did had more rain and possible muddy conditions. Perhaps those PCTers interviewed by Wirecutter had dry conditions and no need for boots. My boots don't feel heavy or uncomfortable and, again, I didn't have blisters.