Credit to http://www.coastto.co.uk/
On Saturday 5th April 2025, I started my Coast to Coast Walk, beginning in St Bees, Cumbria.
The Coast to Coast walk I followed, was as defined by Alfred Wainwright, and has been walked by keen hikers many times since he did. The route begins at St Bees, Cumbria and finishes in Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire, a total of 192 miles.
I originally split the walk into two sections, and then into three. I wanted to do the route in one but knew that I would need to wait until August to find the time to do that, and I was itching to get going.
I followed lots of groups on Facebook, and found some very useful information about kit, campsites, other accommodation, alternative routes, how to avoid areas with cows, etc. I felt well prepared.
I sourced a decent backpack, comfy sleeping bag and mat, a very nice tent which was suprisingly roomy whilst being quite light, and borrowed a decent cook system. I only used the borrowed stove for the first section, by the time I walked the second section I had my own. Other kit items were a phone, battery pack, tent light, medication, first aid kit, trowel, maps, compass, minimum toiletries, microfibre towel, minimum clothing, down and feather jacket, warm hat, cup, bowl, spork, sharp knife, porridge, skimmed milk powder, teabags, hot chocolate, packets of flavoured cous cous for emergencies, exceptionally good trail mix with macadamia nuts and crystalised ginger, dark chocolate, dried fruit, cereal bars,with more food added along the way, mostly consisting of fresh fruit. I planned on having a good breakfast each day, and making use of other outlets along the route, with hopefully a good meal in the evenings.
I planned on a mix of wild camping, campsites, a b&b for a decent shower and shampoo now and again, to ensure I smelt fresh enough to get served at the bar 🙂
So, why did I decide to do this? Essentially, because, why not? I have been bagging Wainwrights for a couple of years, 83 so far (this increased to 100 during the walk), and it felt like a natural progression from that. I love the Lake District and go there as often as I can. It was a challenge I could not resist. Who doesn’t like a good walk, through stunning scenery. It’s an adventure!
So to give this walk a bit more meaning and to keep me going when I felt like flagging, I decided to raise some money for charity. I self-funded this walk, all donations going directly to the charity, via a JustGiving page. In honour of my mum, who passed away five years ago just before the pandemic came upon us, I aimed to raise some money for The Alzheimer’s Society Mum spent the last five years of her life living with me and my two youngest children, who were teenagers at the time. It was wonderful to see my mum every day, but extremely difficult to witness her decline. She was a very beautiful and glamorous woman, but as dementia took a hold of her, she steadily declined to become a shadow of her former self. Dementia is such an insidious disease.
So, if you feel you could spare a bit of cash in support of my walk, and any future adventures, and to contribute to a very worthwhile cause, here is my Just Giving link.
My eldest daughter had a travel bug made for me which has a picture of my mum on it. This travel bug is going to accompany me on my travels, and I will take pictures of it along the way at various points. Travel bugs form a part of a game called Geocaching and there is a geocache based on the Coast to Coast Walk, which involves taking photos at specific locations along the route and posting them to the geocaching site. It just adds another dimension.
