The Coast to Coast Trail

The Coast to Coast walk is a long distance trail covering some 180 miles traversing Britain from the west coast to the east. It starts at St Bees Head in the Lake District and finishes at Robin Hood’s Bay on the east coast of North Yorkshire. It was originally described by Alfred Wainwright - of Lake District walking fame - in his 1973 book A Coast to Coast Walk and some three decades later had earned itself the status of the second-best walk in the world in a 2004 survey.

Despite its popularity the route is unofficial in that it does not have National Trail status and is largely unmarked. It follows footpaths tracks and minor roads and takes the walker through the Lake District, across the Pennines into the Yorkshire Dales and finally into the North York Moors. As such it covers some of the most beautiful parts of Britain.

When I first heard of the route I had no idea of its popularity, only that it was about a twelve day walk that followed some of the most beautiful and remote parts of the country. I was also aware that following the ‘official’ stopping points on the route would dictate your daily mileage; centres of population and hence accommodation can be few and far between so while some days you might walk fewer than 10 miles on others you have to face a walk of over 20 miles. For my part I wanted to be a little more flexible so elected to carry enough equipment to allow me to wild camp in between the normal stopping points if I wished. Other than that I had no plans for the next few days, no pre-booked accommodation and no pre-determined date to finish.