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Planning a trip on the Coast to Coast

Published 22 October 2010. Last updated 29 December 2011

If you've been reading my Coast to Coast posts, there's a possibility that you've been inspired to walk it yourself. Either that or you've watched that Julia Bradbury do it on the telly and been inspired to walk it yourself.

Whichever way doesn't matter. What matters is that you've thought "Yes, I could do that! Sign me up! How do I do it then?" You have, haven't you?

You have? Great! So what do you need to know to plan your trip?

Inside This Guide

1. An Important Point
2. In sections or all in one go?
3. Planning an itinerary
4. Rest Days
5. Finding and booking accommodation
6. Getting to/from the Coast to Coast
7. Guide books and maps
8. Know how to use a map and compass
9. And finally, and any questions

An Important Point

It has been on TV and was created by a walking superstar, so the Coast to Coast is quite a famous route. And it's popular. And that means people sometimes think it's going to be easy; like walking in the park.

It's not. It's 190 miles and there are some difficult bits, especially in the Lake District. And if the weather is bad, well it can be very difficult indeed. And I'm saying that as an experienced walker who has been up to his knees in bog on the Pennine Way.

I don't want to put people off doing the Coast to Coast, because it's a very rewarding route and in many parts it's nice and easy going. The lady at our first B&B told us of some 70 year olds who had just completed it would had only ever done day walks at the weekend, so if you've done some hill walking you should be fine.

However do not underestimate the Coast to Coast. To do it successfully you will need to be fit, have good walking boots and be very competent with a map and compass. Preferably you'll have done some long distance walking before too.

In sections or all in one go?

First thing you've got to do with the Coast to Coast is make an important decision. Are you going to try and do it all in one go, which will take just over two weeks, or are you going to split it up in to stages?

If you haven't got time to do it all in one go, you can break the Coast to Coast up in a few ways.

There aren't many railway stations en-route - the only stations at St Bees on the Cumbrian Coast line and at Kirkby Stephen (on the Settle to Carlisle line). Kirkby Stephen is nearly half way so makes very natural splitting point.

Another place to potentially split is the village of Shap about a third of the way on the route from . This sits on the West Coast Mainline and whilst there is no station, there is a bus service to Penrith which is on the mainline.

Richmond is not quite two thirds of the way but not far off and has a bus service to Northallerton, Darlington and Thirsk for rail connections.

The wonders of rural bus services mean that it's harder to make recommendations for splitting up the path in other ways - buses are far more limited on the eastern section beyond Richmond.

Planning an itinerary

Unless you're camping, you need to work out your itinerary in advance because often accommodation is very limited and booked up early.

There are a couple of different possible itineraries and I have listed three: 12 days, 14 days and 15 days. Based on my experience I recommend the 15 day one. The 12 day version includes some very long distances and is recommended only for fit and experienced walkers.

There are some other places to stop, but not always many. The places below have been selected as they all have facilities - every one has a pub, and most have shops too. Where there are no shops, pubs and B&Bs will be able to provide packed lunches.

Locations with a railway station are marked with a ^*.

1. As a big town, Richmond is an obvious place to stay overnight. However doing so means a 23 mile slog the next day. To avoid this, from Richmond continue walking the 4½ miles to Brompton-on-Swale. Then either stay overnight in Brompton or catch the regular bus to Richmond and return on it the next morning. The next day you will be seriously thankful you did.
2. Clay Bank Top is simply a road pass and there are no buildings here. Accommodation can be found in nearby Great Broughton (2½ miles north up the road) and at Chop Gate (2 miles south.) The road is busy but if you ask nicely and in advance, B&Bs and pubs may pick you up and drop you off.

Rest Days

Walking 12-15 days consecutively may sound a lot, although if you keep your daily mileage reasonable, you'll find it easier. However you may want to plan in some places where you can have a day off.

Some places are better for this than others - these are my recommendations:

• Grasmere - very early in however this is a walkers paradise and a lovely village to boot. You can potter around the shops or stroll in the nearby hills.
• Kirkby Stephen - almost half way through your trip, this little town is in the beautiful Eden Valley and is on the Settle to Carlisle line. There's also a bike hire shop and craft shops to explore.
• Richmond - the largest town on the Way. It's a bustling place with a castle and lots of history to explore so is an ideal candidate to rest before pushing on for a very long day the next day. However after all that walking in the relative piece and quiet, this can be a rather disorientating place and even though we only stopped there for less than an hour, I personally couldn't wait to get out!
• Grosmont - with only one day left to go this might seem a bonkers place to stop. However it's home to the North York Moors Railway which means steam trains! It's a lovely little line with lots of places to potter around and get off and walk through moorland and forest. Seriously recommended, but do - of course - check the railway is running on your visit! They do operate daily in the summer school holidays, however at other times their operating patterns vary.

Finding and booking accommodation

Advance booking really is advisable - the Coast to Coast is very busy and in the Lake District in particular, it can be very hard to find accommodation.

If you prefer, several companies offer a booking service and these can be found by a quick search on t'internet.

You'll probably get a better deal and more flexibility doing it yourself however it does take some serious time trying to find places to stay. Thankfully there is an accommodation guide.

Doreen Whitehead has been publishing an accommodation guide for the route for over 15 years and in 2010 her guide was published online for the first time and was updated in 2011.

Whilst it covers most of the places we stayed, we did have to resort to Google a few times to find other places so the list is not exhaustive.

There are a few hostels on the Coast to Coast, mainly in the Lake District. If you're following the intineraries above, useful hostels are:

• YHA Borrowdale (just outside Rosthwaite)
• YHA Grasmere Butharlyp Howe
• Thorney How Independent Hostel, Grasmere (formerly YHA Thorney How)
• YHA Patterdale
• Kirkby Stephen Hostel (formerly YHA Kirkby Stephen)

If you're preparing your own itinerary, there are also YHA hostels at Ennerdale (note, this is a couple of miles further on from Ennerdale Bridge), Black Sail and Honnister in the Lake District.

Campers will have no problem. There are more than a few camp sites and many pubs and farms will allow you to pitch up too. There's always a place to stay. There are also a number of camping barns en-route.

Getting to/from the Coast to Coast

Because the route takes you from one side of the UK to the other, the most sensible way to arrive and depart is by public transport. St Bees in Cumbria is on the Cumbrian Coast Line which is a bit slow although rather nice - trains run from Carlisle or Lancaster - the route Lancaster route is, I'm told, the most scenic. Both Carlisle and Lancaster have excellent rail links with the rest of the country.

Robin Hood's Bay no longer has a railway station, however there's hourly buses to Whitby or Scarborough. Whitby is nearer although there are more trains from Scarborough and the bus journey is not much longer. Scarborough trains go via York which also has excellent rail links.

Alternatively if you have a car, the Coast to Coast Packhorse runs daily minibuses from Kirkby Stephen and they have car parking facilities at there. Some B&Bs may also allow you leave your car there for a fee.

Guide Books and Maps

There are LOTS of books on the Coast to Coast.

The obvious book to mention when talking about the Coast to Coast is the original A Coast To Coast Walk by Wainwright himself. It's the book that started it all off and we carried a copy with us at all times. It's full of history and information as well as detail of the route, set out in Wainwright's handwritten style complete with his line drawings and occasional doodles. Over the years the route has been changed slightly so maps have been amended. The latest update was in 2010.

Although Wainwright wrote it to allow people to navigate off it, if you do, you'll probably want to plot your route out on a map as well. We tended to use Wainwright in the evenings to see what we'd done, and it does make a great memento of the trip.

Most people prefer to use a more modern guide book for day to day navigating and the popularity of the route means that there are many.

Based on previous experience we used Aurum Press's The Coast to Coast Walk (Recreational Path Guide) by Martin Wainwright (who is no relation). Aurum use Ordnance Survey maps throughout and show a good area around the route rather than just showing it in strip form. This means we could get away with not taking maps with us.

This is good because if you were to take a complete set of OS maps for the route, you'd be carrying a lot of paper.

However if you would like want a map, you might want to consider Harvey's two maps of the route. There's two covering the route, split in to East and West.

Know how to use a map and a compass

As the Coast to Coast is a completely unofficial route, waymarking is variable. In some areas local councils, community groups and individuals have placed signs to help the walkers. However there is no consistent level of signage and in many areas the route is completely unmarked.

As such you will need a guide book with good quality maps in it (such as the Aurum book detailed above), or you will need a set of maps. You'll also need to know how to use a compass.

The importance of this cannot be underestimated. Whilst we were out on the Coast to Coast we saw some people who seemed woefully unprepared. One bloke had a A5 laminated card of the day's walk that showed next to nothing other than a wiggly line with some place names. He seemed to be relying more on other people knowing where they were going. The day we saw him, we were on a hill covered in cloud, it was raining heavily and there were next to no useful signposts. If he'd taken the wrong path, goodness knows where he would ended up. And if you get lost, I won't be around to help you.

So the most important thing is to have a good map and compass, and know how to use them. So if you, or one of your party doesn't know how to use a map and compass together, I'd learn. You'll need it.

There are several online guides like How To Use A Compass and Getting to Know Map and Compass, and you may also find training courses in your area - many YHA hostels host them for example.

Knowing how to use a map and compass together will really help you and will (hopefully!) stop you getting lost - guide books can only tell you so much in text form.

And finally, and any questions

Hopefully now you're now raring at the bit ready to go so there's little to do other than offer you some sage advice. Take some good, comfortable, well broken in boots and some good breathable waterproofs - it's often wet in the Lake District especially.

And where it's wet, wet boots inevitably follow. A tip which many walkers don't seem to know about boots wet inside is when you take them off, fill them with balls of newspaper. The newspaper soaks up the water from inside the boot, thus drying them out. It works a lot faster than letting them air dry. Try checking and replacing the newspaper after a few hours to help.

On a related wetness note, if there's one thing you should pack, it's waterproofing wax for your boots. Waterproofing on hiking boots does wear off (something people often don't realise) and we had problems with boots getting soaked inside because of it even though both pairs were relatively new (that said, they had gone in many bogs and things...)

At the outdoor shop at Kirkby Stephen the owner recommended Nikwax Waterproofing Wax for Leather. From experience it works very well, and you can apply it even to soaked boots. I tend to slap it on every few days just to make sure - it does work, and maintains the boot's breathability if the boot is lined with something like Gore-Tex. If you don't have leather boots, consult your local outdoor shop as similar products exist for other boot types.

Still it doesn't always rain. Take your suncream and insect bite cream as well and you'll be covered for all occassions! And if you are thinking of doing it, why not let me know in the comments box below? Also don't hesitate to ask any questions.

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Your Comments

Kaye Ferguson

Posted on 14 June 2011 at 7:57 PM

My friend and I are walking ( hopefuly) the C2C in July/ August 2011, we have been in training for months but as we live on the south coast we have only been able to do the Southdown Hills, I do hope it will have been enough, time will tell, wish us luck
Kaye

Andrew Bowden (Editor)

Posted on 1 July 2011 at 5:06 PM

Sorry for the delay in replying but I've been away. Walking!

There's a few larger fells at the beginning but nothing too serious (there's various options in the Lake District, so you can always take the easier ones) but after that it's generally good going.

I do a lot of my training on the South Downs myself, and I was fine!

William Hardcastle

Posted on 4 October 2011 at 10:21 PM

Hi I completed the c2c last months over 14 days with two rests in- between I was hoping to attempted it next febuary over ten days or less . Do you think it would be possible ?

Andrew Bowden (Editor)

Posted on 4 October 2011 at 10:38 PM

Well 10 days would be an average 19 miles each day. If you're happy doing that I'd say it's doable. The only concern I'd have is the possible weather conditions - if the snow is out you'll struggle!