Journal of the "Wainwright" Coast to Coast Walk

September 2006

Thursday 31 August

Enjoyed a pleasant drive from Pudsey to Kirkby Stephen although on arrival the weather started to turn.

My overnight in the town prior to starting off on the walk was arranged for "The Croft House" which is situated in the centre of the town opposite the Tourist Information Office. Chris, my landlady, a pleasant redheaded lady who proved to be very chatty greeted me. She provided me with a huge pot of tea with jam scones and then took my order for dinner and breakfast. I chose the homemade Tomato, Basil & Courgette Soup followed by Steak & Ale Pie and a full English breakfast (the kippers weren’t really very tempting).

The house is really old and full of character I had a double-bedded room and a separate private bathroom all decorated with old world charm. I was told that there would be a number of C2C walkers all dining together that evening.

Dinner was really exceptional and the company was very good as well. In addition to Bob and his wife who were starting the walk with me were Chris and his wife Sue and her parents. Chris is an experienced walker who had previously completed the C2C who gave us some good advice as well as regaling us with stories of his walking adventures. He asked me to email him at the end of my adventure to let him know how I got on.

We arrived at St Bees at 1030hrs and after dipping my boots in the Irish Sea and securing a pebble from the beach set off on the first leg of the journey to Ennerdale Bridge. 

The weather, contrary to all forecasts was good (fair but breezy) and I walked all day in just a T-shirt. The views around St Bees Head were spectacular although walking 18 inches from the cliff edge was not for the faint hearted. By the time I reached Cleator Moor (8 miles) my hips were feeling quite sore, still, only the 1000ft climb of Dent to come so no problem! In fact the ascent of Dent was no problem it was the descent to Nantycatch Beck that caused more problems as it was very steep and it was this part of the leg that brought home to me that I had a problem with steep downhill walking. I took quite a few metres of that descent sliding on my backside, not a pretty sight I am sure. It was a little later when walking to Nantycatch Gate that I suffered from being a gentleman. Hearing an approaching fell runner I moved off the path to allow him to pass through when the ground on to which I had stepped gave way and deposited me on my backside in a tributary to the beck. Completed the last three miles of the walk totally drenched.

Eventually got to Ennerdale Bridge at 1930hrs where my overnight accommodation was The Shepherds Arms Hotel. This proved to be a clean but rather characterless place where my room had a single bed and the private bathroom was across the corridor. On arrival had a really nice soak in a hot bath, first time in a bath for a number of years but it was heaven. Got dressed and went down to the bar and was told that someone had been in looking for me, assumed correctly that it had been Keith but he had gone by the time I arrived. I ordered a light meal of ham and chips and chatted with another couple of walkers. Was presented with a plate holding about ¾ lb of gammon ham off the bone with an enormous salad and a large bowl of chips. I couldn’t get through ½ of it and it took a lot of effort to persuade the manager that there was nothing wrong with the food. No mobile signal had to find a phone box to call Stuart to update him on progress.

Saturday 2 September

Despite earlier intentions to miss out this leg of the walk due to the soreness in my hips I decided that this would be a bit wimpish and therefore set off walking. BIG MISTAKE! Although my hips weren’t hurting as much the day before when I finished walking, after a couple of miles they were hurting again. 

The weather was horrendous with pouring rain and driving wind. I persevered and thought I might be able to drive my self through. The going was really hard and while having Gortex boots is a good idea it doesn’t do much for keeping dry feet if the water comes over the top of the boot, which it did on a number of occasions. At one point on the walk I had to negotiate "Robin Hood’s Chair", a two to three metre scramble down a rock crevice that I was certainly not built to handle easily. Apparently there was an alternative path but it was not obvious and I clearly missed it. However the worst was yet to come as on leaving Ennerdale Water I followed a route over the wrong stile and ended up walking on the wrong side of the River Liza. I realised the mistake quite quickly but on consulting my map was convinced that I could continue and after reaching a bridge over the river could cross and regain the correct route. Unfortunately after about 1.5 miles the path became impassable and in attempting to push further than I should I ended up in the river up to my waist. This was to result in the unrecoverable damage to my camera which was in my trouser pocket ate time. I decided that I would need to backtrack and having done this eventual found the stile that I should have crossed and regained the correct route. However by the time I reached Lower Gillerthwaite Field Centre (an Outward Bound Centre for Leeds University), it became obvious to me that I would not be able to progress further. I spoke to the resident warden and with his help managed to contact a taxi at Cleator Moor an arranged to be picked up. The taxi arrived after 40 minutes and I was told that there was an off-metre flat fare of £40, which was Ok for me. While talking to the driver I discovered that he had actually travelled from the rank in Whitehaven and that the journey to my hotel in Stonethwaite was about 30 miles and would take about one and half hours before he returned to the rank (£40 sounded more than reasonable then). The journey by car was not much easier than the walking had been with problems with flooded roads.

Arrived at my overnight accommodation in Stonethwaite, which was The Langstrath Hotel. It was while I was trying to register that I was suddenly overcome with a sudden shaking fit and became very emotional. Vicky from the hotel told me to go to the bar and she brought me a pot of tea, which she had to pour for me because I was unable. After drinking two cups of tea I felt sufficiently well enough to go to my room and strip out of my wet clothes and have another very pleasant and refreshing soak in a hot bath.

Feeling more human again I dressed and went down to the bar where I met Joe the architect from Bakewell; Keith from the minibus; a Canadian couple called Barry and Cathy who were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary; a Finnish couple called (not sure of the spelling) Jarimo and Sarri; Patrick and Beulah from Maine who were celebrating their Ruby wedding anniversary and other walkers whose names I did not get. Had a great night with a couple of pints of local ale and a superb meal centred around a main course of slow cooked local lamb with a rosemary jus which was magnificent.

Woke up still in significant pain from the previous days aborted leg. Decided common sense should prevail and so I took the Packhorse minibus to Grasmere. I felt guilty about missing some of the walk but deep down I knew it was the right decision. The decision appeared further vindicated when the heavens opened yet again. Arrived at my overnight accommodation The Harwood a private B&B just before lunchtime and had a stroll around what is a very pretty if tourist-oriented village. Went to a local café where the food was homemade by an elderly lady who also worked behind the counter. Had a homemade bread roll with cheese and homemade pickle and a pot of tea, which, for the first time I can remember for a long time, was made with leaf tea. Returned to my B&B and was just deciding what to do in the evening when the landlord knocked on my door and said, "There are a gang of your friends outside who want to know if you are coming out to play?" When I went outside there were Patrick and Beulah; Barry and Cathy; and, Jarimo and Sari. We all went for drinks and dinner at a place called Tweedies. I had the chicken enchiladas, which were excellent and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, which restored by flagging spirits.

Feeling fully rejuvenated from the rest day I left Grasmere after enjoying yet another excellent breakfast including the best sausages yet. Bought my packed lunch at the delicatessen run by the owners of the B&B and called in at the Chemists for Voltarol cream, Ibuprofen and Arnica cream.

Set off walking at just before 1000hrs and reached the highpoint of the day’s walk, Grisedale Hause at 1200hrs. From this point the slow descent to Grisedale Tarn and then down to Patterdale took its toll on my hips. On this part of the walk I met up with Keith who I chatted with briefly before insisting that he go on at this own pace. Despite the pain at the end this was the most enjoyable walk so far. With the weather set fair the views were exquisite, thoroughly beautiful scenery, sadly no functioning camera to take pictures. When I eventually arrived in Patterdale at 1600hrs I was feeling very sore again and my earlier hypothesis that the problem was being caused by the descents was reinforced. I spotted Keith sat outside the Patterdale Hotel and joined him for a welcome cup of tea. As I walked on with Keith to find our overnight accommodation we past the White Lion we were greeted by Barry and Cathy who said that everyone was meeting for a meal at 1830hrs. My accommodation was at a B&B on the outskirts of the village called Barco House on the opposite side of the road to Keith’s B&B Oldwater View.

Again met up with the gang (Patrick & Beulah; Barry & Cathy; Jarimo & Sari; Keith; and another couple whose names I didn’t get. Brilliant evening meal probably the best value for money so far. The talking point of the meal being the size and composition of the ‘side salad’ which Beulah had. The discussion after the meal centred on the next day’s walk and there seemed to be a consensus view, particularly from those who had walked the leg before that perhaps I should consider missing the next leg to Bampton Grange since the descent from Kidsty Pike was the worst of the whole trip with lots of people taking the majority of it on their backsides. Since the day’s 9-mile walk had taken 6 hours then the 12-mile walk with a worse descent was likely to take me in excess of 8 hours and maybe more than 9 hours. This would mean that I would be finishing the walk in the dark. I needed to think very hard about how wise this would be!

After a troubled night trying to decide what to do I believe that I made the sensible decision not to walk this leg. Despite knowing deep down that this decision was the right thing to do I still felt very guilty. After breakfast I sat with Sharon from Australia who was taking the Sherpa minibus to Shap after suffering horrendously with her feet from the previous day. Tried to see if my camera would work after having had time to dry out but unfortunately it appears that it was totally ‘hors de combat’ so it looks like there will be no more pictures for the rest of the trip. Mentioned this to Sharon who said that she would email her pictures to me when she got back home.

I eventually arrived in Bampton Grange at my accommodation The Crown and Mitre at about 1530hrs and since I only had access to my room with a single bed and no television and no access to the pub or any type of residents lounge until the pub opened later in the evening decided to take a walk to the local tea-shop. Had a pleasant cream tea and then walked back to the pub arriving at about 1700hrs at which point I went to my room and read for a while waiting for the pub to open.

Went down to the bar and joined Patrick, Beulah and Keith who were also staying at the pub. While having a drink before dinner received a really big surprise when I turned round to see my brother Stuart and his son Frank who had travelled up from Pudsey to see me. They had brought me his wife Margaret’s digital camera with a supply of batteries, Stuart’s telescopic walking stick and a bag of homemade ginger biscuits for the journey. After such a wonderful surprise the accommodation and the facilities were a bit of an anti-climax. The owners were selling the pub and clearly the place was being run down. This was further emphasised by the fact that not one other person came in the pub the whole evening. There was no real ale on offer and the food was no more than adequate.

After an average breakfast I set off for Orton at 0900hrs ahead of the rest of the gang thinking that they would catch me up quite quickly. Maybe because the terrain was not as challenging as previous legs mainly lush flat pasture all the way to Shap Abbey, I actually reached Shap and was having a cup of tea in a local café by the time the gang caught me up. I joined up with them and we walked together almost all of the rest way to Orton over fairly flat moor land until descending into the village. This was a really enjoyable day walking with the weather fair for the most part apart from a brief period of rain either side of crossing the M6.

I stopped for a rest about a mile out of Orton allowing the rest of the gang to put on a final spurt so that they could arrive at Orton’s main claim to fame, which was Kennedy’s chocolate factory and which we thought closed at 1630hrs. Apparently Beulah, who was very keen to visit the factory, took the lead on this last part of the walk and really pushed the pace so that this goal was achieved.

I arrived at my overnight accommodation, Barn House at 1630hrs. What an absolutely wonderful house and my hostess, Lillian, who was a Norwegian lady was a very nice lady. I asked if there was somewhere that I could dry some clothes if I washed them out in my sink at which point she immediately took all my dirty clothes and washed and dried them returning them neatly folded later that evening. In the meanwhile I had cleaned off my boots and handed them over for drying as well. At this point Lillian asked me to join her in the conservatory where she had made a pot of fresh tea which was accompanied by a freshly made, still warm, scone with probably the best homemade Raspberry jam I have ever tasted.

I got showered and dressed and went to the local pub where I met up with a whole gang of walkers (Patrick & Beulah; Keith; and, Janet & Ron). We took over the place, rearranging the furniture so that the gang could sit together for what was a wonderful meal and very pleasant evening. I chose to eat the Lamb in Cumberland Sauce with chips, sugar-snap peas, carrots and baby sweet corn. This was absolutely fabulous but was enough to feed a family of four, all for £9.95, unbelievable.

After an evening at clearly the best accommodation on the trip so far which culminated in a wonderful breakfast, we set off for Kirkby Stephen.

The gang were walking together for the last time. Keith (or "Top Gun" as he had become known) was finishing his walk at Kirkby Stephen and with me taking a rest day in Kirkby Stephen this meant that I would not be synchronised with Patrick & Beulah who were having a rest day later in Richmond.

The day’s walk was again very enjoyable with the weather whilst chilly to start, turning out to be fine and sunny. We kept meeting up with the gang of Australian ex-pats who seemed to charge off quite quickly but often in the wrong direction before coming back and meeting up with us again. The views were magnificent with lots of photo opportunities.

Arrived at my overnight accommodation Redmayne House, this was a very large Victorian house where my room was in the attic with a single bed and the bathroom and toilet were on the floor below. This was a majestic old property, which was decorated in keeping with its’ age. Had a nice long soak in a hot bath and got dressed to go and meet the gang for a pint and a Chinese meal and to say some sad farewells.

This was my scheduled rest day, which I didn’t really need to take as Lillian had done all my laundry the day before and that was the main reason for taking the rest day. Had a leisurely day and for a change decided to have a prawn sandwich for lunch, I would regret this later. Had fish and chips for dinner and an early evening ready for an early start the next day.

Set off from Kirkby Stephen at 0800hrs for the 12-mile walk to Keld this included a climb to Nine Standards Rigg at 2,171ft, which was the halfway point of the walk. The weather was fair but by the time I had reached Nine Standards Rigg the wind was biting and I had to put on my coat, cap and gloves. I arrived at Nine Standards Rigg at 1030hrs and was feeling very pleased with myself in that achievement. 

I started on the descent towards Keld and it wasn’t long before I fell foul of a peat bog resulting in me sinking to both knees in the quagmire. After calming myself from the initial impulse to panic I managed through the use of my sticks and using by elbows and rolling on firm ground to extricate myself. I proceeded on the rest of the journey but much more tentative about where I was placing my feet than previously. It was probably due to this ultra-cautious approach and my dislike of descents that the final 6-mile took me until 1630 before I arrived at my overnight accommodation Butt House.

On arrival I met the fabled Doreen who I had heard and read some worrying stories about. My initial contact was when she told me to come into the house and take off my boots. I suggested that it might be better if I took them off outside and was told quite firmly that I would not since it would be harder for her to clear up outside than it would be to sweep the vinyl in the vestibule. I did as I was told! After going to my room and having a shower and changing I returned downstairs to meet some fellow walkers who were three American sisters from Colorado and Washington. We were all provided with a huge pot of tea, some homemade tea loaf and large slices of chocolate cake. We ordered our evening meal, which for me was Garlic Mushrooms, Beef Casserole and Plum Pie with Custard.

By the time we had come back down for dinner I had started to feel a bit queasy and by the time dinner had finished and I had ordered my breakfast and packed lunch for the next days walk I was feeling decidedly unwell. I spent the whole night visiting the toilet every 45 minutes. By early morning it had become clear to me that I would not be able to walk today and the chances were that I would not be able to walk for a few days. The prospect of being transported by minibus from one accommodation to another in my condition did not appeal and after ringing my brother and discussing the situation with him I decided that regrettably the only course of action was to abort any further effort on the challenge. I contacted Packhorse and discussed the situation with Simon who agreed that this seemed to be the sensible course of action and arranged for a taxi to take me back to Kirkby Stephen to recover my car and return to Pudsey to recuperate.