In September 2000 Clare and I decided to walk the classic British Long Distance path - the Coast to Coast.
The route stretches 190 miles from St Bees on the West Coast through to Robin Hood's Bay on the East coast and runs through some of the most beautiful areas in the UK - The Lake District, The Yorkshire Dales and The North Yorkshire Moors.

Most people walk the route from West to East - starting at St Bees and finishing at Robin Hood's bay. We however chose to do it the opposite direction. We decided to do it this way for several reasons - the main one being that we wanted to have the Lake District as the finale.

We also made several other decisions that have a significant effect. The main one being whether to use B&B's or to camp. This makes a massive difference because the decision to camp even one night means that you have to carry a considerable amount of extra gear (and thus weight!)

The other decision is whether or not to use the many coast to coast "packhorse" companies. These people drive the length of the route daily and will pick up and deliver your packs from one destination to the next - so you don't have to carry anything and can concentrate on the walking.

We decided to camp, and also to carry all our gear. This meant that we had packs in excess of 35lb each.
We also had to work out the logistics of getting to the start, and how we would get back home when we'd finished.
We decided that we would have the major hassle at the start. Believe me - once you've finished the walk you don't want to be faffing about - you just want to get home. So we decided to drive on the Friday up to a B&B in Whitehaven and paid the owners £2 / day for them to look after the car on their land. We then caught a series of trains - Whitehaven to Carlisle to Settle to Whitby. We then got a taxi into Robin Hood's Bay and stayed in another B&B. It was now Saturday evening and the weather was wonderful. Our walk would begin tomorrow.

Sunday we woke to a miserable day. It rained most of the day as we walked as far as Grosmont. Camping in the bottom of a farmer's field we cooked grub and fell into an exhausted sleep.

The first few days were hard work - like they always are on a camping trip. By the time we reached Ingleby Cross (After walking 22 miles from Blakey Ridge) we shaved about 18lb of weight off into a parcel and sent it home. My pack was close to 50lb. Clare's was 36lb. We had Lowe Alpine 70+15 litre packs which have the best hip belts of any sack in the UK. The US Pack companies such as Kelty and Gregory have good back systems - but are not available here. A canadian company named Arcteryx had just started bringing packs into the UK and I tried for ages to get a Bora. Their back systems are apparently second to none.

The North Yorkshire Moors are undulating and provide some excellent walking. After Ingleby Cross we had a few days of flat - some would say uninteresting walking - until we got into the Yorkshire Dales and Herriot country. By Friday we had reached Reeth and treated ourselves to a B&B - bliss!

From Reeth we made it ultimately past Keld and over Nine Standards Rigg (in the pouring rain - and it is similar to Bleaklow for peaty swamp!) down to Kirkby Steven.

We then headed past Shap and into the Lake District. Kidsty Pike being the first major peak - the lakes were spectacular and by this time we were fit and although you never forget for one minute that you have a pack on - it does get honed down to the essentials and after hauling it on and off your shoulder several hundred times - you do get used to it.

Two weeks after the start - Saturday - the final day into St Bees - it rained heavily for the last five miles and put a damper onto the final beach shot where I deposited the obligatory pebbles I had carried from the start. (I wonder if any pebbles have travelled both ways purely by chance?)

A short taxi ride to pick up the car and within an hour we were driving home via a Burger King (never has one tasted so GOOD!)

We lost weight and were for a short period incredibly fit. Our first weekend walk into the Peak District (sans huge Pack) meant we positively leaped up the hills.

Would we do it again? - Yes ABSOLUTELY! - it's a superb walk with much to see and is a great sense of achievement. We met very few people carrying all their kit and camping though - most were older and using a packhorse system to take their gear form one B&B to the next - and excellent way to do it if you don't want the pain of a heavy pack and rough camps.

If you want to cycle the Coast to Coast - there is a diferent route. Several useful websites for both walking and cycling are:

http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/newmap.htm

http://www.cycle-n-sleep.co.uk

http://www.coast2coast.co.uk/c2cmap.php3

http://www.synergynet.co.uk/coast2coast