May 31

The first glimpse of the wall. Our morning began with a nice little walk to Wallsend about 2 hours east of the hotel right along the River Tyne. There are all sorts of evidence of bygone industry,  from old boat skeletons to signs saying that the water is contaminated and of course some working businesses. Since we left without eating we were very ready for breakfast in Wallsend.  Even at that we just had the small breakfast and coffee. The museum, Segedunam, was a good primer for what we are about to see. We have already seen many parts of the wall because much of it has been used for the construction of newer buildings such as churches, houses and barns. On the way back we crossed the newest bridge to the south side of the Tyne; this was the millenium bridge.  We came back to the north side on an old steel bridge that looked like it would last forever. So it was a surprise to see a sign on it saying that loads were restricted because the bridge was weakened. After reaching the hotel we made reservations for the rest of our walk to Bowness on Solway. We were tired of restaurant food so we went to a supermarket and assembly a "normal " meal. Tomorrow we walk with our packs again.

May 30

Rest Day. We took the bus from Robin Hood's Bay to Newcastle with a connection in Middlesbrough. After arriving at the Eldon Square station, we went looking for a solution to Susie's problem with her Garmin HR not transferring data to the server via our cell phone. As luck would have it, there was a store right in the mall that sold Garmin step counters. One of the ladies spent over half an hour helping us but to no avail. We shortly thereafter checked into the Jurys Inn and were checked into a nice room. After a few minutes of organizing ourselves we walked to the Great North Museum because the guidebook recommended it for wall walkers. Huh!  It was closed from May 21 to June 21. On returning to our hotel we worked on accommodations and luggage transfer for the walk. It was surprising to find many of the B&Bs already full.
Tomorrow we will walk to Wallsend.

May 29

This was a classic bitter sweet day. Bitter because a great walk ended and sweet because we reached our destination - Robin Hood's Bay. We had our doubts about the weather because some of the forecasts included some showers. Nevertheless we started in great style with a nice breakfast in the conservatory overlooking Beggars Bridge. We walked through a wide variety of scenery and conditions; we saw valleys, forests, neat little villages and moors. Included was a hermit's home carved out of a large rock. While we had mists and fog most of the day we didn't get rain. The end of the day 's walk took us along the North Sea like we started 12 days ago. Today we walked over 20 miles and took about 8 and a half hours. At the end we threw stones from the Irish Sea into the North Sea.

May 28

What a difference a day makes. Yes it was Sunday sunny and warm. This brought out locals in numbers in addition to the participants in the 160 mile race.  Today was Monday foggy and cooler.  We saw only a few people out on the paths today. After breakfast the hotel gave us a ride back to the trail. After a short climb we were on the moors again but today it was in the fog.  This gave it an eerie feeling and I felt that I was in scary movie wherein armed horsemen could attack us at any moment. About half way into our day's walk we stopped for a bite and a drink. While we were stopped we were entertained by a mother grouse and her brood of chicks. Also rabbits, sheep and other birds kept materializing out of the fog. Although the walk was long, it kept entertained. We are staying at the Beggars Bridge B&B which is named after the adjacent bridge that was built by a poor man who became rich and married a rich man's daughter. Before becoming rich he tried to visit his sweetheart but the river was in flood so wasn't able to see her before leaving to seek his fortune. He built the bridge so that other young men wouldn't have to go through his experience. 

May 27

Another great day on the Coast to Coast. I anticipated only a few good views but we got many. Even low down we had nice views of green well-groomed pastures with cows eating contentedly. After about half an hour in the forest we broke out on top of a hill overlooking the flat lands to the west. Then we had great views for the rest of the day. With a high temperature of 20C and sun, we couldn't ask for more. We walked with a couple of guys from the London area until around noon and found ourselves at Lord Stones. We had planned to walk to our hotel by cutting off the main path before Clay Bank Top but couldn't break away from the views offered by the high path so we walked to Clay Bank Top then called the Wainstones Hotel for a ride. It's a big hotel with nice spacious rooms. Since we arrived at 2:30pm we can relax a lot before dinner. For dinner I had roast pork and Yorkshire pudding and Susie had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Mine was decent but Susie didn't like hers. Not like last night when we both had great Chicken Parmesan; that was exceptional with tasty chicken breasts with nice salad. The chicken was not only good but it was large - about 5.5 in diameter by 3/4 in thick.  The portions we have been eating have been very generous to say the least. 

May 26

This was our longest walk as they scheduled us for 23 miles. The weather was perfect - overcast, 15C and a light breeze. We found trees and shrubs covered with small white flowers and found that they were hawthorn. We met some other walkers who were doing part of the C to C from the east. In comparing notes we learned that there are more than one route. Our respective maps were different. While our walk took us through lots of wooded areas, we also passed through many, many fields. This entailed stiles and gates of every description- new, old, easy and awkward. 

May 25

This is a rest day because we have only 10.5 miles to walk with a small elevation gain of 100 m. The weather forecast was for showers in the afternoon so we carried our umbrellas. At around 9:30 am it started to sprinkle and did so periodically all the way into Richmond meaning that we went through many cycles of umbrellas up and jackets on. When we arrived in Richmond just before 1 pm, it was drizzling lightly. This has been pretty phenomenal for England. I finally got a new calendar battery for my camera at the market so the pictures can be dated from now on. We have seen only a bit the town because it's cool and damp. Since this is a larger town we have a greater selection of restaurants so we can forego pub grub tonight. We went  for Thai food tonight and got the vegetables that we have been craving. They were good but the meal uninspiring. Afterwards we went to the town centre and got a picture of the Richmond Castle.

May 24

We are half way through our trek now so I will summarize our distances to here.
St Bees to Ennerdale 23 km
to Rosthwaite 23+_ km
to Patterdale 29+ km
to Shap 26 km
to Kirkby Stephen 34 km
to Keld 21+ km
to Reeth 18+ km
The + means that we took a higher and usually longer route.
Today's walk was lengthened by missing a turn and walking from the high route down into the valley. Actually it turned out to be most interesting because the scenery and animals were more interesting down low. We saw lots of young lambs including one that could yet stand up. But most impressive were the rabbits. Sometimes we would disturb them as a group and would see dozens of them scampering for safety in their burrows. We also saw lots of ruins as left by the abandonment of lead mines.

May 23

Breakfast this morning was exceptional.  After the usual juice, fruit etc we had a great omelet and poached smoked haddock with poached eggs. This was really stick to the ribs food that held us all day with just a small snack around 1 pm. We had a really pleasant hike up to Nine Standards Rigg.  The Nine aren't just cairns but carefully constructed structures which look labour intensive. The  challenge  today was the headwind which kept pushing us off balance and had us putting on jackets. We are really fortunate that it has been dry in this area because this route has the potential to be very boggy. We ended up taking the higher red route because it is recommended for this time of year. The lower levels had sheep  grazing while there was essentially no animals on the upper third. As this was a short day, we arrived in Keld by 3 pm giving us ample time to do a bit of laundry. And they have a drying room where we could hang things without cluttering our room.

May 22

We have now left the Lakes district and do not have mountains to hike over. In fact today's route was quite flat but on the long side- 21 miles in fact or about 33 km. We walked through the moors as I'm told. They are rolling hills with no trees and covered with grasses and some heather. Interestingly we passed by Robin Hood's grave; it was marked with just a large cairn but nothing else. If it weren't for the writeup in our book we would have just passed it off as a larger cairn. Tonight we are sleeping in Kirby Stephen.

May 21

Another great day weather wise, making it 4 days in a row. This evening we are in Shap, which means that we are out of the Lakes district and the most challenging trails. The Brits think that someone arranged all this good weather for Harry ' s wedding but it is really intended for us Coast to Coast walkers. This morning we hiked up Kidsty Pike which is the highest point in the original C to C walk. Interestingly they were rebuilding parts of the trail that had eroded. To do this they hauled in boulders in large bags by helicopter. Each bag must have been 4 feet across. At the end of our holiday we will have some time to spend doing more hiking so we plan to return to the Lakes district because there are so many more trails to do.

May 20

Today is one of our longest days because two segments have been squeezed into one day. In the first segment we walked up to the col toward Grasmere then veered off onto the high route on north side of the valley toward Grasmere. It was gorgeous with lots of views of the mountains, streams and animals; the latter were mostly sheep with their lambs. When the lambs nurse they are hilarious with their tails wagging at least 100 times /min. When we arrived in Grasmere we walked into town in search of a button battery for the camera and SIM card for the phone. This made us a bit late for the second segment over to Patterdale. By the time we arrived at the tarn it was too late to take the high route.  So we walked directly to Patterdale by the shortest route which got us there shortly after 6 pm. Over 10 hours is long enough.
My ankle felt better today and I was able walk faster. Yesterday it was quite weak going up the hill to Red Pike on the alternative high route. Perhaps the dose of NSAID was responsible. By the time we got to our hotel we needed supper but I couldn't face another plate of chips so we got garden salads with chicken.  Perfect match for Coast to Coast beer.

May 19

Another day of great weather in England. Sunny all day and warm but not hot. After another good English breakfast we set out for the walk to Ennerdale Water then along the south Shore, which required us to pay attention to the path to avoid tripping. After reaching the end of the lake and branch point we opted for the high route which was spectacular. It took effort and time to gain the ridge but results were well worth it. As today was a Saturday, there were lots of people out hiking; occasionally we made others wait or we waited for them.  

May 18

What a great day. We started the day with a full English breakfast which is wonderful for hiking. It comprised orange juice, coffee, toast, a bowl of fruit, egg, sausages, bacon, mushrooms and toast. This was real stick to the ribs food that held us to supper time with a small snack at noon. You might think that we started walking eastward immediately but the path actually took us westward toward the Irish Sea then north along the ocean for a couple of hours. With clear skies and sun the views were fantastic; there were lots of flowers and birds. From the ocean we headed inland through farmland and then through some open topped hills toward Ennerdale Bridge. We walked with various people today - a couple from Australia, two girls from Australia and a couple from Ohio. They were all very nice. Just as we walked into Ennerdale Bridge we got some good views of the open mountains that we will walk over tomorrow. Our distance covered today was almost 25 km, in 7h20m and 42377 steps.

England 2018 May 17

Yeah, we're in St Bees and really enjoying it. We left home yesterday by backpacking to the bus station and taking the airport bus to Pearson. Our Air Transat flight left a bit later than the scheduled 22:40 takeoff but favourable winds put us on the ground in Manchester almost 30  minutes early- just so that we could hurry up and wait. Clearing British customs was smooth and the walk to the train station was quick. We bought tickets to St Bees and were on the way.  The route took us up to Carlisle where we caught the train back south to St Bees. Until the train cleared Manchester, it was a bit chaotic because a number of people were going into Manchester and three bicycles were brought on.
The train station in St Bees was only two minutes from our B & B so we were settled in very quickly. After that we took a walk around town until 6 pm when the Queen’s restaurant opened for dinner. Our first dinner in England far surpassed our admittedly low expectations. My fish and chips with a pint of bitter were excellent as was Susie's chicken burger with pulled pork. We are excited about starting our trek tomorrow morning.  Today's weather was sunny and warm but not hot.  We are hoping for the same tomorrow.