Final Thoughts

So how was the walk for us? Hopefully you'll have picked up from our posts, our enthusiasm for this great walk, which is one of the British classics. We had a real ball walking it and loved almost every minute - we say almost, as it wasn't all plain sailing.

Arriving at Robin Hoods Bay was a particular achievement for Wooly, who achieved his ambition of becoming the first sheep to walk the Coast to Coast walk. He'd already been crowned the first sheep to walk the Cumbria Way and we all wonder where his silver hooves and unquenchable ambition will take us next

There were 3 things which made our Coast to Coast pilgrimage quite special.

The first was the excellent route, and we have the incomparable Mr Alfred Wainwright to thank for this. It is interesting that the route is not actually a National Trail, probably because Wainwright always referred to it as 'a' Coast to Coast walk, not 'the' Coast to Coast walk. He was offering a suggestion, and all walkers are free to choose their own variation. We thought his route was so good, and kept us off the roads, so we stuck pretty faithfully to it, and were pleased we did.

As it is 'a' Coast to Coast walk, the way is not officially signposted, unlike National Trails which are. However, there are lots of way markings, some official, and others very informal. Our direction indicators ranged from the traditional wooden finger posts to these traffic cones which, if you look hard, do say Coast to Coast with arrows pointing the way ...

You had to keep your eyes open, as some direction indicators were quite small and subtle, such as this one, built into a stone wall ...

The second great ingredient of our trip was the fantastic Bed and Breakfast accommodation we  enjoyed. We've talked about many already, as they played such an important part in the journey, providing a warm and friendly welcome, comfortable beds and hearty cooked breakfasts.

We enjoyed the sheer variety of accommodation and this covered both the buildings and our hosts. It was so exciting to arrive a journey's end for each day and to discover what was in store for us. We were invariably pleased, and we even got to make some new friends ...

We'd didn't select the accommodation, and we were glad we hadn't as there was no way we could have done so well. The organisation we have to thank for booking us some great places to stay was the Coast to Coast Packhorse.

This brings us to the third, and most important ingredient of our trip, and this was our choice of the Coast to Coast Packhorse to arrange all elements of the trip for us. They booked our accommodation, arranged car parking, in their 2 minibuses they transported us out to the start and back to our car from the end, and each day they picked up our luggage and moved it on for us.

It was a friendly and efficient service and it ran like clockwork. We wouldn't choose anyone else and would recommend them to anyone considering the walk. As many of our Bed and Breakfast hosts told us, they are a 'country mile' ahead of the opposition.

Thanks Packhorse for looking after everything, allowing us to get on with the walking and having one of our best walking holidays ever.

We look forward to doing it all again one day, perhaps in another 18 years!

Lots of love

George, Yorkie, Gio and Wooly xxx

Lion Sighted, but no Zebra

Leaving Osmotherly we had a long day's walk ahead of us. Next stop was the Blakey Lion Inn which enjoys a remote moorland location a big  20-ish miles from Osmotherly.

As we'd started today's walk yesterday, before doubling back, we took a short cut up to rejoin the route of the C to C. This involved a rather steep scramble through heather and bracken - it might actually have been easier to go up to the road. Once on the route proper, the walking and views were amazing. There was one big draw back though - the moors are far from flat!

We had expected one moor, but the reality was whole series of moors separated from each other by deep valleys. I suppose the area isn't called the North York Moors, not Moor singular, for nothing. Now the moors are a lot higher than you think and the descent into the valleys was steep, which of course meant the climbs back out were equally steep. It was certainly challenging walking, but very rewarding.

At this point in our walk we were sharing our route with the Cleveland Way. You might have thought this would have meant traffic on the path would have been plentiful, but it wasn't, there wasn't a single other bear in sight - strange?!

As we went up moor and down valley we had a few interesting sights as well as the stunning scenery.

This included one of Wainwright's favourites, the Wain Stones, which provided an excellent scrambling diversion, great for climbing enthusiasts myself, George, and Yorkie.

We reached the end of the 'up and down' section in time for a late lunch the far side of Cley Bank Top. For many C to C walkers this is the end of a day's stage, and the great man, Alfred Wainwright himself, suggests that only strong walkers consider continuing. We're pleased to say that we clearly fall into this latter category, as we had a further 10 miles to do to reach the end of our daily stage. However, this wasn't a problem for us, even though we'd had a challenging morning, as a) we were walk fit by now and b) we were about to embark on a flat and fast stretch of the route. This was because, after one final climb, we would be crossing Urra Moor following an old railway route. We romped along at a fast pace, thoroughly enjoying the easy walking, and we had the moor almost all to ourselves, with just the numerous red grouse for company ...

At Bloworth Crossing, truly in the middle of nowhere, the C to C route leaves the Cleveland Way to follow the historic Rosedale Ironstone Railway. Shortly after we'd have liked to stop for tea, and just as we wondered just when the Blakey Inn would appear on the horizon, it did ...  

... the inn is that red roofed building, looking quite distant. In fact it was distant, and it took quite a while to get there. Nevertheless we we there by about 6.00 p.m. which was pretty good going, especially as, not only had we walked more than 20 miles, we had climbed more than the height of Snowdon.

The Lion is a great place for a hearty meal and a pint or two of real ale. We especially enjoyed the Old Peculiar and we slept well, reassured by the fact that we had a much shorter day tomorrow.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Wooly and Gio xxx

A Gem of a Bear and a Gem of a Room

Patterdale has always been one of our favourite Lake District haunts, so we were pleased to be having an overnight stop there. Arriving in the dry and having time to call into the White Lion for a drink, before finding our Bed and Breakfast, made for a good start. In the pub we chatted to a couple who were walking the C to C the other way round i.e. east to west. They were camping, so carrying all their gear, including a wine box – we were all very impressed by this, especially the wine box, but we guess it would count as a holiday essential.

The Coast to Coast Packhorse, who had organised our accommodation, had secured us a real gem (literally) by booking us into The Old Water View Inn. This B and B has much to recommend it, and we can start the list of its charms by telling you that it was where Alfred Wainwright himself used to stay when in the area.  Something more important to us though, was that we were directed outside the main house to a room in a converted barn called L’al Gem. We had our own front door and effectively the whole downstairs of this building. What’s more, there to greet us on the bed, was a rather special bear. His role was to welcome us and make us feel at home. He was wearing an incredibly smart and warm Old Water View knitted jumper, and we have to admit we were a little envious of it, wondering if they might be for sale, but we think they only came complete with wearer, and anyway, we think we would have needed a much smaller size.

Our new friend, Alf, gave us a guided tour of our accommodation. Once we had been shown the outside drying room and the lovely view of the river from our front door, we got the fully history of our room, which was a very romantic story. As it’s all in the picture, we’ll let you read it for ourselves, if you have a big enough screen …

The Old Water View Inn caters for your every need in a very pleasing way, so once there you don’t need to go out again, which makes for a very relaxing stay.  At least you don’t need to go out, unless your minder’s boots have started to come apart and need replacing. It really is a lot simpler if you go au naturel like us with our hooves and paws, but we knew our minder’s feet aren’t as strong and sturdy, so she really did need new boots.

We walked into Glenridding for these, and we struck gold by going to the Catstycam store. What a pleasant, helpful and knowledgeable chap we found there. Our minder had the best boot recommendation and fitting service she has ever had. While she hadn’t planned to buy new boots, if you have to buy them, you might as well have the right ones, and this she got (she did subsequently get her money back for the duff ones, which were hardly worn).

Back at the Old Water View Inn, we gathered for pre dinner drinks (trying the inn’s own keg bitter and lager) in a cosy lounge. The menu was very appetising and provided us with some nice alternatives to the usual pub grub. Various dishes were tried and enjoyed, and we can certainly recommend the Morroccan chick pea pate, the chicken and asparagus and a large sticky toffee pudding for sharing, washed down with a Fair Trade red wine, bought by the bottle.

It was an evening to remember, and if, sorry, when, we return to Patterdale we know where we’ll be staying. 

Lots of love, Wooly, Gio, George and Yorkie xxx

Getting Into Our Stride

While we enjoyed that initial coastal stretch, there were a few dodgy moments where the blend of wind and crumbling cliff edge path didn't mix too well.

3 3/4 miles later. the footpath signs told us to leave the coast and start heading east. Psychologically this felt better, as walking north for well over an hour, pleasant though it was, wasn't exactly taking us any further towards our easterly goal.

Shortly after midday, the rain started and it continued, more on than off, for the rest of the day. Sadly this meant there weren't too many photos. We ate lunch in a bus shelter then, after Cleator Moor, at 8.5 miles, we entered the Lakes proper. I began to feel really alive and, being a Lakeland sheep I was completely at home. I raced up Dent Fell, our first summit, and was surprised to see George, Yorkie and Gio quite a long way behind - they seemed to think the climb was hard work and they didn't seem too keen on the rain - it didn't bother me though, but my wool does contain lots of lanolin.

It was a scenic walk to our first night's accommodation at Ennerdale Bridge, although very wet under hoof and it didn't take us long to realise that Wainwright miles are surprisingly long.

Good accommodation at the of a day's walk soon revives you, and the Shepherds Arms Hotel met all our needs in full, especially when we found out they had fine Herdy mugs to drink our tea from, and also that we could take beer up to our room.

We were raring to go the next morning to spend our first full day in the Lakes. However, you can't hurry a full cooked breakfast so we decided to spend some time in the hotel anticipating the day ahead.

As we set out for Ennerdale Water we were pleased to see some good way marking with special AW (Alfred Wainright) logos. We wondered whether the weather would stay fine enough for a swim (well George and Yorkie wondered, as sheep aren't keen swimmers). 

More about our crossing of the Lake District next time. 

Lots of love Wooly, Gio, George and Yorkie xxx

Sheep on the Move

Back in 2007, I, Wooly, became the proudest sheep in the country. This was because I achieved the honour of being the first sheep ever to walk the Cumbria Way. A full account was given in this blog at the time. That walk was especially exciting for me, as it took me the length and breadth of my beloved homeland of the Lake District, and I enjoyed it no end.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I'd been pestering the chaps to consider walking the Coast to Coast path as a Bears Unlimited adventure. This would give me the chance to walk through my beloved Lakes again, this time West to East, rather than South to North, but also I wanted to become the first sheep to complete the Coast to Coast walk. At 192 miles this was a walk on a far bigger scale than the Cumbria Way, and it was a challenge I was eager to embrace.

Keen walker Gio, veteran of the Camino de Santiago, was a staunch supporter and so, just over 3 weeks ago we found ourselves at St Bees in Cumbria dipping our paws in the sea and gathering at the official start for team photos ...

I'm sure it will be no surprise to learn that joining in me on the walk were travelling bears George and Yorkie, chief writers for the Friendly Planet Guide ...

and of course Gio, whose paws are most definitely made for walking ...

We're posing in front a new information board featuring the walk and its creator Alfred Wainwright. This board was unveiled just this year to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the publication of Wainwright's A Coast to Coast Walk. It was clearly an auspicious time to do the walk.

The forecast for the first 2 days had been pretty bad and featured double rain drops. We were therefore pleasantly surprised to be starting off in the dry. Would it last? You'll have to keep reading to find out.
One thing we can say was that it was very windy when we set out along the cliff path. It was 10.30 a.m. on 16th September and we were on our way. Robin Hoods Bay, here we come.

Lots of love, Wooly, Gio, George and Yorkie xxx