Coast to Coast 2023

To say I enjoyed would be an understatement. It was a great experience and I would encourage anyone who thinks they would want to do it, to just do it.   What did I enjoy most? It has to be the people, you meet some very nice people doing a journey like this. Not just the people doing the walk but everyone from people like Roger the runner on the last day who stops and walks with you for 10 minutes just chatting. The staff working in the YHAs, lodges and hotels proving excellent service with time to chat and they provide plenty of encouragement.  What was the best bit? It has to be the Lake District, it is just stunning. I love climbing to the top of a summit and enjoying the views all laid out in front of you and we got to do this several times in the lakes. We were so lucky with the weather having only one day when we had clouds at the summit. More specifically then it would be Kidsty Pike, the highest point in the whole hike.  What were the Challenges? Our preparedness...

Breakfast was at  8 where we met Roger and his dog Milly.  Got moving at 8.45 out of Egton Bridge towards Grosmont, where we tried to stay but little to no accommodation. Which was adding 3km to our last day.  Crossing the River Esk As we climbed up onto the moores the weather became much worse with limited visibility.  We meet a runner, Roger, who stopped and started chatting to us as we walked. He told us he had  done the London Marathon  on Sunday  and had run the coast to coast in 69hrs a few months ago, impressive!  We got quite wet!  The moors were proper boggy and at points we struggled to get across them, trying to keep our feet dry as it was very deep in places. I actually fell for the first time but was fine, first and only fall the whole trip for both of us. We then dropped down into another valley and started our last big climb up the other side. The clim was  was through Little Beck Nature Reserve which was very pretty and v...