Epilog Sunday 30th April

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 for this was the big question. Although I am relatively fit with squash and running and lots of dog walking, Chris does not have that but he has youth and had been walking about 6k a day to and from work for about a month beforehand. 

At the start of the walk, Chris was struggling with his fitness, walking like a robot due to stiffness. Which lasted for the first 5 or so days. I was also soar but not to the same extent. 

The big issue however was that Chris got blisters on the first day, thank goodness for blister plasters. The next day he was a little soar but when we got to Ennerdale YHA the blisters were much worse. He was in a lot of pain but we replaced the plasters and I put them on this time, I also gave Chris an additional pair of thin walking socks which allowed him to double sock. Putting on the boots for day three was painful and once we got moving from that point on things got slowly better and not worse so the blister plasters and double socking worked. At Grasmere, we got more blister plasters as they were only staying on for two days. Chris remained in blisterplasters and double socked the whole hike. 

Lasting memory 

There is a therapeutic meditation when doing a walk like this. Not just with the actual walking but in the daily routine of packing, gearing up, washing, drinking, eating and sleeping. You also don’t have to think about what you are going to do, you have a plan and you just have to execute it. I also very much enjoyed the ever-changing landscape. 

Navigating the Coast to Coast

We used the app AllTrails ( with a subscription as you need to be able to download the maps) on my iPhone as our main guide which has the whole coast-to-coast mapped out. I would recommend if using this, that you practice using it before you do the trip to get familiar with how it works. Also, you will need a battery pack as on long days the phone battery won’t last. We also used a foldable map from Harvey on the coast-2-coast which came in a waterproof sleeve and was used as a backup. 

What’s next?

Well off to Lisbon with my Camino mates (old school friends) in May and then heading with Penny, on a fully guided 10-day walking holiday in Armenia in June. There will be 8 of us and apart from Penny, I don’t know who the others are! It was arranged by one of Penny’s previous colleagues at St Stephen’s Surgery when she was a practice nurse, so it’s a group of her friends. It will be interesting! 

Other walks? 

So I would like to also do the South Coast Path and El Camino but both are much longer and may require me to do them in stages. 

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