Wolfgang Reinelt - coast to coast walk, UK, 1996

outdoor @ wolfgang-reinelt.de	coast to coast walk, 1996

I really don't know how I ran into the idea of doing this walk.... 1996 was not the time of intensive internet research on walks (at least not for me) and to us the walk in northern England looked very "local": mostly British people on the way, rather often the "father and son do a hike" (that I haven't seen that often somewhere else), and not the usual crowd of German and Dutch people that invade other popular walks in Scandinavia for instance.

Anyway, being aware of the existence of the walk I bought the book by Alfred Wainwright "A coast to coast walk - A pictorial guide" (see refs below) and was fascinated by the idea to cross the British island on a rather short route from the Irish sea to the Channel - from coast to coast. The walk crosses three nice areas, beginning with the lonely and quite impressive lake district in the west and ending in the more farm-like area in the east. It offers 14 days of superb hiking, summing up to 190 miles or 300km. Pitching the tent at some nice spot usually is no problem (asking the people before doing this certainly is no disadvantage), the same with getting drinking water just by ringing the door bell somewhere. We always met kind and friendly people, interested in us and keen by the idea that non-British people do this walk.

Maps needed for the trip are the UK Landranger maps (Ordnance Survey, scale 1:50.000, sheets 89-94, 98+99) and we organised it as follows:

1996-08-02: Car from Germany to Zeebrügge, Ferry to Hull, UK (departure at 6pm).
1996-08-04: Ferry to Hull (arrival at 8am), train to Whitehaven (arrival at 6pm). Hiking down to coast to St. Bee's (3 miles).
1996-08-05: St. Bee's - Ennerdale Water (18 miles).
1996-08-06: Ennerdale Water - Stonethwaite (12 miles).
1996-08-07: Stonethwaite - Elmhoes (13.5 miles).
1996-08-08: Elmhoes - Haweswater (12.5 miles).
1996-08-09: Haweswater - Acres Farm (16.5 miles).
1996-08-10: Acres Farm - Kirkby Stephen camping site (11 miles).
1996-08-11: Kirkby Stephen - Keld camping site (12 miles).
1996-08-12: Keld - Marrick "camping site" (14.5 miles).
1996-08-13: Marrick - Bolton on Swale (15 miles).
1996-08-14: Bolton on Swale - Osmotherly camping site (16 miles).
1996-08-15: Osmotherly - Bloworth Crossing (14 miles).
1996-08-16: Bloworth Crossing - Glaisdale camping site (15 miles).
1996-08-17: Glaisdale - Hawsker camping site (16.5 miles).
1996-08-18: Hawsker - Robin Hood's bay camping site (3.5 miles).
1996-08-19: bus to Scarborough, train to York
1996-08-21: bus to Hull, Ferry to Zeebrügge (departure at 6pm)
1996-08-21: Ferry to Zeebrügge (arrival at 8am), car to Germany

Some Links and References:

Paul Hannon: The Coast to Coast Walk: 190 miles across Northern England. Hillside Publications, UK, 1994. - The book to take with you on the walk.
Alfred Wainwright: A coast to coast walk - A pictorial guide. Penguin books Ltd, Michael Joseph Ltd 1992,4,5. Re-prints the original edition from 1973! This is the book to have in order to get the right mood for the hike.
Coast to coast path. A description by Walter W. Trimble, also providing some links to other british distance walks.
Coast to coast walk. A description by Phil Andrews
Coast to coast walk. Quite some information collected by UK Ramblers association.
St Bees Home Page
West Cumbria Photographs