Why the Coast to Coast?

I’ve walked the C2C route before. That was in September 1994. I did it again a few months later, in July 1995. On those occasions I walked with “our lass”. This time I’ll be walking alone.

The 1994 expedition was our first really big walk. We’d got into walking two or three years earlier with days out on the North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales and the Lakes. Then we tried the Dales Way in 1993 and were hooked on Long Distance Paths: the camaraderie and the progression through a gradually changing landscape were addictive. We quickly notched up the Westmorland Way, the Cumbria Way and, in bits, the local-to-us Wolds Way.

What the other paths offered, however, the C2C did too, but in buckets!

Since then Rita’s health has deteriorated somewhat and now precludes serious walking. I, however, continued hiking with friends and wandered along lots of northern Ways and Walks, notably a route based on John Gillham’s “Lakeland to Lindisfarne” book, the completion of Paul Hannon's trilogy of Lakeland walks (the Westmorland, Cumberland and Furness Ways) and the daddy of them all, the Pennine Way (2002).

Then I drifted away from regular outings and got fat…

Last year I got a grip: went on the wagon, adopted a fish and plant diet and bought new boots. I had three respectable outings in 2007, revisiting the Dales Way and Cumbria Way, and improvising a three day circular outing in the Yorkshire Dales linking Hawes, Kirkby Stephen and Keld.

All these walks were done solo. I wasn't sure if I could tolerate my own company for extended periods, but in the event I rather enjoyed the experience. Solo walking happens at one's own pace and preference, with the opportunity to drop in and out fellow wayfarers company, on the trail or in the pub, more or less at will.

There were a couple of problems though: feet. All three walks produced blisters. I’d used Brasher Supalite boots on the first two jaunts and concluded that they were fine for the occasional day walk, but not up to extended use. The replacement Meindl Atlanta boots were taken virtually untried to the start of the Cumbria Way at Ulverston and saw me limping for the bus home at the Old Dungeon Ghyll a couple of days later with world class blebs.

Another unwelcome development was a bout of sciatica over the winter months, and the Physio’s predictable advice that carrying a 25lb pack for a week or two over rough and undulating terrain was unlikely to help.

So, where to go in 2008? An attractive route, doable in a couple of weeks, with a bag transfer service – I know, I’ve always said I’d go again; I’ll do the Coast to Coast.