Coast to Coast Guided Rambler Walk - 18 Days

Make your own way to the starting point of the Coast to Coast walk in St Bees. It's located on the edge of the Irish Sea with views across to the Isle of Man (where we offer a walk as well). You should have time to visit the Abbey church, which has features on the local history and has a display on a mummified knight that was discovered in a lead coffin from the graveyard. If you have an extra night here, you can walk the coastal path or quiet inland roads to the attractive town of Whitehaven with its marina and great museum. It is famous in the annals of the US navy as the site of an elaborate raid on the British mainland by one John Paul Jones during the American War of Independence. This evening you will meet your fellow walkers and guide for a trip briefing. Accommodation: Accommodation: A family-run bed and breakfast in a large modernised Georgian farmhouse in the centre of St Bees.

Today is our first day walking the Coast to Coast! We start with a climb from the beach taking a footpath along red sandstone coastal cliffs of St Bees Head. It has England’s only breeding colony of Black Guillemots. We then move inland over hilly ground to the edge of the Lake District National Park. Dent Hill is the first real fell that we traverse! From the slopes of Dent, it's down to Nannycatch Beck. It is a delightful stroll which brings us to the final descent to leafy Ennerdale Bridge. The day’s total ascent 780m / descent 665m. Accommodation: Overnight at a friendly, family-owned hotel. Enjoy a home cooked meal of local produce including fish and game in season. A traditional feel is retained by the hotel, with its open fire, and the fully licensed bar serves a range of beverages including locally produced ale.

Walk on a quiet and scenic footpath along the shore of Ennerdale Water, with a bit of an easy scramble under Angler’s Crag at Robin Hood’s Seat. A long walk on a forest track then continues to Black Sail Hut, which is the smallest youth hostel in England and originally a shepherd’s hut. A steep climb follows up Loft Beck before traversing some of the Lakeland fells, perhaps with views down to Buttermere. Finally you reach the ‘drum house’, which marks the descent path to the Honister Slate Mine workings and cafe, and the Borrowdale Valley. This is perhaps the most delightful valley in the Lakes with its crags and broadleaved trees. Borrowdale is a delightful ensemble of hamlets: Seatoller ( close to the wettest place in England), Longthwaite, Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite. Delightful riverside paths connect these places and their pubs together - if you have sufficient energy left for the evening. You might be interested to know that ‘thwaite’ is old Norse for paddock. The day’s total ascent 765m / descent 785m. Accommodation: Your hotel tonight is located in the Borrowdale Valley near the hamlet of Seatoller. It has striking views over the local fells.

Enjoy classic Lakeland scenery over Greenup Edge to Easedale and Grasmere. Its a stiff 500m climb up to the edge via Lining Crag where you may get great views back down into Borrowdale. The once boggy trail over the pass has been improved with the laying down of hundreds of Flagstones. After the pass the trail becomes rough and descends steeply into the flower meadows on the outskirts of Grasmere. Grasmere is one of Lakeland’s most celebrated villages and you might have time either this afternoon or tomorrow morning to visit the poet Wordsworth's home at Dove Cottage and drop into the famous Ginger bread shop! The day’s total ascent 750m / descent 760m. Accommodation: A comfortable hotel and former coaching inn in the centre of the village with an indoor swimming pool and sauna.

Today is a terrific walk over Grisedale Pass (609m/2000ft) and around the small mountain lake of Grisedale Tarn to Patterdale. In good weather and if our group is reasonably strong, we recommend that we take the detour route up St Sunday Crag. It will give some exceptional views down across Ullswater on the descent to Patterdale, possibly the most breathtaking of the trip. The day’s total ascent: 900m / descent 805m (via the optional route over St Sunday Crag, less if we avoid this). *Add 1½ hours for the detour of St Sunday Crag. Accommodation: Tonight’s accommodation is a family-run guesthouse or a local inn located in Glenridding, alongside Glenridding Beck, situated at the southern top of Ullswater - the second largest lake in the Lake District.

After completing today's walk, some would say this was the most difficult stage on the Coast to Coast walk. The day starts with a steep climb up past pretty Angle Tarn. We'll then hike up and onwards to a critical cairn where we turn off the route to High Street. It will take us up and over Kidsty Pike (780m/2560ft), the highest point on the Coast to Coast, and then descend steeply to walk along Haweswater. This is a huge body of water that was conceived in 1929 to supply Manchester with drinking water, drowning a couple of villages in the process. We then undulate through fields to Shap Abbey, the most easterly point of the Lake District National Park. This was the last abbey to be founded in England (1199) and the last to be destroyed (1540). It nevertheless is a pretty place to take a break and learn about medieval monastic life. After this, we continue into Shap, the old granite mining town with several pubs and shops. The village offers an interesting insight to the history of the area. The day’s total ascent 1174m / descent 1009m. Accommodation: The proprietors will welcome you to a guesthouse or inn in the village of Shap.

From Shap, you cross the busy road and rail routes before tranquilly passing through the high moors. There follows a hilly section across limestone scarps with limestone pavements in places strewn with ‘erratic’ granite boulders moved there by glaciers. there are also a couple of small stone circles, slightly off route. Finally, you drop into the gentler climes around Orton, a quaint picturesque village with Kennedy’s Chocolate factory to lead you into temptation, but yes, you have earned it! Accommodation: The George Hotel is a traditional pub in this small village.

A bridging day between Cumbria and The Yorkshire Dales. Mainly farmland walking with a section of moors around Sunbiggin Tarn, which is an important site for birds. A steep descent to the Scandal Beck at Smardale Bridge makes for a nice lunch stop. Then ascend over Smardale Fell for the pretty descent into Kirkby Stephen. This is an attractive market town, with St. Stephen’s Church containing the 8th Century Loki Stone relating to Norse mythology. Accommodation: A friendly guesthouse in the town.

Climb out of town to the cairns of Nine Standards Rigg (661m / 2170 feet) with its array of obelisks. This is an ancient, possibly, boundary feature that no one has any real knowledge of. It marks the Watershed of England. Next you cross squelchy moors down to Keld in Swaledale. The trail from the Nine Standards, once the most notorious of the Coast to Coast, has been much improved once again with the placement of hundreds of flagstones. Passing the farm at Ravenseat, where they breed prime rams, the moors then become increasingly gentler as you walk into Keld with its many waterfalls and old stone barns.. The day’s total ascent 780m / descent 575m. Accommodation: A guesthouse with traditional Yorkshire fayre served in an attractively decorated dining room.

There are two options today. >> The first is the slightly longer & higher alternative over wild moorland with long-abandoned lead mines, a magnet for the industrial archaeologist. >> The second option is the pretty route via Swaledale, which is a lovely option if we have unfavourable weather or the group prefer a lower level walk. There is a really nice pub in Gunnerside on this second route. Our day finishes in Reeth an attractive village centred around a traditional "green" which flourished at the height of the mining age and is now popular with tourists, hence a healthy collection of pubs and tea shops. The day’s total ascent 838m / descent 911m (via the higher route). Accommodation: Your accommodation tonight is the oldest surviving Inn in Reeth, dating from 1680.

Your morning walk is through pretty Swaledale up the Nun's Steps to Marrick and across farm land to the hamlet of Marske and its attractive church of Edmund the Martyr. The route continues along a valley side lined with limestone crags and through forest reaching Richmond with plenty of time for shopping (note most shops closed Sunday) & sightseeing. The extremely picturesque North Yorkshire town of Richmond, with its cobbled market square and Norman castle, is an ever-popular destination for visitors. We may also follow the Swale to Town Falls, which are quite impressive when the river is in spate. The day's total ascent 395m / descent 510m. Accommodation: . We use a number of guesthouses or pub accommodation in this busy town.

A gentle rural day, walking out from Richmond beside the River Swale and across the fields to Catterick Race Course. You'll then be threading your way to Brompton on Swale, an ideal lunch stop in the churchyard. We then trundle along beside tiny streams and quiet country roads reaching the village of Danby Wiske with its village green and single pub which offers good home cooking. Accommodation: We use the guesthouses or pub in this small village.

Today has road walking and cross country sections. Then with the North York Moors pressing ever closer you have to carefully cross the main A19 road into Ingleby Cross, which has a popular coffee shop. From here you take a steep but lovely woodland footpath up into the old Flax industry village of Osmotherley. On the way you may want to visit the restored Lady chapel in its tranquil setting. Osmotherley is a quaint hill village with three pubs to choose from plus Britain’s oldest functioning Methodist Church (1754) - John Wesley came to preach here. Accommodation: Tonight's accommodation is in local inns in this picturesque village on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.

This is a roller coaster walk. A steep stretch from Osmotherley introduces you to the North York Moors and its sandy, heather-clad hills with areas of forest. After coming off Scarth Wood Moor, there is a long ascent up Live Moor and Carlton Bank (408m) before we descend to Lord Stones Café. It's almost hidden in an off-road embankment and comes at the right time for coffee. There then follows the succession of Cringle Moor, Broughton Bank and White Hill - all at or over 400m. You loose and then re-ascend 100-200m between each one. White Hill has an area of sandstone boulders called The Wainstones that we thread through on the way up. Great views in clear weather, incl. Roseberry Topping, Vale of Mowbray and back to the Pennines. We come off the ridge at Clay Bank Top and you will get a transfer to your accommodation (included) from the car park at Clay Bank Top to Great Broughton. Accommodation: In Great Broughton, Wainstones Hotel - this present-day structure has developed around a former dwelling dating from early 1700. It combinesa cafe, quality service with the atmosphere of a modernYorkshire country inn.

You will be transferred back to the car park (included). Today, the walk follows a moorland ridge up over Round Hill (454m) and the track maintains its height as it follows the line of the old dismantled Rosedale Railway line. The moor can be bleak in bad weather and is punctured in places by standing stones, some marked with inscriptions. There are enticing views at times into the fertile upper valleys of Farn and Esk dales, but your arrival at the ancient Lion Inn at Blakey can be a great relief. Accommodation: You'll stay at the Lion Hotel in this bleak moorland location. This pub hotel has been a refuge from the elements for 400 years or so, and very cosy it is too! Normally there are a large number of species of Real Ale and great dining in either the bar or the restaurant.

After a bit of a road perambulation past a white cross called Fat Betty, we follow an easy undulating descent down to beautiful wooded Eskdale. We also get some views opening up to the North Sea. The latter part of today's walk follows a pretty path through the woodlands on the banks of the River Esk. We come across the ‘Beggars Bridge’ a parabolic stone structure that has a story of love lost and love refound! Our overnight place of Egton Bridge features a church with relics of the Catholic martyr, Nicholas Postgate. The day’s total ascent 265m / descent 616m. Accommodation: A local inn or guesthouse in the village.

Following a delightful private road to Grosmont, we might get there in time to see a steam train pull out for Pickering. We then follow a very steep pull up across heather moors with views down to Whitby and its Abbey. But the sea and journey’s end is still tantalizingly far as the route abruptly changes course to visit the May Beck valley with its Falling Foss waterfall. A last area of high moor brings us to the coast, where the last 5 km/3 miles are spent on the coastal cliff path to Robin Hood's Bay. It will appear almost by surprise as we near it. This is a village of red roofed houses clustered around its harbour on the North Sea coast marking the end of this 190 odd-mile crossing of England. We celebrate with a drink at the Bay Hotel and as tradition states, dip our toes into the sea. The day’s total ascent 775m / descent 770m. Accommodation: Your final night is spent in an elegantly refurbished Victorian guesthouse with many original features.

Trip concludes in Robin Hood Bay after breakfast.