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"Summary"

Northern England's most famous long distance walk is named after Alfred Wainwright the man who conceived and originally described the hike.  The route takes the walker from the Cumbrian coast in the west across to the North Yorkshire coast in the east.  It passes through contrasting areas of outstanding natural beauty, starting on the cliffs of St. Bees Head, crossing the Lake District and the Pennines into Swaledale, and ending with a traverse of the Cleveland Hills and North York Moors to reach the cliffs of Robin Hood's Bay.  For 2/3s of its 190 miles, the walk is through the national parks of the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, and North York.  Because we are hiking the route late in the season we will opt for lodging in B & B's, hotels, and hostels rather than camping out.  Interested in this little adventure ?  … then call or write to sign-up or be placed on our trip information mailing list.       

"Details"

Physical & Skill Level Requirements:  Here are the conditions for this walk across England.  We will average 16 miles a day for the 12 days that we are actually hiking.  We will have up to 3 rest days placed at strategic intervals to allow us to sit out bad weather, or recuperate from fatigue or injuries.  The weather in October might be nice, but can be quite wet which could make an otherwise enjoyable holiday a bit of an ordeal.  Our lodging will be selected each day rather than trying to book everything in advance.  Consequently, this trip requires an individual in good hiking condition, that  can handle the potential for some really snotty weather, and is adaptable enough to change plans with us as the conditions dictate.  If you fit this profile … then read on.

Lodging Options:   October is really the last month of the year that we can expect to do this walk.  The days are getting shorter, the weather can be quite wet, the evenings cold.  Consequently, even though we could camp in many of the towns, we are opting to use strictly hotels, B & Bs, or hostels for our evening accommodations.  Sue and I don't live and travel on the high end of the scale, so price will dictate a lot of our choices.  If others, however, want more luxurious spots for the night, we have no problem with you seeking spiffier places to stay.  We'll probably book our lodging each morning before we start the day's walk … or possibly wait until we pull into whatever village is our destination before finding a  place for the night.  In Summer we would definitely have to make advanced reservations, but October gives us a bit more flexibility.

Equipment: 

• Hiking Gear:: You will need a good pack capable of carrying foul weather gear, extra clothing, a sleeping bag, and food for 2 or 3 days if you choose not to eat in restaurants & pubs. Make sure your boots are well broken in and carry several pair of socks as our feet will surely become soaked many times over, if not from the rain, then from some of the soggy terrain we will encounter.  We can hope that we have a delightful Fall hiking experience, but you absolutely must have good rain gear in case this is not the situation.  A pair of light shoes or sandals for the end of the day is something to consider while your boots dry out.  Walking sticks or poles is another hiking aid that you might consider. Have your own personal First Aid Kit.
  
• Camping Stuff:  You will not need any camping gear, with the possible exception of a sleeping bag for the occasional hostel or barn stay that we might use.
  

Food: Most of the places we stay will automatically provide us with breakfast as part of our lodging payment.  In many cases they can also provide an evening meal and even a packed lunch for the next day.  If the lodging does not provide meals, we can always head off for the local pub or café for our needs. What this means, is that we don't necessarily have to carry a great deal of food in our packs.  Having said this, however, carrying some food for emergency use and for economic reasons is certainly a prudent option as well.   We will have plenty of small stores along the route to make purchases as we move along the walk.

Maps:  There are two excellent strip maps of the Coast to Coast walk produced by Ordnance Survey of the British government.  Though one can't use them for general cross country work, they are quite detailed for the route of the trail and probably all you will need.  In addition to these maps, I will personally obtain some additional maps in case we want to deviate anywhere off the official route of the walk.  The strip maps are:
                                                             #33 St. Bees Head to Keld 

You can obtain the maps as well as any other associated literature from the following organization:

Web Sites: Following is a list of various web sites that we feel can help you in providing additional information for planning your trip with us.

• Lodging & Luggage Transport Service.  www.coast2coast.co.uk  This is a great site for helping us to plan our trip.  Shows day to day itineraries, lodging, transport services, books, maps, and links to all sort of other sites.  You can get your maps and guide book here too.
  
• Hikers Diary.    www.lehigh.edu/~wwt1/c2c/c2c.html   This is an absolutely superb site for seeing a narration of the trip day by day as well as excellent photography.  Please visit this site!
  
• Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory:  www.towd.com   This is a site that links you up to all sorts of tourist offices al over the world.  It has countless links to lead you in many directions.
  
• Hosteling International:  www.hiayh.org    Phone: 202-783-6161.  Sue and I use inexpensive hostels on many of our trips.  This international organization has an excellent booking system in case you want to reserve beds at certain high demand locations. 
  
• Rates of Exchange:    http://Pacific.commerce.ubc.ca/xr/today.html    A useful site for getting foreign exchange rates.
  
• Hiking Trails Database:  www.hejoly.demon.nl/index.html   This is an excellent site that has links to hiking trails all over the world. Check it out for this hike.
  

Passports, Visas, Etc.:  You will need a valid passport for travel to England & Scotland but a visa will not be required.  For details on documents required for overseas travel, please check out the following web site:  www.traveldocs.com

Transportation: You will have to somehow get to Edinburgh, Scotland.  You can catch direct flights or conversely, fly to London and easily catch a fast train north.   Sue and I plan to fly to Edinburgh just a bit early for some pre-trip Scotland exploration, and then catch a plane out of London for our return to the U.S.  Following is a list of web sites that you might find useful in making your travel arrangements.   

• Ticket Planet:     www.ticketplanet.com
  
• Flight Centre:     www.flightcentre.net
  
• Air Treks:            www.airtreks.com
  
• Air Hitch:             www.airhitch.org
  
• Priceline:             www.priceline.com
  
• Rail Europe:        www.raileurope.com/us
  

Luggage:  I would suggest that you limit yourself  to a backpack that carries everything you will need for this hiking trip in England.  If you show up with extra luggage, then you'll have to store it at the train station or possibly  a hotel or hostel. In Edinburgh, which can be done  … it is just easier, in my opinion to travel with what you will have on your back.

Travel and Medical Insurance:  These are two items that some folks consider a necessity, others an unnecessary expense.  If you cannot afford to have a change in your travel plans or cannot afford medical expenses outside the US, you might consider checking into both options.  Diseases exist everywhere and accidents can happen at anytime.

Our Charges and Your Other Expenses: 

• Our Charges:  The charge of $200 pays for planning and organizing this trip, web-site maintenance, telephone, and email/mailing expenses.  We will also act as your guides …. although that is of dubious value if you consider we have never been to England, and certainly never been on this walk.
  
• Your Other Expenses:  You pay for everything else such as - transportation to Edinburgh, maps/books, lodging, food, and any other tourist oriented expenses.  Once you arrive in Edinburgh, your daily expenses should not exceed $50 if you are frugal …. If you stay in luxury accommodations and eat out the whole time you could easily spend $100 a day. Sue and I plan to be at the $50 level.
  

Roster:  We'll send out a roster by email as soon as we have a pretty firm idea of who is going.  Sometimes, knowing who is on the roster lets you share equipment, flight bargains, etc. The roster is usually sent out 2 to 4 weeks before the trip.  We usually include name, mailing address, e-mail, and telephone number.

Sign-Up Limit:  The maximum number of hikers we can have for this trip is 10 including Sue and myself.  When you sign up, indicate if you want to be placed on a stand-by list if the trip is full.  For those of you who have never been on one of our trips, we would like to talk to you on the phone somewhere along the line before you are officially accepted.

"Daily Itinerary"

• Oct. 5 (Sat.)  Assembly Day - Edinburgh, Scotland.  You might ask why in the world we are meeting in Scotland rather than England?  Well, because this capitol city of Scotland is a lot closer to the start of the walk than is London.   We hear it is an incredibly beautiful city and besides, Sue and I want to snoop around in Scotland a little before the trip begins.  So, we meet at  5 p.m. at the  Edinburgh Eglington Hostel, 18 Eglington Crescent, Edinburgh, Scotland.  Local Phone: 337-1120, Overseas Reservation Phone: 44-870-155-3255.  (Please note that the 44 in the phone number refers to the country code.)  Web Site Reservation:    www.syha.org.uk   You will want to reserve a bed for the nights of Oct 5th & 6th.  If you would prefer more luxurious lodging you can easily find something by doing an internet search on "Lodging Edinburgh, Scotland."
  
• Oct. 6 (Sun.) Tourist Day.  We normally have a tourist day so that we can unwind from our long journey to get here, as well as allow anyone who has missed connections to have an extra day to join us.  We'll snoop around town and take in the sights.
  
• Oct. 7 (Mon.)  Train/Bus to St. Bees.  By the time we meet on the assembly day on Saturday, Sue and I will have figured out the train/bus connections to the start of the walk in St. Bees.  It appears we should be able to take a train all the way.
  
• Oct. 8 (Tues.)  The Hike begins.  I have tentatively set a schedule of 12 days of hiking with 3 days of rest or weather breaks giving us a total of 15 days on the route.  Following is a tentative listing of our destinations along with the daily mileage and estimated walking times.  When and where we take our rest days is entirely optional …. depending on the wishes of the group, and the conditions that we will encounter.
  

• Oct. 22 (Tues.)  The Walk Ends.  If things have gone well, we will  arrive in Robin Hood Bay in the late afternoon.
  
• Oct. 23 (Wed.)  Tourist Day in Whitby.  We will take an extra day to kick back and reflect on our journey, probably in the seaside town of Whitby.
  

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