And so it was here! Tuesday 21st May 2013 - the start of the Coast to Coast!
It was 9 months worth of planning, lots of walks out, and plenty of kitting out for the big day. As the day got nearer I felt a huge swell of support from pretty much everybody I seen. Family, friends, work, church, everybody was asking if I was ready and wishing me all the best. Well this was it, all in the name of charity, and remembering Granda - failure was not an option, we were there to do him proud!
Having taken the Monday off work, I could get myself sorted and prepared for the biggest challenge of my life. As if that was gonna happen! It was after midnight and I was still messing around with the GPS trying to pinpoint the exact track we were going. "Get to bed" the voices said, but as always, I kept on fighting them. Eventually, at 1am, I conceded defeat. I thought I best go to bed as I was getting up at 5am!
5 o'clock came and there was no escape - today was the day! I scratted around the house finishing off my packing, with a massive hand from Nat of course, and (about 20 minutes late) went for Dad. With an already bulging boot, we squashed Dad's and Amy's gear in. Nat and Amy were coming to see us off, and meeting us at the end of the day and camping with us - more of that later though. By the time we made it round to Ged's, we felt the car was at bursting point with equipment. Undeterred though, we played camping tetris and finally got everything in, as well as five bleary eyed zombie like bodies setting of on our 'jollies'.
It took us a few hours to get to St Bees, but we were thoroughly entertained by Nat and Amy, the highlight being Amy thinking peat bogs was the landlord of the camp site, and not, as we were referring to, a potential problem on the walk.
It was about 9:30am when we arrived at St Bees. Here we did what I had read on every single blog, we dipped our feet in the sea, and picked up a pebble, ready to return to the other side, in 12 days time. We posed for photos, and said our goodbyes to the girls - hopefully to see them again in xx number of hours.
This was it, we were walking. The start of the 192 miles is an ascent to the top of the cliff, I suspect just to get you in the mood. We walked higher and higher up until Nat and Amy seemed like dots in the distance. It was then that Dad, Ged and myself turned for the last time and waved to them, almost in an imitation of Stars in Their Eyes. The only problem was that we didn't have a puff of smoke behind us and we weren't going to come out of the other side as the Bee Gees - we had 192 miles ahead of us. And that was it, they were gone.
Once at the top of the cliff, it was steady away, and we had our first encounter with 'the locals'. From a viewing point, there were two birdwatchers looking on in awe at the number of birds perched on the cliff edge. As we approached they offered us a view of their binoculars and told us the tale of Vincent Graham, a local character who would tie a rope at the top of the cliff and jump down the side, pinching bird's eggs in the process. They never told us of the demise of Mr Graham but I suspect it had something to do with his money making methods....
A bit further down and moving into Sandith (pronounced Sannith apparently) a farmer tried to send us the wrong way, we weren't falling for it though and carried on. We passed through Cleator where we grabbed much needed refreshments and moved on towards Dent Fell.
Dent Fell turned out to be a monster, possibly the steepest downhill of the whole walk. It was hard enough getting to the summit, where we met a fellow walker who was preparing for the C2C in July, but the descent afterwards was horrendous. Had it been a wet day it would be nigh on impossible to get down without slipping. As it was though, we made it down and through Nannycatch Beck (where we spotted a wild camper who turned out to be the postman we later met) before coming across a few wild horses. Fortunately for us, Ged has a Dr Doolittle ability to talk to animals and he somehow paved the way for us to pass.
Ennerdale Bridge was now in sight. Another local farmer passed us in search of a missing dog, he asked of our journey tomorrow, we told him we were going south of Ennerdale Water and on from there. He swore that north of the water would be better, and less boggy. "But Wainwright said..." we started, "If Wainwright told you to jump in the effing lake would you?" was his swift response. Find out tomorrow which side we took.
We finally made it to the Fox and Hounds in Ennerdale Bridge. Unfortunately though, we weren't staying there, but in the garden, next to the village cemetery, great! It was a pleasing sight to see Nat and Amy again, and they had put our tent up (well, a nearby Belgian couple had massively helped them). We got our gear in for the night and headed off to the pub. We were all too pooped to eat or drink much, and Nat had been sick so it was an early night for us. Ged was holed up in his two man tent while me, Amy and Dad were getting settled in our four man tent. Wait, where's Nat? At that a double airbed came through the tent door. Safe to say, none of us really had a good nights sleep, but that was it, day 1 over - only 11 more to go!
It was 9 months worth of planning, lots of walks out, and plenty of kitting out for the big day. As the day got nearer I felt a huge swell of support from pretty much everybody I seen. Family, friends, work, church, everybody was asking if I was ready and wishing me all the best. Well this was it, all in the name of charity, and remembering Granda - failure was not an option, we were there to do him proud!
Having taken the Monday off work, I could get myself sorted and prepared for the biggest challenge of my life. As if that was gonna happen! It was after midnight and I was still messing around with the GPS trying to pinpoint the exact track we were going. "Get to bed" the voices said, but as always, I kept on fighting them. Eventually, at 1am, I conceded defeat. I thought I best go to bed as I was getting up at 5am!
5 o'clock came and there was no escape - today was the day! I scratted around the house finishing off my packing, with a massive hand from Nat of course, and (about 20 minutes late) went for Dad. With an already bulging boot, we squashed Dad's and Amy's gear in. Nat and Amy were coming to see us off, and meeting us at the end of the day and camping with us - more of that later though. By the time we made it round to Ged's, we felt the car was at bursting point with equipment. Undeterred though, we played camping tetris and finally got everything in, as well as five bleary eyed zombie like bodies setting of on our 'jollies'.
It took us a few hours to get to St Bees, but we were thoroughly entertained by Nat and Amy, the highlight being Amy thinking peat bogs was the landlord of the camp site, and not, as we were referring to, a potential problem on the walk.
It was about 9:30am when we arrived at St Bees. Here we did what I had read on every single blog, we dipped our feet in the sea, and picked up a pebble, ready to return to the other side, in 12 days time. We posed for photos, and said our goodbyes to the girls - hopefully to see them again in xx number of hours.
This was it, we were walking. The start of the 192 miles is an ascent to the top of the cliff, I suspect just to get you in the mood. We walked higher and higher up until Nat and Amy seemed like dots in the distance. It was then that Dad, Ged and myself turned for the last time and waved to them, almost in an imitation of Stars in Their Eyes. The only problem was that we didn't have a puff of smoke behind us and we weren't going to come out of the other side as the Bee Gees - we had 192 miles ahead of us. And that was it, they were gone.
Once at the top of the cliff, it was steady away, and we had our first encounter with 'the locals'. From a viewing point, there were two birdwatchers looking on in awe at the number of birds perched on the cliff edge. As we approached they offered us a view of their binoculars and told us the tale of Vincent Graham, a local character who would tie a rope at the top of the cliff and jump down the side, pinching bird's eggs in the process. They never told us of the demise of Mr Graham but I suspect it had something to do with his money making methods....
A bit further down and moving into Sandith (pronounced Sannith apparently) a farmer tried to send us the wrong way, we weren't falling for it though and carried on. We passed through Cleator where we grabbed much needed refreshments and moved on towards Dent Fell.
Dent Fell turned out to be a monster, possibly the steepest downhill of the whole walk. It was hard enough getting to the summit, where we met a fellow walker who was preparing for the C2C in July, but the descent afterwards was horrendous. Had it been a wet day it would be nigh on impossible to get down without slipping. As it was though, we made it down and through Nannycatch Beck (where we spotted a wild camper who turned out to be the postman we later met) before coming across a few wild horses. Fortunately for us, Ged has a Dr Doolittle ability to talk to animals and he somehow paved the way for us to pass.
Ennerdale Bridge was now in sight. Another local farmer passed us in search of a missing dog, he asked of our journey tomorrow, we told him we were going south of Ennerdale Water and on from there. He swore that north of the water would be better, and less boggy. "But Wainwright said..." we started, "If Wainwright told you to jump in the effing lake would you?" was his swift response. Find out tomorrow which side we took.
We finally made it to the Fox and Hounds in Ennerdale Bridge. Unfortunately though, we weren't staying there, but in the garden, next to the village cemetery, great! It was a pleasing sight to see Nat and Amy again, and they had put our tent up (well, a nearby Belgian couple had massively helped them). We got our gear in for the night and headed off to the pub. We were all too pooped to eat or drink much, and Nat had been sick so it was an early night for us. Ged was holed up in his two man tent while me, Amy and Dad were getting settled in our four man tent. Wait, where's Nat? At that a double airbed came through the tent door. Safe to say, none of us really had a good nights sleep, but that was it, day 1 over - only 11 more to go!
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