Walking Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast

It seemed to me that someone should take up Sue Weatherley’s challenge of listing things to do before you die. What was so refreshing about Sue’s list was that the places she named are not exotic or far away, but reassuringly close to home. Part of their magic was in that combination of beautiful scenery and weather that can be surprisingly rare in the British Isles.

My item for number 4 on the list involved a considerable degree of energy and stamina, and like Sue’s items, has the advantage of accessibility.

By any standards, this is a strenuous walk, especially when the walker is back-packing in traditional fashion, as we did in 1999. We took 13 days to complete the 190 miles and 25,000 or so feet of ascent and descent, in weather that varied from swelteringly hot to icy rain and blizzard. The route is recommended to be undertaken from St. Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire which has the advantage of the prevailing winds on your back and not your face.

One of my abiding memories of this walk is the gratifying sense of achievement that we experienced at the end. And this came from a walk which had, like Wagner, some truly wonderful moments, but some long and tedious hours. The views, when we could see them through low cloud and rain, were wonderful and far-reaching. Other happy memories relate to the wild life. We watched entranced as a troupe of red squirrels performed their acrobatic routine in the woods and gardens around the cottages at the end of Haweswater. I just hope that they are still in residence and have not yet been evicted by the greys.

The wild flowers were stunning all along the way, but a ”first” for me was to see the traditional hay meadows around Muker and Gunnerside, at their beautiful best in mid-June. Although the path was not in any way busy or crowded, we met walkers along the way and enjoyed with them the sense of camaraderie from all those who were putting themselves to this particular test.

Janet Byrne