Coast to Coast Hike

The Wainwright Trail in Northern England is a path that goes from Coast to Coast.  It has amazing variety and some challenging hikes. I did two thirds of the trail with two friends last August and early September. This is a Red Grouse I photographed along the way.

Our time in the UK was limited to 9 nights due to schedule conflicts. But our 8 days of hiking were a great experience.  We had some long days — up to 20 miles — and more significant elevation gains than one might expect.  The morning after our one wet day, I photographed this Pheasant.

Below are links to pages of words and photos from our C2C hike. Please click a title or photo to get to the respective page. 

St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge After a nice afternoon and evening in St Bees, we hiked the first leg of the C2C Walk past a beautiful coast, through small villages, and over a fell (a 1100 ft hill) entering the Lake District.		Ennerdale to Rosthwaite The second day of our C2C Walk would feature brilliant blue skies and white puffy clouds. We would hike along Ennerdale Water, climb over a high pass, and descend  to the charming village of Rosthwaite.
Rosthwaite to Grasmere We walked through the valley of Stonethwaite Beck with iridescent clouds and Eagle Crag in the background before taking an altenative high route over Calf Crag and Helm Crag.		Grasmere to Patterdale For the second day in a row we took an alternate high route. Although it made for a challenging day, we certainly did not regret this choice. The highlight was hiking the length of Striding Edge.
Patterdale to Shap Day 5 included a long climb past Angle Tarn with great views back to Helvellyn and Striding Edge, a long downhill after Kidsty Pike, a hard and boring walk past Haweswater, and a pleasant amble to Shap.		Shap to Kirkby Stephen No major mountains this day, but lots of ups and downs. By the end of the day we had walked over 20 miles with over 2000 feet of elevation gain over undulating fields and moorland.
Kirkby Stephen to Keld It was a very soggy day slogging crossing the moors with rain and fog. We got lost, but found our way to our lodge in Keld where we dried off and had a nice dinner.		Keld to Reeth We finished our planned 2/3 of the C2C with a hike through the remains of  iron mining operations. Along the way we saw some red grouse.