This morning we finally began our Coast to Coast (C2C) walk!
Originally, we were due to fly on Sunday, arrive on Monday, and start hiking on Tuesday. Fortunately, when WestJet announced strike action today, we had already decided to change our flights and arrive two days earlier. It turned out to be a very wise decision.
As we’d already booked most of our accommodation and couldn’t (or didn’t want to) rearrange it, we chose to make today an easy first stage. It gave us a chance to ease into the walk and recover from the jet lag.
The day couldn’t have been more perfect. Under blue skies and warm sunshine, we made our way down to the beach at St Bees, dipped our toes in the Irish Sea, and each picked up a pebble to carry across England to the North Sea.
After the obligatory photo beside the famous Coast to Coast map in St Bees, we set off through rolling fields dotted with sheep and ponies. We also made a short detour to visit the statue of Alfred Wainwright, whose guidebook made this iconic walk famous.
After a gentle 10.5 km, we arrived in Cleator and checked into the Ennerdale Country House Hotel. Our beautiful room overlooks the gardens, making it the perfect place to relax, catch up on some sleep, and prepare for the next adventure that begins tomorrow.
