Pete's Coast to Coast Adventure

Between August 7 and 20 Pete helped guide a group of nine very determined Americans on Wainwright's coast to coast walk...14 consecutive days of walking. Here's Pete and Bella taking some shots of the group at the starting point at St Bees with 190 miles to go. Wainwright chose the route for the richness and diversity of its landscape and I've selected a few pictures that I hope will illustrate this.

The walk begins with a high level traverse of the dramatic sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head then heads east across the West Cumbrian plain towards the Lake District National Park.

The rough path along the south shore of Ennerdale Water leads towards the head of Ennerdale where we stopped for a welcome lunch break at Black Sail YHA.

The path from Rosthwaite alongside Greenup Gill leads past Eagle Crag towards Lining Crag and Greenup Edge in the distance. This was day three of the C2C and the sun smiled on the group that day.

High above Far Easdale, the ridge leading from Calf Crag over Gibson Knott towards distant Helm Crag and the village of Grasmere is enlivened by the shadows thrown by the afternoon sun. There followed two very wet Lake District days as we made our way from Grasmere to Glenridding and on towards the village of Shap.

We had a late lunch high above the river in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park before descending towards Richmond, a very attractive and historic town, and the only one of any consequence on our route.

Between the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors lie the flat farmlands of the Vale of Mowbray. It took us two days to traverse the plain with the Cleveland Hills ahead beckoning us ever eastward.

High above the Cleveland plain the C2C route follows that of the well engineered Cleveland Way which makes for good progress across the heather clad moors. The 19 miles we covered between Osmotherley and the Lion Inn at Blakey Howe made for a long hard day.

From the 1317 ft point on Cold Moor the dark rocks of the Wain Stones appear to block the path ahead over Hasty Bank.

The Wain Stones were easily negotiated to reach the top of Hasty Bank. We ate a late lunch on Carr Ridge a mile or so beyond before setting out on the last eight miles to the Lion Inn.

At Bloworth Crossing our route joined the track bed of the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway which eased our progress over the last five miles of the long day.

Remarkably the whole group made it to Robin Hood's Bay; unsurprisingly, fourteen days walking took its toll on our feet many of which were much the worse for wear by the time we arrived, yet high morale and sheer determination overcame all adversity. Here's the "Team Awesome" on Ness Point with Robin Hood's Bay beyond.

Outside the Bay Hotel in Robin Hood's Bay after we'd dipped our feet in the North Sea. It's a very quaint and jolly little town with a great atmosphere, the boots are off now and we felt we'd earned a pint or two .