The English Coast to Coast Walk →

There are over 224,000 kilometres of a comprehensive network of public “Rights of Way”, footpaths, minor roads, permissive paths and access land in England and Wales. Used for centuries they are freely available to be walked today.

One walk that I can thoroughly recommend is the “Coast to Coast” (C2C), an unofficial 310 km walk devised by Yorkshireman Alfred Wainwright in 1972. Largely unsignposted, it meanders across England west to east through three National Parks, The Lake District, The Yorkshire Dales and The North Yorkshire Moors.

Starting in the west at St Bees Head in Cumbria, next to the Irish Sea, it finishes at Robin Hood’s Bay, on the shores of the North Sea, 12 – 13 days later. Named among the world’s best walks, in one review designated as the second-best in the world, beaten only by our own Milford Track in South Island.

Ennerdale Water - Climbing up to Grey Knotts, at 2287 ft (697 m) - © Duncan Smith

The first section is through the Lake District, designated a National Park in May 1951. It is quite rugged walking with rocky paths and very steep climbs, especially as this is the first part of the walk and your body hasn’t had a chance to get “trail-hardened” yet. It is staggeringly beautiful with lakes, glinting like scattered diamonds, surrounded by rugged green hills, grazed by sheep. Little stone-built villages are cosily tucked away down sleepy valleys and streams zigzag down from hill tops, cascading over terraced rocks in a happy tumble towards the lakes. Everything that evokes the traditional English countryside is here and for that reason it is very popular with an estimated 16 million visitors every year.

Duncan, Tim, Jack and Jess on Kidsty Pike at 2560 ft (780 m) the highest point if the C2C - © Duncan Smith

Lakeland, as it is also sometimes known, has been the home to a number of famous people including the 19th century romantic poets including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Robert Southey and William Wordsworth. Writer and art critic John Ruskin also chose to live in the house “Brantwood” that overlooks Coniston Water. Beatrix Potter who wrote “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” lived at “Hill Top Farm” near Esthwaite Water.

Leaving the Lake District the trail crosses into Westmorland, a high, limestone plateau. It’s 32 km to the Yorkshire Dales from here walking from Shap to Kirkby Stephen. This part of the trail has verdant, springy turf that is much kinder on the feet and relatively flat after the rough, craggy tracks of the Lake District. Ancient Britons liked this part of Westmorland, as settlements, villages, burial mounds, stone circles and tumuli can be easily found in abundance..

Smardale Bridge, with signs of prehistoric settlements visible at the top right - © Duncan Smith

The Yorkshire Dales, designated as a National Park in 1954, has to be one of the most photographed and filmed areas of England. Typifying rural England with stone-walled fields strewn with an abundance of joyful wildflowers in spring; attractive stone barns with their split stone rooves; delightful villages with pretty cottage gardens; wide valleys curved gently by the grinding of long-gone glaciers; purple heather-strewn hilltops wild and rugged; crystal clear, slow-moving rivers snaking through fields and sheltering woods.

Tim dancing for joy through a wildflower meadow in the Yorkshire Dales - © Duncan Smith

Blakethwaite smelt mill ruins, Yorkshire Dales - © Duncan Smith

In Swaledale there is a choice of an upland or lowland route depending on the time of year. The lowland path, preferred in winter, follows along the banks of the River Swale. The upland route, in summer, is more challenging but goes past many relics of a rich industrial past.

From Richmond, to where the North Yorkshire Moors begin, the trail crosses the Vale of Mowbray. This 38 km stretch is on roads, and is flat, gentle-walking with scenery 100% rural. No stone walls bounding wildflower strewn meadows here, but clipped hedgerows surrounding fields of wheat and barley, that funnel you along.

Jack and Tim having a rest break. North Yorkshire Moors. This escarpment has stunning views overlooking farmland to the north - © Duncan Smith

A paved Roman Road that crosses the North Yorkshire Moors - © Duncan Smith

North Yorkshire Moors, a National Park since 1952, stretches for 48 km before reaching the North Sea. Three quarters of the world’s heather moorland is to be found in Britain and this is by far the largest portion. Open, unenclosed, uninhabited country, it is ideal for walking. All around you is just the tender hum of Mother Nature being Mother Nature. There is ancient history too, as you walk on a paved Roman Road. Primitive people once settled here when the climate was kinder and the hills were covered in woodland.

The sea is eventually reached, and a short 6 km path takes you to the village at Robin Hood’s Bay, journey’s end. Walk into the sea and let it wash over your boots; toss the pebble you collected from the beach at St Bees Head and throw into the sea. Once these two rituals have been observed, pop into “Wainwrights’ Bar”, at the Bay Hotel, sign the C2C register, and order some ale with fish and chips. Now relax. Perfect.

Journeys end. Tim and Jack at the end of the Coast to Coast Walk at Robin Hood’s Bay, 12 days later - © Duncan Smith