Floyd's Travels and Thoughts on Life: Hiking the Coast to Coast Path in England, April 2016

In April 2016 I traveled to England with my daughter Susan, and we hiked the Western half of the Coast to Coast path, a distance of 88 miles. We arrived at Heathrow, validated our rail passes, and took the train to Paddington Station, and then took the underground to Euston Station. There we took a train for a 7 hour trip to Carlisle in Northern England. At Carlisle we took a train to St. Bee's, a lovely village on the Cumbrian coast next to the Irish Sea. We had a half-day to explore St. Bee's, and the next day we began our hike. We hiked 31 miles on the first two days to Rosthwaite, and arrived there with sore feet and legs and aching muscles. We took an extra day to rest up in Rosthwaite and explored the nearby town of Keswick. Then we resumed hiking, and five days and 57 miles later finished the hike in Kirkby Stephen.
The scenery in the Lake District was spectacular and for most of our hike we experienced mild temperatures and sunny skies. We took rain gear knowing that the Lake District can be very wet, but we never got rained on; instead, we experienced small bits of hail and snow on some days at the higher elevations. One time it snowed heavily. Snow blanketed the ground and made the trail impossible to see. The Coast to Coast path through the lake district is not well marked and at times Susan's GPS was a life-saver and allowed us to stay on course. Everywhere we went we encountered gorgeous landscapes, lovely lakes, quaint attractive villages, and daffodils in bloom. This is the area that inspired the poet William Wordsworth, and when we arrived in Grasmere we visited his grave in the graveyard of St. Oswald's Church.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud

that floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

a host, of golden daffodils"

I hike often in England, and this was one of the most rigorous and challenging hikes of them all. Some of the hills seemed more like mountains, and some days we finished the hike with very sore feet and aching muscles. Some of the up and down going was a bit treacherous at times, and I was glad to have a hiking pole and Susan as a companion. After finishing the hike in Kirkby Stephen, and before returning home, we took the train to Oxford and explored some of the city.

DAY 1- Arrive St. Bee's

St. Bee's beach on he Irish Sea

St. Bee's Priory Church

DAY 2 - St. Bee's to Ennerdale Bridge, 15 miles

Start of the Coast to Coast walk at St. Bee's

Approaching Fleswick Bay and St. Bee's lighthouse

Red sandstone of Fleswick Bay

The path in Nannycatch Gate Valley

A well-deserved drink at the Fox and Hounds pub in Ennerdale Bridge

DAY 3 - Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite, 16 miles

Lake Ennerdale, the Western-most lake in the Lake District

Beautiful Ennerdale Lake

Lakeside woodlands and moss-covered rocks

The hills that await us

A brief rest at BlackSails YHA before climbing over Loft Beck

The grueling climb up Loft Beck. Susan is checking her GPS

DAY 4 - Rest Day in Rosthwaite at the Royal Oak Hotel

DAY 5 - Rosthwaite to Grasmere, 9 miles