Walking Bass

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The Route and Schedule

We are following Wainwright's original route relatively closely. I really like the idea that the route is fluid and that Wainwright encouraged us all to find our own way, but he knew the area much better than we do so why argue?

Wainwright’s original was covered in 12 days: we’re adding in an extra day in the lakes, splitting the Rosthwaite to Patterdale leg at Grasmere, quite a common option. It seems a good idea to take our time slightly more in the Lakes: it’s a beautiful area and may be the highlight of the route in terms of scenery. It would be a shame to puff our way through it. It also makes us much more likely to go via Helvellyn and Striding Edge which I really want to do.

The other main route alteration is that we’re staying at the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge. Remote, bang on the route, and infinitely more appealing that stopping at Clay Bank Top and having an extra couple of miles to walk down the road for accommodation. It’s just what our idea of the Coast to Coast is about. This means some jiggling of other days, stopping past Richmond at St Giles Farm and then through Ingleby Cross, to make those two long days a bit shorter. Richmond is nice, but only a few miles from Elspeth’s parents so there’s no problem with not stopping there.

So, in short, here’s our route:

Day 1:	St Bees	to	Ennerdale Bridge	14 miles
Day 2:	Ennerdale Bridge	to	Rosthwaite	14.5 miles
Day 3:	Rosthwaite	to	Grasmere	9 miles
Day 4:	Grasmere	to	Patterdale	8.5 miles
Day 5:	Patterdale	to	Shap	16 miles
Day 6:	Shap	to	Kirkby Stephen	21 miles
Day 7:	Kirkby Stephen	to	Keld	12 miles
Day 8:	Keld	to	Reeth	11 miles
Day 9:	Reeth	to	Catterick Bridge	14.5 miles
Day 10:	Catterick Bridge	to	Ingleby Cross	20.5 miles
Day 11:	Ingleby Cross	to	Blakey Ridge	19.5 miles
Day 12:	Blakey Ridge	to	Grosmont	14 miles
Day 13:	Grosmont	to	Robin Hoods Bay	15.5 miles

 

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