Day 3:Rosthwaite to Patterdale, 17.5 miles (28km)

As we expected today's walk to be quite tough we decided to have an early start at 7:20AM (we must thank Mrs Jackson of Knotts View B&B for accommodating our request for such an early breakfast...if you are ever in the area this is a B&B well worth considering!).

After a steep initial climb we were presented with Lining Crag which required us to use our hands to climb as the footholds were totally unreliable. At the top somebody had left a full bottle of Vodka and an old digital watch - presumably someone trying to make a statement - "It's never a good time to drink a bottle of vodka on a mountain"?



On the top of the mountain there was thick fog; a bit like an 80s disco. Coupled with the fact that there were no obvious paths made navigation very difficult. Thank God for having a GPS app on the iPhone! Along the way we met a couple of Kent lads; Jim and James. Considering the poor conditions we decided to stick together. Also Jim and James had heard of a 'shortcut' which would save us 3 miles (a more than welcome offer!). The shortcut led to a very steep descent which meant we had to 'ass-slide' down the side of the mountain holding onto a fence in to the Grassmere valley. Ascent & Descent one complete. Now we had to do the second one!



The second ascent was much more gentle and a convenient stream was available for us to follow, meaning navigating was much easier. In addition the mist had lifted somewhat on the second mountain and the paths were much more clearly defined which also helped things a little. We arrived at our accomodation, Grinsdale Lodge at around 5:30PM to be welcomed by a very nice couple who took our bags up to our rooms and also offered to put newspaper in our boots to help dry them out...now thats what we call service!



We have gained some confidence in hiking/navigating today and are a bit more upbeat about tomorrow which includes the highest part of the Coast to Coast - Kidsty Pike (739m high).



Happy to find Patterdale has Vodafone 3G reception :)

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Day 2:Ennerdale to Roshthwaite, 14.5 miles (23km)

After spending a restless night at Low Cock How B&B, and having the obligatory 'full English' for breakfast, we set off at around 8:15AM. Today's walk included our first major ascent (600m+) and coupled with the brilliant weather meant we were treated to some amazing views of the Lake District (not to mention still being able to see the sea, which was a bit disappointing).


We met a number of other Coast to Coasters on the trail today and it was quite interesting hearing other people's experiences.

The walk today was quite tiring. Barry's socks were literally 'bloody' due to blisters and Michael's feet were rubbing a little after the walk. In addition, both of us got sunburnt (beaming sunshine and cooling mountain breezes are a painful combination).



We arrived at our accommodation, a quaint B&B in a 450 year old building at around 4:45PM this afternoon. It is located in the village of Stonethwaite in a narrow valley; alas, there is no 3G or mobile phone reception (this blog is being updated from a chippy up the road in Keswick).

Tomorrow's walk will be tougher with 2 peaks over 600m and a longer distance to cover; we are going to need to dig deep.

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Day 1:St Bees to Ennerdale, 14 miles (22.5km)

We spent our first night at Stonehouse Farm B&B in St Bees which was really very good; they provided a fairly substantial packed lunch. We departed at around 8.30am this morning following a full English Breakfast and strolled down to St Bees Beach where tradition dictates that one pebble should be collected and deposited at Robin Hood's Bay at the other coast(just to confuse Geologists!).


Michael's iPhone/GPS zoomed out screenshot somewhere between St Bees and Ennerdale

We also dipped our boots in the Irish Sea (so we can truly say we have walked Coast to Coast).



We met a few other Coast to Coasters along the way and there was some really nice scenary (with sunshine all day). Climbing Dent Fell (our first proper climb) was a little tiring (for Michael) and considerably more tiring from Barry. The descent was quite steep and Barry wished he had taken the trouble to buy some ski's to accompany his sticks!



We arrived at Low Cock How Farm (our current nights accomodation) near Ennerdale Bridge where we were surprised once more to discover that we had 3G coverage! (still within the reaches of civilisation!).



No blisters so far and we are looking forward to the entering the main Lake District area tomorrow.

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The Day Before...

Following a very pleasant journey by car up to The Lake District we've finally arrived at St Bees and got some foods in one of the local pubs, The Queens Head. Our ETB accommodation, Stone House Farm is superb and lives up to all of our expections.



We were most surpised to find that we have 3G coverage from our B&B, albeit very temperamental.



Both of us are really looking forward to starting the walk tomorrow and hope the weather holds up.

"Let them eat cake!" - And they did...

We held a fundraising Tea Party today in respect of The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation which raised £276.95 in total. It was a really successful afternoon with both of us acting as auctioneers and salesmen for the raffle and lucky dip, although perhaps it's best that neither of us consider giving up the day jobs.



The Roy Castle Lung Foundation arranged for a Lung Cancer Nurse, Lynn Cherett, to attend and give a short presentation on the organisation and their work in the field. This presentation was extremely informative and neither of us were aware of how poorly funded lung cancer care is in this country.



We had a great time and would like to thank everyone that helped with organising, cake making/eating (thanks Mary/Grandma!) and tea making/drinking. It was a real team effort!

Confirmed Accommodation

As the start date of our walk approaches, we thought we ought to phone around to confirm that all of our accommodation was still available (You never know!). Just a couple of weeks ago, we received a telephone call informing us that the proprietor of one guest house we were due to visit had been taken ill and wouldn't be able to honour our booking. Cue frantic phoning around the area to find alternative lodgings. Fortunately, we found alternative accommodation, but in two different guest houses. I guess this walk is quite popular at this time of year.

Anyway, we've now received confirmation that our accommodation for each night of the walk is still available. (Might still pack the tent - just in case!).

iPhone OS Maps

We have just created A4 size pages showing OS 1:25,000 maps of the entire route (all using the OS OpenSpace API : http://openspace.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/openspace). One thing which we have been lacking as a backup during our walks is a GPS device which would allow us to 'confirm' where we are in the highly unlikely event that we get lost. As such, being lucky enough to possess an iPhone, we decided to peruse the App Store to see if there were any applications which could be used as a GPS device for the entire C2C.

There are quite a lot of GPS apps for the iPhone which provide varying degrees of functionality and services. However, most do not currently provide maps in enough detail for the entire C2C route unless you are prepared to spend a significant amount of money. After looking at a number of different apps we stumbled upon "Outdoors GB - National Parks" (see here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/outdoors-gb-national-parks/id336150457?mt=8)which provides 1:50K of all national parks in Great Britain e.g. it shows most/all footpaths of all national parks in the Great Britain, in addition to 1:250K of the whole of Great Britain. Luckily almost all of the C2C is in one of three national parks: Lake District,Yorkshire Moors or the Yorkshire Dales, which means this app is ideal for us. The app downloads all map data to the iPhone so that we do not have to worry about loosing phone reception when walking in remote areas and it can be used in conjunction with the iPhone GPS showing us where on the map we are located. On top of this the app currently only costs £14.99 which is an absolutely bargain considering buying the equivalent paper based maps would cost much more. Needless to say we are very happy with the new purchase.

Only 5 weeks to go now...both of us are getting excited!!!