Day 2 - Ennerdale - Seatoller (Borrowdale) GPS 30 miles so far

Well! where do I start, we stopped  at the Shepards arms in Ennerdale last night and they were great hosts..

Today has been the perfect Birthday I was treated to a surprise at breakfast,we walked into the breakfast room at the Shepard Arms and a table with birthday banners and cards were waiting for me. After breakfast I had a special plate brought in by the shef, this was bacon, mushroom, tomato, black pudding and sausage in the shape of a face with a candle in the nose. this was due to Andy and Maggie sending a card and birthday message to the Pub.

   We had a donation from guests of the pub, from USA (thanks Kate) to the charity. 

So off we march and it is just over a mile of road walkinging from Ennerdale Bridge to Ennerdale Water- The views towards the fells from here are quite dramatic.

The Coast to coast route hugs the right hand side of the lake and it is not what you expect, just a walk around the lake? no this is a very rocky uneven path that undulates for 3.5 miles.

Thers is one awkward section of rock climing at a place called Robin Hoods Chair

        Not what you expect!!

Close to here another couple put a tenner in our charity box.

Reaching the end of the lake with the crossing of the river Lisa

                      River Lisa

 The walk enters a new stage. We begin the 4 mile trudge, in hot sun, along the forest road to the back sail Hostel an old bothy hut in the middle of a dramatic Lakeland Scenery.

Our firstsighting of Black Sail is a welcome sight.

    You can just see Black Sail on the Left          by the tree.

Black sail is the most remote YHA in England. It must be the most idylic hostel of its kind but when we arrived no one was about.. It is an ideal position for exploring Pillar, Kirk Fell, Great Gable and the ridge running from Red Pike to Haystacks all in close proximity. Here we had lunch and then the hard work was to begin. We now had a very hard and lond steep climb ahead of us It started OK with a gentle fellside traverse. Then after crossing Loft Beck, which after a dry  spell was quite easy, we climbed up a path on the right hand side of the beck. It was steep so steep we were gasping and while my body was trying to take every gasp of air in my mind I was cursing AW thinking he was a masochist in disguse.

     Looking up loft  Beck the picture does not show how steep it is

Jane half way up, for perspective can you see the walkers at the bottom?

The view at the top of Loft Beck are superb  with Haystacks and Butternere prominent.

There then began the long descent to the  Honister Slate Mine passing Drum House and following the old tramway.

At the honister mine another couple of walkers , Dave and Sandra, who we met by the start sign on the first day, caught up with us and passed us a cheque for 50 pounds for the charity, we can not believe strangers can be so generous. 

We shall not be update the justgiving site until we are home but with ten more pounde from another couple of walkers we now have £4,700.

From the slate mines it was a short walk down hill to seastoller where our B&B was and another surprise, a bottle of champagne from my sister and her partner waiting for us, then at tea a surprise visit from Andy and Maggie.

Lots of cards to open with loads of pressies from my lovely daughter Kirsty and two bottles of wine left for us by Faith and Mason. This has been a super day. Fantastic scenery and weather lots of money donated and just fantastic people around.

Day-1 St Bees-Ennerdale GPS 15Miles

We made the short 2 minute drive to Pennine View Camp site where we dropped off our car and caught the Packhorse bus to St.Bees.

The coast to coast is not an official trail but there is an official start point.

But we made our way to a gentle Irish Sea where the true start is. And in the true spirit of all coast to coast walkers dipped our boots.

You might think that a Coast to Coast walk would begin by heading in the direction of the final destination, but Alfred Wainwright who conceived and pioneered this walk in the early 70's, always had an eye for the most scenic route so it is that the C2C begins by heading North along the magnificent cliff tops of St.Bees Head, which is a bit disconcerting as we travel three and a half miles and are now further from the finish than when we started, you do not head East until you pass St.Bees lighthouse at Birkhams quarry.

However. the walk along the coast is superb with lots of bird life about and Fleswick Bay is a delightful Spot.

           Fleswick Bay

From just outside the hamlet of Sandwith where this sign made us laugh

We got our first glmpse of Dent Fell, the major ojective on todays walk. It is the rounded fell, the lower slopes of which are covered in a conifer forest.

From Dent we see the views to the daunting prospect that awaits us, the suerb Lakeland Mountains,I hope our legs will hold out!!

It is here it starts to rain, the first on our challenge but it was nowhere near as bad as the forecast and it rained for the next 2 hours but was only light and was stil warm. We had taken our cancer research tops off earlier due to getting too warm. 

From Dent there followed a very steep descent to the beautifully named Nannycatch Beck

This photo does not really show how steep the slope was, I think it would be easier to sit on a tray and slide down.

 It was a pleasant walk along this lovely little valley. (photo for Debs and Col) 

Then on to Ennerdale Bridge to bring our first days walking to an end.

Here there is no mobile phone reception and the WiFi is very limited so please don't expect any replies to messages or facebook tonight or most likely, until tomorrow evening.

Tomorrow sees  us take on a tough day in the Lakes with a more strenuous amount of ascent.

Well that's all for today and I sign off with the rain coming down like stair rods.

Again thanks for all your support and messages, keep them coming it urges us on.

 I see the total raised has now topped   £4.600 WOW! you are all fantastic!!

Day - 0 Coast to Coast here we go!!

Today we travelled to Kirkby Stephen, approx halfway across the walk, where we will leave the car in secure parking and tomorrow we get the Packhorse bus to the start of the walk in the sea side town of St. Bees.

I must admit to a little apprehension but at the same time a tinge of excitement. Hopefully the weather gods are good to us and our boots prove comfortable enough to carry us through. No doubt we'll have a laugh along the way and return with happy memories to cherish for years to come, safe in the knowledge we have raised a huge sum for cancer research.

We sit here and after months of planning I take a few moments to think about what's ahead. We trust in Alfred Wainwrights knowledge and expertise when devising this challenge, but all the info I have read about long distance walking advises you to travel light and keep your feet as dry as possible. A.W. as he is affectionaely known, says it is a tradition to start the walk by dipping your boots in the Irish Sea and to collect a pebble to carry all the way across England to throw in the North Sea, at the other end of the walk, hummmmm!!! Does this man really know what he is doing.

So a little dutch courage is needed and thanks to Andy at A1, who has been very generous with his sponsorship and also gave us the money for our first drink, (with the instruction we post a picture of it on our blog) Cheers!!!

Our first drink and meal in the Black Bull preparing for what's in front of us.

So back to our accommodation to write this blog with this view out the window

A look at the weather for tomorrow- OH Dear! we finish tomorrows leg at Ennerdale.

There's not a lot more for us to say really except we would like to thank you all for your support and donations - lots more pics to come as we walk and see you all on the other side!!!

The Challenge approaches!!

With just three days before we leave to travel North things are getting hectic.
Our Total raised for Cancer Research is now over £4,400.   
Thank you and keep it coming we can not explain what this means to us it has been totally amazing.

The main reason for this entry on the blog is for me to try out the new bluetooth keyboard I purchased for £7.25p inc postage from Ebay.

I find, having large fingers, typing on the phone is very time consuming so this should be a big help.

Boots are cleaned and clothes pretty much sorted. 

I have checked and double checked our navigation aids, maps, waterproof map case, compass and guide book. We shall carry the GPS but I don't think we will need this for navigation. We want to record the total distance that we walk so a stock of batteries is required.

The three of us are now looking forward to walking together and experienceing the 'delights' that A.Wainwright has devised for us, on this classic journey, over the next two weeks.

The next Blog will be on Saturday, when we have a night in Kirkby Stephen before we leave the car in secure parking and take the Packhorse bus to St.Bees, on Sunday am.

We will do our best to post on a daily basis and include photos where we can get WiFi

We welcome any comments on the blog and if you do not have any of the accounts required to post you can do it by selecting anonymous as your profile but please leave your name on the comment before you publish it.

Anyone who wants to donate to our charity can still do it via the justgiving link on several pages of this blog.

The Malvern Hills

It's now just 3 weeks before our challenge and I have to say how proud I  am of Jane, 18 months ago, due to serious health problems Jane could not even walk 600 meters without getting tired. After an operation and a massive amount of effort the training has paid off and I am now confident she will achieve our goal of 200 miles walk across England.

It will be tough  with highs and lows but with Kirsty being there she always brings a smile to our faces, she always lifts our spirits with her wit and enthusiasm and with the knowledge that we will be raising approx £4,000 for Cancer Research UK. in memory of Barbara, I know we shall be dipping our boots in the North Sea filled with pride and emotion. 

With the trip looming ever closer we took to the Malvern Hills for some hard hill walking. The full length of the Malvern ridge and back proved to be a good and tough workout. Thankfully we did it and woke up the next morning with no aches or pains, just proving the huge Improvement in our fitness.

 The View East from North hill on a beautiful morning.

Looking back at North hill where we started at the quarry car park Jane studies the topograph and hopes I know where to go

Worcestershire Beacon is next. 

Looking South from the Beacon, a long way to go!

After crossing the top of Jubilee Hill and Black Hill the Iron Age fort and Hereford Beacon are getting close.

On our way to Hangman Hill and Midsummer Hill we can look back to see where we have been.

Our return journey, with heavy legs and hot feet, we took the easier path but visited the very top of Worcestershire Beacon for a second time hoping for a photo opportunity where no one else was in shot. 

Jane on the return leg (does she look worn out?)

Almost back to the carpark we visit the Mavern clock tower where water tanks were built to provide the village with a constant water supply. 

The tower houses a plaque that thanks Charles Morris who solely funded the project in 1836.

A great day and our total raised now stands at £3,748.50p

Thank you everyone it means so much to us. 

6 weeks to go

With only 6 weeks before our walk our total is now £3,450.

We are training every weekend and Sunday we walked the length of Cannock Chase and back. A route of approx 14 miles, so not too far compared to recent walks.

Kirsty navigates in a hope to improve her map reading and is surprised to find a small glacial rock shown on the map. Sadly the plaque inserted on the top has been removed so we have no idea why it is here.

Mind your step logs can be slippy.

We visited the German Military Cemetery which is a stark reminder that, while we are raising money to save lives, a few power mad people can destroy the lives of thousands of innocent humans. 

Near the end of our walk we walk through the grounds of Shugborough. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit inside the house.

Once again many thanks for the many people who have sponsored us so far, WOW! keep it coming, who knows a total of £4k might just be possible.

Ten weeks to go before our challenge. Fundraising is great. So moretraining as we walk 16 miles in the wonderful Cotswolds

We had a fantastic day on Sunday 18/5/14 in the Cotswolds.

The weather was fabulous and after visiting a very quiet Bourton-on-the-water, only because it was 8:45am., we walked up to Westfield farm past a huge clay shoot and on towards Guiting power, then a quick cider at the Black Horse in Naughton. 

The Dovecote at Naughton is well worth a few minutes stop.

And inside looks like this

We met several thirsty cows on the route

By the time we got to upper Slaughter we had lunch and Jane cooled her feet in the river.

We moved on after watching several walkers and horse riders admire the tranquility of this beautiful spot.

After walking through lower Slaughter we arrived back at a very, very busy Boughton-on-the-water at 3:45.

We can now proudly announce that amazingly we have reached the £3,000 mark for Cancer Research UK.

Thank you to everyone for their fantastic support and generosity. We are overwhelmed with this total and will keep you informed with the future progress