Day 1: St Bees to Cleator

Expectations

Today’s route covers 10 miles from Stonehouse Farm in St Bees to Ennerdale Country House in Cleator. Should be a reasonably easy walk, 3-4 hours with stops for lunch/technology/views!

We’ll start out by dipping our boots in the Irish Sea, drop a pebble from the Pacific Ocean (someone has to replenish the beach!) and gather a pebble to take over to Robin Hood’s Bay. After the rituals are complete, we’ll head up the bluff, first to the northwest before arcing around to head inland and toward the Lake District.

When we get to Ennerdale Country House in Cleator, we should be meeting up with L’s brother, all the way from New Zealand, who will be joining the walk for the next couple of legs. Planning to eat dinner there.

Realities

Updated at a reasonable internet connection in Cleator.

Yet another bad night for me! Absurd. Entertained by the sounds of the wind and rain on the roof. Luckily, the rain was done by morning, though it remained windy all day.

We had breakfast as planned at 8:30am. Forgot to photograph the food until too late, but here’s the before-and-after anyway!

Then a group photo as we set off…

Headed for the beach, where the tide was out which added some extra distance to the day. Threw the Pacific rock into the surf and collected an Irish Sea pebble each. Obligatory Start of Coast to Coast Walk sign photo:

Then we headed up to the top of the bluff, behind a large group. For a while I wondered if the whole walk would be one long line, but before we knew it almost everyone had vanished. We caught glimpses of other walkers through the day, but never the wad that we started out with.

Finally, we headed inland, saying goodbye to the Irish Sea (though maybe we’ll see it from the top of Dent tomorrow if we’re lucky with the weather.)

The walk from there to Dent isn’t exactly raved about in the books, with the villages written off as lacking charm. Maybe it was the sunshine or the excitement of our adventure finally being underway, but I loved it all.

M decided to give Wainwright some directional guidance…

We stopped at a new bakery in Moor Row, as recommended by our landlady in St Bees. Lovely pies. They set out chairs for us outside, where we could not only eat but also watch the comings and goings of both locals and fellow walkers. Had lovely conversations with very friendly people, including a couple from Australia very interested in our opinion on the Brexit shenanigans!

The Coast to Coast is notoriously badly signposted, but it wasn’t too bad during this part. Best sign we saw was one celebrating the intersection of the Coast to Coast with the West Cumbria Cycle Network.

Shortly before arriving in Cleator, we passed this sign I’ve seen featured in many blogs.

Got to the Ennerdale Country House Hotel around 1:30pm.

Luckily the room was ready that early and our bags were gloriously waiting for us at registration.

Spent some time showering and resting, and of course, charging all the things!!

At about 4:30pm or so, L’s brother arrived. Happy time catching up in the bar, then drone flying in the grounds, then back to the bar, then dinner. Managed to not take a photo of the meal at all. Oh well, tomorrow is another day!