Final Day on the Coast to Coast 2016

Ennerdale Bridge to St Bees, Cumbria

 Distance: 9 Miles 

Time Taken: 5 hours.

Weather: Rain - pouring rain!

Rain. Rain. Rain.

The Walk

My final day on the Coast-to-Coast; and it book-ended the walk perfectly in two ways.

Firstly, I'd walked from the Lifeboat Station at Whitby on the North Sea to end at the Lifeboat Station at St Bees on the Irish Sea.

Secondly, it poured down with rain on both the first day from Robin Hoods Bay; and now it was pouring down with rain again!

In between times; I'd enjoyed nine almost perfect walking days across the North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, and the Lake District.

The Route Across England.

When I looked out of the window to see the pouring rain; I did umm & ahh about using one of my rest days to just postpone the walk and stay warm and dry indoors for another day.

But I soon decided that I'd make the final push to "get 'er done" since I was so close to the finishing line at St Bees.

I also realized that the walk today was only going to take around five-hours since the distance to go was under 10-miles.

So off I went into the driving rain.

Funnily enough, the hike today actually included what is probably the steepest climb of the whole route.  But there aren't any really high mountains to cross; and I wasn't too concerned about having to navigate across the smaller hill tops faced today in very thick fog.

I was soon across the Fells and dropping down to the coastal plain and the run-down mining villages of Cleator and Moor Row.  These places have a distinct sadness which comes from the ruination of the local ironsone mining industry.

I have a good deal of sympathy since these Cumbrian villages feel the same as the iron mining communities in North East Yorkshire where I grew up.

Even the Famous Statue at Moor Row was Looking Wet and Bedraggled!

The last half-hour walking into St Bees seemed to flash past and before I knew it, I was standing outside the Lifeboat Station; and wondering what to do next?

The Endpoint for My Walk.

I decided a little ceremony to drop my pebble - collected 11 days earlier at Robin Hoods Bay - and a carried the width of the Nation was in order.

So I fished the little red stone from my pocket and dropped it onto the sandy beach.

I secretely hoped that some new walker would pick up my pebble and carry it all the way home to Yorkshire.

My Lucky Little Pebble!

With that thought for closure; I headed off to the train station at St Bees to make my own way home.

I got changed into dry clothes in the very grumpy Signalmans toilet ("staff only") and boarded the train to Carlisle.  With changes at Newcastle, Darlington and Middlesbrough; I eventually boarded the Whitby train for the beautiful run through my own country down the Esk valley.

The thought hit me as I reached Whitby in the sunshine that evening that it had taken me 11 days to walk across England but only seven hours to return via the train.

That's progress I guess!

Back Home in Whitby.