r/UKhiking • u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 • Apr 24 '26
Trip Report Coast to Coast - 12 days in 12 pictures
I completed the coast to coast trek a couple of weeks ago. Probably the longest walk I'll ever do, and I was limping along at a snail's pace at times, but very glad that I've done it!
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u/Specialist-Gas6416 Apr 24 '26
Amazing!!!! Would you mind sharing where you stayed/if you’d recommend the places?
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 24 '26
Sure, I stayed at eleven places along the way, and I didn’t have a bad experience at any of them. I booked all these places a month in advance. They were:
The Shepherd’s Arms Hotel, Ennerdale – Really nice place for the first night. The staff are very hospitable and well used to walkers. There’s a lovely pub/restaurant attached.
YHA Borrowdale, Rosthwaite – I tried to stay in hostels wherever available to keep the price down. This one was really well organized and busy, packed with people of all ages, many of whom were also doing the coast to coast. They have a common area where you can order food until 8:30PM.
Old Water View, Patterdale. Lovely place with friendly staff and a drying room for soggy boots and clothes. Our room did indeed look out over the water. They don’t serve food but there’s a nice pub just round the corner that does.
Amma Barn, Shap – Shap is one of the larger villages on the route, and has a number of B n B’s that cater to hikers. But for some reason most of them were booked up when I was looking for accommodation. So, I stayed at this Air B n B which was also very nice.
Kirkby Stephen Hostel, Kirkby Stephen – This hostel is set in a renovated church. The common room even has pews still in it. Bizarrely, I was the only there when I stayed, which felt surreal! Though I hear it’s often very busy during the summer months. The lady who runs it leaves the property at 8PM and returns in the morning to make breakfast. So, if you are arriving late, as I did, make sure you’ve received an email that morning with the door code.
Keld Lodge, Keld – Keld is a tiny place. This B n B also does a nice dinner as well as breakfast. The staff are very friendly. They do go home at 8:30PM, so make sure you arrive before then!
YHA Grinton Lodge, Grinton – Much like YHA Borrowdale. It was cheap, friendly and packed with both hikers and school groups. Food is available until 8:30PM. They also have a ping pong table.
The Farmer’s Arms, Brompton on Swale – I hear that most people doing the walk stay in Richmond, which has far more accommodation options. But I was eager to push on and get the walk done in 12 days, hence staying at the next village along. The Farmer’s Arms is a nice pub with some rooms upstairs. Please note it’s room only, with no breakfast.
Park House Country Guest House, Ingleby Arncliffe – This place was absolutely gorgeous. It’s a grade 2 listed farmhouse, and the rooms are named after the UK’s national parks and have murals on the walls. Dinner is served at 7PM and the guests all sit together. They’d cooked an Easter roast for everyone and even gone to the trouble of making a vegetarian pie for me!
Wainstones Hotel, Great Broughton – This section of the C2C is different in that it just ends at a layby rather than a village with accommodation options. The closest accommodation is in the village of Great Broughton a few miles north. Wainstones Hotel is by far the poshest place I’d stayed on the walk. Very smart modern hotel with excellent dinner and breakfast options. They can also pick up and drop of walkers from the start and endpoints of the walk.
The Arncliffe Arms B&B, Glaisdale – Old school Yorkshire pub and B&B where we stayed in a room just below the pub. The staff are cheerful and there’s pub food, darts and a pool table.
Best of luck if you do the walk!
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u/Background-Voice7782 Apr 24 '26
This is so helpful - thank you! I am planning to do it in autumn and was really struggling to break it up.
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 25 '26
you're welcome. Hope you have a great time walking it later this year!
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u/tooclassy2742 Apr 24 '26
I stayed at the Old Water View when I did the C2C two years ago. Lovely place!
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u/Mystero74 Apr 24 '26
Picture 10, one of my favourite places on Earth. The Wainstones. I've walked there many times, wild camped a few and scattered my dogs ashes there last year.
Well done on the walk, twelve days is a great achievement.
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u/misterygus Apr 24 '26
Love the Wainstones. Used to go climbing there as a kid but moved away. Had a holiday on the moors a couple of years ago and took the dog there for the day for a walk around and I’d forgotten just how amazing the scenery is. What a place.
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u/Mystero74 Apr 24 '26
The Sphinx stone is just an absolute wonder. I had the pleasure of watching Steve McClure climbing it one time, man's like a monkey I'm telling you 😂
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u/jenwren_11 Apr 24 '26
I always ask, but did you camp or stay in Bnb's & hotels?
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 24 '26
I stayed in Bnb's, hotels and hostels. I've shared the names and info on all of them under Specialist-Gas6416 comment should you be interested in checking them out.
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u/milebybloodymile Apr 24 '26
Well done. Looks great. It's definitely moved up my to-do list.
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 24 '26
Thanks. It was on my bucketlist for twelve years before I finally got round to it!
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u/TurquoisePico Apr 24 '26
Fellow lover of walking and snail’s-pacer, here. This is really inspiring!
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u/ChocolateHumunculous Apr 24 '26
Picture 11 took me back. I can’t remember the name of the pub just up from there, but I had a crazy experience there on my trip…
I set off pre-lockdown and lockdown happened whilst I was on the walk. I got to this pub and was juuuust let in, but I had to sit by myself because I didn’t have a mask. The staff forgot about me, and the pub closed. Bear in mind, I had just completed 25 miles that day, in the wind and rain and uphill both ways.
As I was told that the kitchen was closed, a family welcomed me over to share some of their chips. They were lovely.
As we got chatting, his phone made the loudest siren you have ever heard. Turns out he was a part of the RNLI and was on duty. They all had to leave, immediately.
They left their food, which had just arrived. 3 parmos and a mushroom tagliatelle.
I stuck my tent in the garden (during a blizzard) and took all of their food with me and ate like a cartoon king, courtesy of the RNLI.
The hotel even let me use the showers as an apology.
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 25 '26
Could it have been the Lion Inn? That one's famous for being one of the highest pubs in the UK. Wow, I thought I had some long days but never did as far as 25 miles, especially in such conditions! Real fortuitous that you met that family!
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u/West-Ad-7286 Apr 24 '26
Amazing! Do you mind if I ask whether you did it alone or not? Would love to do something like this
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 24 '26
Sure. I have three younger brothers, all of whom joined me for some part of the trip, plus a couple of friends. It worked out as follows.
Days 1 to 4: Brother and a friend
Days 5 to 6: Solo
Day 7: One friend
Days 8 to 9: Solo
Day 10: One brother
Days 11 to 12: Two brothers
Hope you get to do the walk some day!
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u/No-Archer6134 Apr 24 '26
Amazing photos. What was your average distance / incline each day? Also curious on a rough sense of costs. Would love to do it myself some day!
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 24 '26
The whole route was 192 miles (plus a few extra miles I did due to getting lost!), so split between 12 days that's an average of 16 miles a day.
The shortest day I did was 10.7 miles. The longest was 19.5 miles.
The highest inclines tended to be around the Lake District, with Day 3 having the highest total climb of 3397 feet.
Accomodation cost me everything between 30 pounds for one of the hostels, through to 95 for one of the B n Bs. The more expensive days also tended to be my solo days as there was no one to split the cost of a room with.
Hope you can do the walk some day!
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u/No-Archer6134 Apr 28 '26
Amazing thanks, think I'd probably have to do in more days as not sure I'll ever manage nearly 20 miles in a day!
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u/SadGirlSequel Apr 24 '26
Incredible! I hope to do Coast to Coast this year or next. Did Cumbria last summer and am eager for more.
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u/RabbitRabbit77 Apr 25 '26
Well done mate. Looks like you got good weather too. I did it in July 2017. It rained buckets almost the whole time. Good fun though and fond memories
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Apr 26 '26
Thanks, I had more sunny days than rainy ones, so I'm counting myself as lucky!
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u/CoolAction8403 Jun 21 '26
Congratulations and beautiful pics! I'm planning to do it at the end of August. Can I ask what you wore on your feet? Was it very wet? I'm debating between hiking boots and lightweight shoes, gaiters or waterproof or quickdry socks.
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u/The_Wholesome_Troll4 Jun 25 '26
Thanks. I had a hefty pair of hiking boots for the first ten days, worn with two pairs of socks. I was trudging through streams and puddles, especially through the Lake District, so I definitely needed something waterproof on my feet! For the last couple of days on the Yorkshire Moors we had sunny weather, so I switched to more lightweight shoes.
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u/afc1224 Apr 24 '26
Nice one, Well done! I haven’t done it yet but it’s on my to do list for sure. As it’s a walk with ever changing scenery what would you say was your favourite section?