We've made it!

Can't believe it but we're here and have made it to Robin Hood's Bay.
What an achievement. We're so chuffed and here we are with our
celebratory drink in Wainwright's bar in the Bay Hotel which is
tradition at the end. Cheers!

Dirty Boots

Only one more day to go for these muddy boots - then we can rinse them
off in the North Sea tomorrow. My left boot has been particularly
pongy since I sank it into a bog on Cold Moor yesterday.
Today's walk was a straightforward 10 miler from Blakey Ridge to the
village of Glaisdale going by the wonderfully named Great Fryup Dale.
We've left ourselves with a lot to do on the final day, it's hard to
be exact, but it looks like it will be 18 or 19 miles with a few hills
along the way.

Today we've had more lovely scenery as we did yesterday with the great
expanse of the Moors around us.

We can't believe it's our last day tomorrow, we're actually going to
miss it! Although it will be nice not having any fried produce option
for breakfast.

Ta ra a bit.

American werewolf in London....

....was based on the north York moors where we were today. Thankfully
the scariest thing we saw today were some guinea fowl which make a
really horrible noise and I thought they were going to peck my legs
off (this is Kate typing by the way)!!

Gorgeous weather today - we put some sun screen on. We had a lovely
walk through a pine forest before we headed out on the moors. I've
never seen them before and the purple heather just goes on for miles -
it's lovely. We did some climbing and had a wonderful view all the way
to the North Sea where we are headed as our final destination.

The walk continued up and down the hills and my knee is starting to
hurt a bit on the descents now.

Everyone is starting to encourage everyone else now as we head into
our last few days. It feels weird thinking we are near the end after
so much build up to the walk but we've got some more challenges,
including a 19 mile final day into Robin hoods bay.

Until tomorrow...

12 miles.

Banana split!

It's A Record!

Today was Richmond to Ingleby Cross, the longest day of the walk at 24
miles, and also the longest we have ever walked. Here are Kate's feet
about 2 mins after we got to the b and b with her first blister, but
thankfully only a small one.

Blessed with good weather today and pork pie! Good job cos shins and
hips are starting to hurt, ow.

We plodded on and managed 13 miles before lunch. We stopped at a place
called Danby Wiske and stopped at the pub for an orange juice. Quite a
lot of the coasters were on the beer but we've made that mistake
before so decided to do our last 10 miles on OJ and Lucozade body fuel
- ooer!

We didn't feel too bad getting into the final few miles - until we had
to cross the A19. Apparently some walkersburst into tears at this
point, but luckily we were made of sterner stuff and darted across the
four lanes of doom without being squished. Our B&B turned out to be
half a mile from Ingleby Cross but after walking so far another half
mile to take our boots off, then another half mile to get some food,
and then another half mile to get home again is nothing! Well not
exactly nothing but after we stopped swearing we set off for fishcakes
and banana splits!
Another day tomorrow - just a quick 13 miler if memory serves...

Richmond, with it's historic Norman Keep

Another easy day today, just 10.5 miles from Reeth to Richmond, so 4
happy hours plodding along in the rain. We stopped for lunch under a
tree and unpacked some of the thickest sandwiches I've ever seen and a
packet of cheese and onion crisps. We got into Richmond by 2 and at
our apartment by 2.30. It's huge with a massive plasma and the first
bath on the C2C to ease the aching feet and limbs. Tomorrow our
biggest challenge, 23 miles.....wish us luck. Tata for now.

All creatures

Sat 18 sept. From Keld to Reeth today in lovely sunshine - hooray. We went along the river Swale. This area is where All Creatures Great and Small was filmed. It was a nice peaceful day as we were walking on our own for quite a while. We sat by the river to have a snack in the sun then carried on through the dales and moors until we reached the capital of Swaledale, Reeth, at 3.30pm, perfect timing for a cup of tea and slice of cake! 12 miles

We also found out that 2 days ago 16 people dropped out of the walk so even though we had to miss a day we are doing pretty well. There have been some terrible blister stories and several people are suffering with their knees especially on the down hill but Tim has only had one blister and so far I have escaped without any (famous last words?).....

Swaledale

A Room With a View

Wahoo, ten times better today. Am so disappointed about yesterday and
sorry to let you down to all of you who have sponsored us but we've
soldiered on today, which has been glorious and the picture below is
the fab view from the window at our stop in Keld. Until tomorrow....

Big Rig

Back on the road again today - Kirkby Stephen to Keld via Nine
Standards Rigg. Kate is feeling much better - our landlady in Kirkby
Stephen gave her some Night Nurse which helped as she got a full
night's sleep.

We set off in sunshine which stayed with us all day. The views were
fantastic of the rolling countryside. It was a steep climb up to Nine
Standards Rigg but worthwhile as the dales were set out before us and
the Lakes were behind. We then tackled the peat bogs. We went in over
our laces a few times but no more than that. We had heard of people up
to their knees in them last week. We were so glad it wasn't raining
which would have made it unmanageable. We stopped for lunch with
wonderful views of Swaledale ahead of us. We then carried on through
the peat and fields dotted with lovely dry stone barns before reaching
Wainwath Falls which were quite wee but very nice. It was then an easy
mile into Keld, a tiny place but with a great hotel that we're staying
in.

11.6 miles. Fri 17 Sept.

Dark Skies

This was after the weather lifted at Kidsty Pike yesterday, looking in
today's Westmorland Gazette it seems like we got off lightly. Two
other walkers were air lifted to safety after getting cut off by
swollen becks on high ground and two women from Oxford were trapped in
their car when a tree branch fell on it.
We're holed up in Shap today while Kate gets over her cold, then all
being well we set off tomorrow for the first Pennine leg of the walk,
ending up at the half way point of the trip in Keld.

Forecast: gale force winds and sunny intervals

Have you ever watched "the Deadliest Catch"? You know when they're out
on the high seas and pulling in the pots and practically getting blown
off the boat, well that pretty much sums up the weather we faced today
as we were climbing up to our highest point on the walk, 2560 feet. We
had to stop several times and Tim had to hold onto me as I literally
couldn't hold myself down - clearly I need to eat more pies. We made
it to the top and I threw a rock on the cairn. We couldn't stop for
photos as it was too windy. I also developed a cold in the night so I
was struggling to breathe which isn't ideal when you need to climb
acouple of thousand feet! Tim had it two days ago and is ok now so I
hope mine won't be too bad especially as we have 21 miles to do
tomorrow.

After the highest point we descended out of the winds and made our way
to Haweswater which is nearly 5 miles long. The cloud had lifted at
this point and the views were fab. The picture attached is the view we
had from our lunch stop just before we got to the water.

We were hoping for a nice amble along the water but it was quite rocky
and there was more uphill involved. At least our calves are toning! We
got to the end of the water and our adventure in the Lakes has come to
an end. We carried onto Shap, our destination, and the scenery changed
from the dramatic valleys and fells to rolling countryside with lots
of sheep. We did the last leg with a couple from Milton keynes and
that helped as I was feeling like pants, but the sun was shining and
Timmy held my hand to help me along.

15.5 miles in 8.75 hrs!

Wet wet wet

After a great stop in Stonethwaite on Sunday night we set off in light
drizzle for the first proper Lake District leg of the journey. The
climb up towards Borrowdale was, in a word, wet.
The rain was coming down pretty steadily and the wind was picking up
too, then we had to scramble up a rocky waterfall which was wet and
quite sheer, but a challenge nonetheless! When we got to the top the
rain was lashing into our faces so hard we could barely look up. It
had also become distinctly soggy underfoot as we entered the next
stage of the day's walk - bogs.

Yuk - wherever we went we couldn't avoid them and tim went up to his
knees - thank goodness for gaiters. The waterfalls on the way down
were wonderful but Kate found it hard to appreciate them as her gore
tex boots had been letting in water and she had soggy feet. Grasmere
was a welcome sight, as was the drying room at our hostel! Mom 13
sept. 8 miles ( felt longer)!

Wow and Ow!

Wow = views

Ow = feet!

We set off from Ennerdale in good weather and headed straight for
Ennerdale Water. It was lovely and the walk around it was a bit hair
raising at times As we had to scramble around the rocks. We then
headed into Ennerdale forest which was hard on the feet along the
track. We stopped at black sail youth hostel which is soooo remote but
all coast to coasters congregated there for lunch. The next section
was amazing as we scrambled up Long Beck. The views and scenery were
absolutely stunning and the good weather helped! We headed to Honister
Pass and the slate mine and then into stonthewaite which is a lovely
little place. 16miles today Sunday 12 sept

14 miles done ... Only 185 to go!

Well today didn't go entirely smoothly, last night we realised that we
hadn't paid the packhorse company who were supposed to be taking our
bags from place to place. Oh dear, without the luggage transfer we are
basically scuppered - luckily they were open at 7:15 in the morning,
and quite happy to pick up the cheque along with our bags. So far, so
good and we set off on the route and realised, oh dear, I still had
the B&B keys in my pocket. Doh! Luckily again, a nice walker
volunteered to take them back for us - thanks to you hiker man from
North Wales!
The walk itself went pretty well, we had a bit of rain and quite a lot
of sun, in fact I think I'm a bit burned. However,as I write this it
is absolutely chucking it down, I mean really hammering. Seriously,
this morning we could see the Isle of Man, Ireland and Scotland, now I
can barely see over the road. It had better stop by tomorrow, that's
all I'm saying.
Off now for another steak and ale pie ( scampi for the lady).

We've arrived! Part 1

So we're here in st bees. As the train trundled along the coast, there
were some quite run down areas but as soon as we got to st bees it was
lovely. Beautiful candy coloured houses and a wonderful beach. It's
private school has been here since 1583! (fact!!)

It didn't bode well when we got to st bees though as we walked in the
opposite direction to our b&b! We found it eventually - it's called
the Abbey Farmhouse and it is really lovely. Big room and big bathroom.

We got chatting to the owner, Steve, who told us that he met his now
wife on the coast to coast. They were both going through divorces at
the time then met on the second day of the walk. At the end they
agreed to meet up. On their first date Janet's car got stolen. On
their second date Steve had a brain heammorage!! Thankfully Janet is a
nurse and recognised the symptoms and rushed him to hospital -they've
been together ever since. Crikey.

We've been down to the start of the walk so we know where we're off
tomorrow at least. The sun was shining on the sea and it looked
wonderful. In fact, I got a bit emotional.

We went to the local for a pie and chips and some Jennings ale - start
as you mean to go on!

Halfway There!

No, not half way there, half way to our target of £2500 according to JustGiving (http://www.justgiving.com/katewilcox-timbutler) this morning.

Thank you so much to everyone who has kindly donated to this excellent cause

We leave for the station in 45 minutes and from there to our starting point of St Bees - last chance to cop out!

Posting as we go!

Thanks to the marvels of Googly technology we will be able to post
updates, and pictures of our lovely blisters, directly from the trail!

Don't check the weather forecast

So, when planning our practice walks we always said we must make sure we endure a 'rainy one', but it didn't quite work out like that as we've had some sunny weather over the last few months (thems the breaks!). That was, until this evening!!

Today, Tim told me not to check the weather forecast for St Bees (our starting point on the Coast to Coast), so I could already guess what it had in store - of course I had a sneaky peak at the BBC website and yep, it's due to be heavy rain! This evening we set off on our usual Monday night 5.5 mile route, and it was raining - so we got our wet weather gear on and it was chucking it down.... Now I'm worried that my waterproof isn't waterproof enough - yikes!!

Yesterday we spent the entire day packing our stuff - crikey - you need lots of stuff to go walking - it's not like a two week holiday in the sun (when your clothes are a lot smaller!) - it's walking trousers, tops, gaiters, LOTS of socks, fleeces, microfibre layers, torch, first aid kit, compeed.... Anyway, we're as ready as we can be....so wish us luck. We'll keep you (blog) posted!

Be Prepared

It's T minus 7 days until we trot off on our walking adventure. The plan is to update this blog as we progress across England.

We've been training hard for the last few months and now we're entering the final phase - we need to work out what we're going to pack (how many pairs of pants do you need for 2 weeks walking?) and complete some last minute preparations like soaking our feet in surgical spirit (don't ask).

Plus there are some last minute purchases to be made - not least an industrial sized pack of Compeed.