Author Topic: C2C 24 June - 27 June 2018 - Part 1  (Read 906 times)

johnberman

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C2C 24 June - 27 June 2018 - Part 1
« on: 22:02:33, 19/07/18 »
Apologies for the length of the report - had to split it into a number of parts

We agreed in Dec 2017 to the C2C for charity and spent a reasonable amount of time planning the trip, the daily walk and the kit we planned to carry
As we were raising money we decided to make it hard and carry everything ourselves. Thanks to all on the forum who answered my numerous questions and helped with the planning

We did a fair amount of training before we left and though we were well prepared - bear in mind that London is pretty flat in comparison and despite completing the C2C it was damm hard for the 3 of us, maybe without the packs it would have been easier ?, not sure record temperatures helped either, some of those climbs in the Lake District in 34 Deg C with no shade where tough. However we did complete it with no injuries just a few blister and black toenails - We did it

We had no rain and it was day after day of sunshine and the whole trip was navigated using Coast to Coast Path by H Steadman

One of the group is a bit of a blogger so I have included the daily blog along with other info for each day which I hope you find useful

If your inspired feel free to Donate



25 June - Day 1   St Bees   to Ennerdale YHA 19 Miles


Arrived on the Sunday and stayed at the Queens Hotel which was great, when we asked about breakfast he simply said what time do you want it - Thats service


BLOG ENTRY - We are alive… just!!!


It was so unbelievably hard a combination of massive hills and carrying a horrendously large pack- Steve you were right it does break you!
Great start to the day as we had a full English at the pub we stayed at and went off on our way. Amazing views over the sea I had a quick swim- had to be done!


We stopped and had a cheese and onion and pasty under a river and met someone else who was in the army but he didn’t carry a gun as he was a preacher! Very interesting bloke!


After this stop was one of the worst hills as it kept on coming and coming (despite the local runner coming up the other way). Down was just as hard as it’s the steepest descent on the walk.


After about 2 miles it was time for another full fat Coke stop. At this stage we didn’t think we had long left and all felt pretty positive… little did we know!


We had to cross lake Ennerdale, John had heard it’s easier on the north side but it looked so much shorter so we went on the south side. It was very rocky, there were big drops so had to clamber on the side. We even got to one point where we lost the path and the path that we thought it was did not accommodate for such a big back pack! We tried a few ways then worked it out. Then we had about 3 miles left which was the worst as we were knackered and hungry.


We arrived at the youth hostel with blisters, shoulder chaffing and some really bad sun burn. We had bangers and mash which did the job!

























26 June - Day 2   Ennerdale YHA to Rosthwaite 10 Miles

That evening we stayed at Stonethwaite farm next to the river at £5 pp it was a good deal

BLOG ENTRY - Finding our feet

At the start of day 2 we started the day with a hot shower and a fry up at the youth hostel. It felt super hot at 8am which was a bit of a concern. Set off at about 9am and walked three and a half miles to another youth hostel called black sail where we could get a cold drink. Got there had a Pepsi (I have never drunk so many fizzy drinks in my life!!!) after that got some tips on the best way to strap up the back pack and our route. Then it was for the mammoth hill…

We struggled up a very steep incline with stones and boulders as steps that had slightly worn away so that was bit touch and go adding to that poor Lucia’s fear of heights!!

We got to the top which made it all worth it- fab views! Then was the descent which again was quite steep but not as bad as some of them have been. We bumped into a few kids we met at the youth hostel that all laughed at us because we were so crippled. We then took a wrong turning following 13 year olds which did NOT lead us to a shortcut as planned!! Managed to get to a road where we flagged some drivers down to ask direction and our campsite was right next to a pub! Ordered three pints of coke downed that then onto a pint of wainwright!


After this off to set the tents up. Pitched right by a lake where there was a good pool at the top so I made John and Lucia watch me swim- really sorted out the blisters. A la carte de soirée …pasta n sauce! Which as we didn’t have extra salt was basically cupa soup plus pasta.


27 June - Day 3   Rosthwaite to Grasmere 9 Miles

We stayed at YHA pitching tents on the lawn.

BLOG ENTRY - Loss of Morale

When we were on the train me and Luc had a look at the book we are following (as clearly we did none of the planning) and there was one paragraph titled loss of morale! That was definitely the theme of today. As you can probably tell with the tracker we went the wrong way. Started off so positively as had a good night sleep in the tents and a good breakfast at the pub!

We started off and were convinced we were going the right way. About two miles in it got really boggy and I was leading with confidence little did I know how deep one boggy bit was, went straight in knee deep. John pulled me out then we rinsed my legs and boots off at a nearby stream. I found it pretty funny so we were still in a good mood but as we washed off my boots John got chatting to someone who confirmed we had taken the wrong turn. We think we had gone about a mile and a half the wrong way so round trip 5 miles. By this point it was getting really hot and a local confirmed it would be at its hottest at 3pm at 31 degrees… not Lake District weather! So when we got back to where we went wrong it was about 12:30 so we stopped in a shady spot and had lunch of super noodles. Had a bit of a sit down and drank plenty of water as we had an uphill climb of 2000 feet and we were half way up there at 2:52 so that 31 degrees was about to hit us. We were walking 300 yards then trying to find shade desperately. We kept on going but it was getting to a stage when we were all on the verge of sunstroke and there was no shade and worst of all no one around. When we were about 3/4 of the way up some people appeared. It was the best boost we had. The more embarrassing bit was they were well into their 60s and strolling down the hill but it gave us confidence. We then carried up and the problem is you go over one ridge and another appears and so on. We managed to find a bit more shade so had a 15 minute break then where we all became slightly hysterical and the positivity was coming back. The climb after that was the worse as it was sheer drops and it turned into rock climbing which would have been better if we weren’t carrying 24 pounds on our backs. Still we managed it. We then got to the top and couldn’t work out where to go. There were about four different paths we knew we had to head south east so got the compass out so we went off. Thankfully about ten minutes later there were more walkers who knew the route so they took us where to go! John and I were dead by this point and Lucia somehow had some super energy to get us back. The walkers were walking/running off track and poor Lucia was running behind them. Thankfully they put us on the right path and restored our faith however Lucia had twisted her ankle in the process. Got on the path and it just kept coming. Luckily by this point it was cooling down. The walkers had said it was only a couple of miles at this point which restored our faith. However we have discovered northerners and distance aren’t that reliable. Ten minutes up the road normally equates to 45 minutes for us. We kept on going and going and going and going, it felt like it was going to never end! We eventually got to what seemed to be more like a track and we could see tents in the distance. By this point we were so exhausted and there was a guy getting into a landrover so I waved my poles madly and ran over to him he said he would take us to the village which took about five minutes in the car. Without this man I don’t know what we would have done. He very sternly refused any cash and said it’s just what people do round here- not the London way! Civilization was in sight and we could see a co op!!

Went straight to the pub which was great. Sat by a lovely couple who were playing rummy. Reminded me of my nanny!!! They were so sweet they had to get keys to the car to show us on the map. The man was also very impressed with johns water filtering device. Yes it filters 2000 litres of water!!!!

We had a few pints and John and I had fish and chips, Lucia chicken supreme. Had more chats with the couple also had a really nice donation from joe!! If your reading this thank you so much it gave us shivers!! For those of you not in the know this was a lovely man who we met on day one that was doing a three day cycle across the hills, we told him that we are doing coast to coast for charity and he was clearly very impressed! This just highlights all the amazing friendly people we have met in the way. Everyone is interested and wants to give advice!

We then got to the youth hostel were we pitched our tents and had the very well deserved shower. Then a good nights sleep as we actually inflated our mats!

sussamb

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Re: C2C 24 June - 27 June 2018 - Part 1
« Reply #1 on: 22:30:07, 19/07/18 »
Thanks for posting this, I will have to get around to reading it later though as family here now for the weekend.  It'll help inform my planning for C2C next June  :)
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