C2C Day 1&2 St. Bees to Lake District

Previous: Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Hike Intro

St. Bees to Ennerdale

July 14

Hiked 15.1 miles

We awoke to a very quiet Manor on Sunday morning and had breakfast at 7:15 at the inn. Then we brought our bags down to the bar area to be forwarded to the next bnb by C2C Packhorse. With day packs on, a packed lunch prepared for us by the pub (for an extra charge), and lots of energy, we headed toward the beach to the start of Wainwright’s Coast to Coast hike. Daughter Suzannah joined us to the starting point, hugged us, and saw us off on our 192-mile trek.

Suzannah would catch a late morning train from St. Bees to Carlisle, and then connect to London. She spent that night and the next day tooling around London before catching her flight back to Denver.

We lucked out with some truly great sunny weather with temps in the 60’s.  Perfect hiking weather.  The hike began with a very steep ascent atop the cliffside overlooking the Irish Sea.  We saw this the previous day so we knew what we were in for.  This turned out to be an appropriate start since we later determined that of the 192+ miles hiked on this trek, approximately 186 were uphill! We were treated to some magnificent coastline hiking for about 3 miles. We encountered our first sheep within 15 minutes of the hike.  Little did we realize that we would eventually encounter no less than 1,473 sheep in the next 15 days.

The trail then swung eastward around Whitehaven toward our first stop at Ennerdale Bridge.  We passed through the first of scores of stiles we’d hit along the trek.  We discovered that stiles are like microwave ovens…no two work the same way.  Each time we came to one we had to figure out how to unlatch or climb over it.  Always different. After a few miles we were able to see the mountains of the Lakes District National Park in the near distance.  That would be our target and challenge for the next few days.  With rain, we read this would be quite difficult.  It is rocky, steep, high, and not well marked at all.  Fortunately we had clear weather during 3 of the 4 days through the Lakes District NP.

We eventually came across an unexpected detour due to logging where the trail was closed, but there was adequate signage; though we didn’t know how far the detour would eventually be.  On this detour, at a small river park with a couple of benches we took our lunch.  It was here that we met Guy from England, and Olga from The Netherlands, each or whom was hiking Wainwright’s C2C on their own. Guy had also arranged his trip with sherpa assistance from C2C Packhorse (though staying at different lodging at times), while Olga was camping along the way. We continually met up with these two at various points along the trek over the next two weeks.  We ended up hiking with Guy for the rest of the afternoon.

We ended up hiking just over 15 miles this first day.

Ennerdale

At around 4:00 PM we arrived at the Fox and Hounds in the small hamlet of Ennerdale.  The bartender checked us into our room. There were only three guestrooms in this Inn.  Guy was in one of the other two.  Before dinner at 7:00 PM we walked a little bit around town, but there really is no town, so we just went to find where our hike would pick up the next morning.

We had dinner at the inn at 7:00 PM., and a few beers, too. The family eating next to us in the small, dimly lit dining area were also doing the C2C.  We chatted a bit with them but we never saw them again, which turned out to be unusual, as we would usually see the same people along the trek at different points. The food was decent pub fare which, as we found elsewhere, we ordered at the bar and they delivered to the table. Also, it was somewhat loud with people just drinking as well as diners.
Back to the room for a good night’s sleep.

Ennerdale Bridge to Lake District National Park (Keswick)

July 15

16.1 miles
We had breakfast at the inn. As usual, we opted out of the typical hearty and meaty English breakfast and had cold cereal, fruit, yogurt, and toast.  We found this to be our standard breakfast the whole way.  Considering that we were hiking 11-18 miles per day we didn’t need all that meat in our stomachs.  Bathrooms were pretty scarce. We started out on the C2C hike at 8:15. Our first day hiking in the Lake District National Park brought a warm sunny day…which apparently is rare here.

Hiking began through Ennerdale, and on roads 1.5 miles to Ennerdale Water (lake). Then we started a beautiful hike along the lake at the foothills of high, steep pasture and crag. We met up with our new English friend Guy at the lake. It got more challenging as we began undulating among rocks and narrow trail between the hillside and the water. There were some precarious spots requiring scrambling too. On this day we began seeing a lot more hikers…all of whom passed us, of course. There were groups of teens, families, older couples, a pair of college girls, and lots of others.

 

After getting to the end of the lake we hit a respite short patch of grass before hitting a logging road which was rocky and gravelly for several miles.

This was not a pleasant section of this stage, and the book even warned us that it was tedious. The highlight was finding a bridge off the side of the road that straddles the River Liza and which crossed over a nice, scenic rapid with small falls over boulders. It was the perfect lunch spot for us. It was just before we went to this bridge that we met Morgan and Sarah, two of the Americans we would meet on the hike.

We picked up after lunch in the rocks and got back on the dreaded rocky and gravelly logging road.
Eventually we got off this road and hit upon what is called the most remote youth hostel in all of England, the “YHA Black Sail”.  It’s a Lake District National Park outpost oasis actually, in the middle of nowhere. At the Black Sail we could use a restroom, make some tea, and rest on the porch. There were about a dozen people hanging around (resting) outside.

We met up with Olga from The Netherlands here.  She was “wild camping” along the trek.  This is the European term for backpacking and camping…no Sherpa service for her.
We rested for about 15 minutes here at the youth hostel, then headed out.

The trail had become consistently rocky now, where we needed to be very cognizant of each step so as to not twist an ankle.
We were now headed toward the most difficult ascent so far, up the side of the very steep Loft Beck. There were slate steps in parts, dirt trail in others, and rocky trail in others. But we just kept going up and up. We stopped often. The views along the way and at the top were truly amazing to behold…a just reward. Green rolling hills, cascades, mountains, ridge lines, and mountain lakes all around up close and in the distance. This is what it’s about!! Oh, and sheep of course.

 

It was dazzling. Then we made our way along the top toward Grey Knotts. This is where we were very fortunate for the recent dry weather. It was boggy in spite of no rain, and trail markings were just a series of cairns which we just zig-zagged toward, trying to avoid the worst of the boggy terrain. We could see other hikers in the near distance but we were on our own navigating the rocky, wet, muddy terrain to get from cairn to cairn. With any rain this would have been a very wet and muddy stretch.

We finally hit the other side of the mountain after about a mile. Then the descent down to Borrowdale. This was a horrendously steep descent along a path that I described as an uneven cobblestone path with loose stones, rocks, and gravel thrown on top. This was very uncomfortable and relentlessly tedious. It took us about an hour to get down this. Amazingly, there were several day-hikers coming up this trail from a parking lot way down below. At this parking lot was another youth hostel, cafe, and a working quarry!

At the very bottom of this arduous descent, right where the parking lot is, Emilie slid and fell on the dirt and gravel. She did not get hurt, but, oh the irony of successfully ascending and descending this very challenging Loft Beck, only to slip at the end where others could see her fall!

We’re not done yet! We had about a 3-mile hike from here to our BnB in Seatoller. The C2C trail from here was again stones and rocks…omg! We finally got to the town of Seatoller and walked the small roads for about a mile.

We got to the Glaramara House around 4:30 PM. Fortunately the Glaramara House is a very nice, slightly more traditional and conservative inn compared to the pub/inns we had stayed in the previous two nights. We checked-in, selected our dinner menu, found our duffel bags were in our room, rested a bit, and then had drinks on the patio with a pleasant older couple from England until dinner at 7:30 PM. Everybody ate at 7:30.

After dinner we prepared for the next day’s Lake District hike and went to bed.

Next: C2C Day 3&4 Lake District NP