UK - Coast To Coast (WeBo) - Venture
UK - Coast To Coast (WeBo) - Venture
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Summary
Summary
A 186 mile route that follows the Coast To Coast national trail from east to west (WeBo) and completed over 11 days. There are numerous alternative routes along the trail, and so the actual mileage may differ, but I reckon this won’t be more or less than 10 miles difference. The official start of the route is in St Bees on the west coast of England, near to the Lake District. The official end of the route is Robin Hood’s Bay on the east coast of England, on the edge of the North York Moors. My journey tackled this in reverse, Robin Hood’s Bay to St Bees (reasons later). The route passes through 3 National Parks: North York Moors, Dales and Lake District. The trail was designed by the grumpy rambler, Alfred Wainwright, in his 1973 book. He says in the introduction of the book that he wanted to encourage other people to devise their own long-distance walks. The trail was officially opened as a National Trail on the 26th of March, 2026. This meant that there was now much better signage along the route and parts of the trail had been improved. This was one of the reasons why I’d delayed walking the trail until now.
The Venture includes 4 wildcamps and 7 campsites. The 11 walks are on average 17 miles long (10 miles being the shortest and 25 miles the longest). The ascent involved is around 8,500 metres, which is just short of the height of Everest asl. In other words, this schedule for the walk is tough. It is probably best adopted by those that attempt it during the summer months, when the days are longer, and those have a reasonable level of fitness. My Trailblazer guide suggests: 19 days (relaxed pace), 15 days (medium pace) and 11 days (fast pace).
Itinerary Summary
Itinerary Summary
The trail starts at the twee village of Robin Hood’s Bay and includes a preamble northwards along the coast. It then turns westwards and heads into the North York Moors. The traverse of the moors and its dales takes 3 days and includes a variety of landscape from woodland trails, to country lanes and desolate moors. It culminates in a dramatic rollercoaster path around the northeast edge of the national park.
A day is then spent negotiating the fields in the flat hinterland between the North York Moors and the Dales. Arguably, this is the least interesting part of the trail, but it does pass through some surprisingly pretty villages and terrain.
The traverse of the Dales takes a couple of days and roughly follows the east-west line of the River Swale. It passes through typically, epic Dales scenery. My route includes a high level alternative that explores the industrial remains of the lead mining industry near Gunnerside. The impressive large cairns on Nine Standards Rigg are also visited, before dropping down to Kirkby Stephen and the start of the Cumbria section.
A day is spent walking from Kirkby Stephen to Shap, the start of the Lake District section. This is a relatively low level day, but is surrounded by the distant hills of the Dales, Howgills, Lake District and Pennines. There’s some field hopping, but is actually rather a pleasant, picturesque route.
The final section of the Coast To Coast is a 4 day crossing of the Lake District. These are the toughest days on the trail. It starts with a pretty amble alongside the Haweswater Reservoir, before climbing over the highest point on the Coast To Coast path, Kidsty Pike (780m). It then drops down to Patterdale, before taking the high level route over St Sunday Crag to Grasmere. Another high level route over Helm Crag is adopted to reach Greenup edge, before descending into Borrowdale. Yet another ascent over Honister Pass takes you into the magnificent Ennerdale valley. The final day of the trek is a long haul out of the valley and over the Lake District outliers to the coast. There’s then a 4 mile stumble along the coastal path to the finish point in St Bees.
Notes
Notes
WeBo Or EaBo?
WeBo Or EaBo?
The Coast To Coast Path is normally tackled from west to east (EaBo). Most people walk the route in this direction. I decided to walk it from east to west (WeBo). There are advantages and disadvantages either way and I’ve listed the main reasons for my WeBo choice below.
Advantages
It was easier for me to get to Robin Hood’s Bay than St Bees. This meant I could do a full day of walking on my first ‘travel’ day.
I thought there might be less facilities on the North York Moors section of the walk and so I carried more food with me to the start. This turned out to be a false assumption. There were just as many pubs, campsites and shops in this section as there were in the final section of the Lake District.
You meet more walkers, since most of them are NoBo and it is useful to learn about issues further west on the trail.
The Lake District is the hardest section and you’ve probably got your trail legs by this point.
Arguably, the Lake District is the prettiest part of the walk, and so there’s a feeling of leaving the best until last.
Disadvantages
There was a relentless headwind for most of the walk (up until the Lake District).
You meet more walkers, since most of them are EaBo. All the chatting can be a little time consuming, especially if you are in a rush to reach a camp spot.
Although St Bees is a pretty enough coastal town, it definitely doesn’t have the character and charm of Robin Hood’s Bay.
Other Walkers
Other Walkers
The Coast To Coast is a very popular route. A good proportion of the walkers are international. Although some of these were camping, most were using B&B and/or hotels. Some of these were using baggage transfer services too.
Honesty Cafes
Honesty Cafes
There were plenty of Honesty Cafes/Boxes along the route, although these should not be relied upon for supplies. The best ones were at Danby Wiske, Sunnybiggin Farm and Black Sail Hut. The most bizarre one was the remote ‘fridge’ on Ravenstonedale Moor. There was a series of honesty boxes at the north end of Haweswater.
Supplies
Supplies
It was easier to get supplies than I anticipated. A shop, pub or café usually turned up at some point in the day. I used the following facilities:
Day 1 - Robin Hood’s Bay - Grocery store (Post Office)
Day 2 - Grosmont - Co-Op (excellent)
Glaisdale - Grocery store (at the top of the village)Day 3 - Lordstones - Shop and café
Day 4 - A19 Petrol station (and shop)
Danby Wiske - Honest café (well provisionedDay 5 - Richmond - wide selection of shops
Reeth - Grocery Store (Post Office)Day 6 - Kirkby Stephen - One Stop grocery store
Day 7 - Shap - Co-Op
Day 8 - Glenridding - Grocery store
Day 9 - Grasmere - Co-Op
Day 10 - No stores, but cafe at Rosthwaite, Borrowdale Youth Hostel and Honister Slate Mine
Day 11 - Ennerdale Bridge - The Gather (shop and café).
Water
Water
I mostly stayed on campsites, up until the Lake District and so got my water resupplied there. The one exception was my wildcamp on Rosedale in the North York Moors. The Lion Inn has a water tap (just to the right of the front entrance) and so I filled my water bottles there. In the Lake District, it was possible to filter water from streams (with the usual cautions of water suitability). The final day is long (about 24 miles) and so ensure you filter enough water from one of the streams flowing downhill into Ennerdale Water.
Campsites
Campsites
I stayed at the following campsites:
Day 1 - Littlebeck - Intake Farm - garden pitch with good facilities.
Day 3 - Ingleby Cross - Blue Bell Inn - large flat pitching area. Shower and toilet antiquated.
Day 4 - Catterick - St Giles Farm - garden pitch with reasonable facilities.
Day 5 - Keld - Rukin’s Farm - campsite with reasonable facilities.
Day 6 - Kirby Stephen - Pennine View - campsite with excellent facilities. If you intend to have a rest day, then this is the best place to stay.
Day 7 - Shap - New Ing Lodge - B&B garden with reasonable facilities. West Coast railway line is at the bottom of the garden (ear plugs required).
Day 11 - St Bees - Seacote Park - large static caravan/camping site; toilets didn’t work; in retrospect I should have stayed at one of St Bee’s hotels.
Wildcamps
Wildcamps
I wildcamped on 4 days.
Day 2 - Rosedale - a couple of miles from the Lion Inn. At a junction of bridleways and so is an ‘arrive late, leave early’ option.
Day 8 - St Sunday Crag - halfway up the eastern path to St Sunday Crag. Next to the path and so is an ‘arrive late, leave early’ option. Excellent view of Ullswater.
Day 9 - Greenup Edge (towards Ullscarf) - a lot of the ground is boggy, but you’ll eventually find a reasonable place to pitch.
Day 10 - Black Sail Hut - cross the River Liza using the footbridge and head 100m downstream to a flat area near to two large trees. It’s a hard, stony area and so you may have to bang some pegs in. Incredible views of the mountains around the head of Ennerdale.
Transport
Transport
The easiest way to get to Robin Hood’s Bay for me (from Sheffield) was:
Train to Scarborough
X93 (or X94) bus to Robin Hood’s Bay
The easiest way to get away from St Bees was by train from its railway station. The journey took 6 hours and 5 changes to get to Sheffield. Robin Hood’s Bay travel links were definitely better, for me.
Route Finding
Route Finding
The Coast To Coast is now officially a National Trail and so the signage has been upgraded. Annoyingly, there were a few occasions where a sign was missing and I ended up walking a distance in the wrong direction. There was a definite direction bias too, favouring the EaBos. Signage was better in the Yorkshire areas, compared to the Cumbrian. There are various alternative routes along various sections. It wasn’t clear from the signage whether you were following the ‘main’ route or an alternative one.
There was effectively no signage on the Lake District high fells (although they reappear in the valleys). Therefore good navigation skills are still required.
For the most part, I could follow the signs without referring to maps. I had the paper-based Harvey’s map. This was fine for high level planning and easy route finding, but useless when the route was intricate, for example going through fields. My best map was my phone based OS map. I noticed one walker with the Cicerone Coast To Coast map. This has the trail marked on a 1:25,000 map in a booklet. I think this would have been a useful reference.
I noticed that sometimes the route that I’d plotted did not coincide with the signage on the ground. It looked like some of the route may have been slightly altered, maybe as part of making it a National Trail. In these cases I just followed the signs and I’d find that I’d drift back to the route that I’d plotted for my phone.
Scrambly Bits
Scrambly Bits
There weren’t any sections of the route that required hands-on scrambling.
Guide Books
Guide Books
The Trailblazer guide was the best for general information and planning for the walk. I didn’t use the sketch maps since I find they are too detailed and you spend more time looking at the book than the scenery.
Click on the above map for an interactive map of the routes in this Venture. Use the toggle slider to display the specific routes that you want to see on the map.
The Trails Map (dropdown, top right) is the best free map for displaying footpaths and topography. Expand to full screen (cross arrows, top right) to see route detail. Ordnance Survey maps can be used with a small subscription to Plotaroute.
See the Captain's Log of individual days for details of GPX Downloads, Plotaroute Maps and Map/Directions PDF.
Duration: 11 days
Date: 01/07/2026-11/07/2026
Overall Length: 186 miles
Overall Height Gain: 8,487m
Route: Robin Hood's Bay, Littlebeck, Grosmont, Glaisdale, Lion's Inn, Wain Stones, Ingleby Cross, Danby Wiske, Catterick, Richmond, Reeth, Keld, Kirkby Stephen, Shap, Kidsty Pike, Patterdale, Grasmere, Rosthwaite, Honister Pass, Black Sail Hut, Ennerdale Bridge, Dent Fell, Cleator, Sandwith, St Bees
Day 1 - Robin Hood's Bay To Littlebeck
Pick up a pebble from Robin Hood’s Bay beach to transport 190 miles westwards to St Bees. Dip your toes into the North Sea. It will probably be too early for The Bay Hotel to be open, but take a photo of Wainwright’s Bar and its sign indicating the end (and start for WeBos) of the Coast To Coast Walk. Drag yourself up the village’s steep street to the top of the cliffs and spend an hour or so walking northwards with a magnificent sea view. Head inland along country lanes and field hops. Cross the bleak Graystone Hills and Low Moor, before dropping down to follow a pretty woodland trail alongside May Beck. Finish the day with a pitch at a good quality farm campsite near Littlebeck.
Day 2 - Littlebeck To Farndale
A day that tackles the bleak and desolate North York Moors with its high plateaus of heather and deep, picturesque dales of woodlands and fields. Step back in time at Grosmont with its oldest independent Co-Op and its vintage railway station. Enjoy wonderful woodland trails and admire the gigantic West Coast Redwoods at Egdon Bridge. Test your strength as you climb from the bottom to the top of Glaisdale village. Pay homage to Fat Belly Cross and leave an offering. For those with ear plugs and strong tent pegs, camp at The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge. Alternatively, walk a couple of extra miles for a quiet moorland wildcamp with a fantastic view over Farndale.
Day 3 - Farndale To Ingleby Cross
An easy start following the route of the old Rosedale Railway line high above the pretty valleys of Farndale and Westerdale. Look out for the Face and Hand Stones,17th century boundary markers. Take a rest at the trig on Round Hill, the highest point on the North York Moors. The Coast To Coast Path joins the Cleveland Way and enjoys a massive rollercoaster of a trail around the edge of the moors, including a visit to the massive shards of rocks known as the Wain Stones. Admire the dramatic and open views over the flatlands towards Teesside and the Dales. Look out for the distinctive shape of Roseberry Topping. Refuel at the excellent Lordstones café. Continue the hilly rollercoaster towards Osmotherley. Enjoy the final woodland descent into the pretty village of Ingleby Cross. Over a pint at the Blue Bell Inn, consider that you have traversed the vast expanse of the North York Moors over the last three days.
Day 4 - Ingleby Cross To Catterick
The trail traverses the flatlands between the North York Moors and the Dales. Consequently the day includes a lot of field-hopping and country lane walking. There’s the potential for some bovine avoidance too. Even so, the convoluted navigation does provide stimulus for the grey matter and it does pass through some very pretty countryside and villages. Enjoy a long break at the excellent honesty cafe in Danby Wiske. There’s the chance for a spot of bird spotting in the lakes formed from old quarries near Catterick. The Coast To Coast joins the River Swale and follows it upstream to a pleasant campsite at St Giles Farm.
Day 5 - Catterick To Keld
The longest and arguably the hardest day on the Coast to Coast. An easy start though with some field-hopping and street walking to the delightful town of Richmond. If you’ve time, have a wander around the impressive castle that dominates the town above the River Swale. Country lanes and field-hopping take you westwards into the Dales with its rolling hills and limestone scars. Refuel at the honesty café at Marske’s St Edmund church, before tackling the mother of all ascents out of the village. More field-hopping brings you to twee Reeth where there are plenty of options in pubs, cafés and shops to load more calories. The route now heads high on to the moors visiting the extensive and derelict remains of the old lead mining industry. Even though the trail is high, there’s plenty of ups and downs on this section and should not be underestimated. The route leaves the moors by Swinner Gill and descends to the quaint village of Keld where your body can recoup from its exertions at Rukin’s campsite.
Day 6 - Keld To Kirkby Stephen
Wonderful walk through one of the remotest parts of the Dales. Crosses the halfway point on the Coast To Coast path almost immediately, giving the walker an early boost. The path can be fairly moist in places but the worst sections can be avoided. Climb gradually towards Birkdale Common where you join an infinite slab trail to the stunning cairns that stand proudly on the summit of Nine Standards Rigg. Amazing views in all directions from the top. Descend from the summit on slabs, stone tracks and country lanes to the busy town of Kirkby Stephen. Camp at the well provisioned Pennine View campsite.
Day 7 - Kirkby Stephen To Shap
A surprisingly pretty section of the Coast To Coast path that meanders through the fields and moors between Kirkby Stephen and Shap. The path traverses a low, rolling landscape and offers great, distant views of the hills of the Dales, Howgills, Lake District and Pennines. You really feel like you are at the centre of it all. Descends to a pretty valley that includes the dramatic (and now redundant) Smardale Gill Viaduct. Includes a bizarre encounter with the most remote, but well provisioned honesty box, that you are ever likely to stumble across. Crosses the busy M6 before entering Shap with its incredibly long high street. Finish the day with a pitch and pint at the delightful New Ing Lodge campsite (although, you might need earplugs since the west coast mainline is at the bottom of the garden).
Day 8 - Shap To St Sunday Crag
A tough walk that traverses the summit of Kidsty Pike (780m), which is the highest point on the Coast To Coast path. The day starts with a field and moor hop to Haweswater Reservoir. On the way it calls in at the 12 century Shap Abbey that still has a tower standing and many foundations remaining. A long, arduous walk along the western side of Haweswater takes you to the foot of Kidsty Pike. The ascent to the summit is steep and energy sapping, but the views from the top are outstanding. Follow a well trodden path to the unbelievably pretty Angle Tarn. Some may wish to wildcamp here , but you must stumble on downwards towards Patterdale. Those with enough energy may wish to walk an out-and-back to the grocery store in Glenridding to get provisions. The day finishes with a teeth-clenching, sweat-dripping ascent of the lower ramparts of St Sunday Crag. Wildcamp with an astounding view of Ullswater (the pitch is next to the trail and so this one is definitely a ‘pitch late, leave early’ one).
Day 9 - St Sunday Crag To Greenup Edge
A tough start to the day. Despite claiming some of St Sunday Crag’s height on yesterday’s walk, there’s still plenty of exhausting climbing involved to get to its summit. Marvelous views of the cliffs of the north edge of Fairfield and of Striding Edge over the Grisedale valley. A careful descent is required to take you down to Grisedale Tarn and this is rewarded with a relatively easy descent towards the village of Grasmere. Spend an hour or two cooling yourself next to the Co-Op refrigerator and then restocking your supplies. Head off into the Easedale valley and heave yourself up the well worn path up to the top of Helm Crag. The route now follows an undulating broad ridge over Gibson Knott to Calf Crag. The ridge offers wonderful views into the Easedale valley where you may see Coast To Coasters walking the easier, lower route. The last challenge of the day is a fairly easy climb to Greenup Edge that forms the pass between the Easedale and Borrowdale areas. Take a short walk off trail to find a suitable wildcamp spot with a guaranteed view of Honistor Pass which will form a key waypoint in tomorrow’s walk.
Day 10 - Greenup Edge To Black Sail Hut
At a smidgen under 10 miles, this is the shortest day on the Coast to Coast path. The day starts with a steep descent from Lining Crag and then an easier, more gradual trot down to the village of Rosthwaite. There are wonderful views of the mighty Eagle Crag along the way. There’s a tea room in Rosthwaite, although a more favourable fuel stop might be the Borrowdale Youth Hostel. An interesting path, including a craggy section with chains (an easy scramble) leads to Seatoller. You need to buckle down now since the bridleway up to the top of Honister Pass is relentless. Having said that, it seems mysteriously less steep than the road. Those with deep pockets might want to refuel at the Honister Slate Mine Cafe (n.b. They won’t refill your water bottles…you need to purchase their extortionately priced bottled water, which seems a bit mean to me). There’s a bit more ascent to skirt around the western flank of Grey Knotts before dropping steeply into the Ennerdale valley. Black Sail Youth Hostel is then a short walk away and this has a well provisioned honesty café. Wildcamp near the River Liza with a view from the tent including Haystacks, Green Gable, Great Gable and Kirk Fell. Perfect.
Day 11 - Black Sail Hut To St Bees
The second longest day on the Coast To Coast path (24.1 miles) and it’s a tough one. It starts off easy enough with an easy 5 mile trot from Black Sail Hut to Ennerdale Water. Things get slow and awkward on the rough 2.5 mile path along the southern side of the lake. There’s a good fuel stop at The Gather shop and cafe at Ennerdale Bridge. Afterwards, there are some outlying Lakeland fells that need to be negotiated before reaching the sea. The most difficult of these is the ascent to Dent Fell that is steep enough to make an ultra-runner weep. The Irish Sea is visible from its summit though and so the end is in sight. A convoluted and frustrating route makes use of bridleways, country lanes and field hops to complete those last few miles to the coast. Even then, the journey isn’t over since there is then an undulating and exhausting 4 mile cliff walk to St Bees. All that remains is then for you to crawl along the beach to a retreating tide and place your Robin Hood's Bay pebble in the sand. Celebrate your completion of Wainwright’s Coast To Coast walk with a Guinness from the bar of the Seacote Hotel. It will have been well earned.
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