Sunday, December 1, 2024

Day 1: Beginning the Coast to Coast Walk--an ominous start!

August 25, 2024: The weather in the morning was dark and moody. It wasn't raining, but it looked like it certainly could rain at any moment, and the wind whipped around strongly. I checked the weather forecast and fortunately, no rain was expected until after 2:00 in the afternoon, so I decided to start the day early, hike hard, and pull off 15 miles and make it to camp by 2:00 and beat the rain.

The official western terminus of the Coast to Coast Walk
 

I quickly ate breakfast, packed up camp and walked out to the official start of the Pennine Way a mere 5 minute walk away. A large monument marked the starting point, and I took photos of it but there was nobody around to ask about taking a photo of it with me, but that was always optional.

I walked down to the bay to swirl my feet in the shore's water. Just a very shallow area--enough to get the bottom of my shoes wet but not so deep that my feet would actually get wet. I had to hike, after all! Dry feet are better for walking. =)

Dipping my shoes in the Atlantic Ocean

Then I started hiking. The trail passed by the campground where I had spent the night, then climbed a steep slope to the top of a cliff towering over the shoreline.

The first couple of hours were a nice change of pace since the trail followed the scenic shoreline north along that towering cliff.

Then the trail veered inland to make its way across Northern England.

I checked the weather forecast again, and was alarmed to see it had changed dramatically--now it showed that rain was expected to start before noon! Seriously? What the heck? How could the forecast have changed so much in just the last two hours?! There's no way I could pull off 15 miles before noon at this point. I would have needed to start hiking a couple of hours earlier!

There wasn't much I could do about that, however, and I pushed onward.


The trail passed under a railroad bridge that I realized was the same bridge I would have traveled over when I rode the train into St. Bees.

I also ran into my first fellow thru-hiker of the trail just on the other side of the railroad. He was an older gentleman, a bit overweight, and he was taking a break. He seemed surprised when I showed up. Actually, I think he was more surprised that he hadn't seen anyone else until I showed up.

"Well, it is pretty early in the morning," I told him. "Not everyone is ready to leave the comfort of their lodgings for this rather cold and bleak weather!"

He had a relatively fancy hat that resembled a hat that I would imagine a Texan would wear to a party that required dressing up. Kind of a cowboy hat, but a fancy cowboy hat--although the guy didn't really give off cowboy vibes. It seemed like a strange choice for a thru-hike, though. It didn't appear to be collapsible or up for weathering the elements.

He explained that the hat had blown off his head in a gust of wind and fell into the nearby creek, so he was trying to dry it out.

Yes, the wind was an annoyance. It wasn't the worst wind I had experienced on the trail, but it was enough of a nuisance that I had to use the strap under my chin so the same fate wouldn't happen to my own hat.

We talked for a few minutes before I continued onward. I really want to get in my 15 miles before the rain started in the afternoon! I knew that was unlikely at this point, but at least I could get in as many miles as possible before the rain started in earnest.


It did not help my goal when I missed a turn in the town of Moor Row and wound up walking a quarter-mile in the wrong direction. The trail followed a road, and being such an obvious path, I stopped checking my GPS regularly and didn't realize that I needed to veer off it. Eventually I realized my error and backtracked, but by then, the first spits of rain had started. It wasn't heavy, but it was a warning. The rain was near.

I was nowhere near my destination for the day. I cursed the weather gods but pushed onward.

A bit later, the rain started picking up into a very aggressive drizzle and I finally pulled out my umbrella. The trail passed by a church with a sign saying that hikers were welcome to stop in, and a second sign that welcomed visitors for church services every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month at 11:00am. 

It was, I had noted, a Sunday and a little after 11:00am, but off the top of my head, I wasn't sure what Sunday of the month it was. There was, I figured, a more-or-less 50/50 chance that a church service was currently in progress.

Still, wanting to get out of the rain and consider my options, I walked through the cemetery to the church and as I approached the entrance, I heard organ music drifting out. It was, I thought, definitely the 4th Sunday of the month. 

I sat down on a bench outside of the church under the protective cover of the entrance, and pulled out my phone and guidebook trying to figure out what I wanted to do now.

The bench under the overhang was a nice place to stop and figure out what I wanted to do next. =)

I noticed that the Ennendale County House Hotel was located about a half-mile further up the trail, and they had space available for the night at a reasonable (albeit more than I prefer paying) price. But checking the most up-to-date weather forecast, it called for a steady rain the rest of the day. If I kept hiking, it was going to be utterly miserable. Not far ahead was also a steep hill that my guidebook seemed to suggest might be best going around if the weather was particularly bad. While I had no doubt the weather could be much worse, a steady rain with strong winds wasn't exactly ideal, and the hotel looked like the smart option.

With that decided, I headed off to the hotel, arriving at about noon. I was wet from the rain but hadn't been walking it in it long enough to be thoroughly soaked. Not yet, at least! Check-in time for the hotel was 3:00, but I figured if a room wasn't ready right away, I could probably just hang out in the attached bar/restaurant until it was. Either way, I was done hiking in the rain for the day!

There was a room available, however, so I went to it immediately. I had completed barely half the miles I had planned for the day, but for once, that least weather forecast was accurate and it had rained steadily--often times quite hard--the rest of the afternoon and it lifted my heart every time I looked out the window and was grateful to be indoors. Poor suckers that had to hike in that weather.... *shaking head* That could have been me!

Home, sweet, home for the night. My room was the one on the second floor on the far left. =)

The room, much to my surprise, included a bathtub and with nothing better to do all afternoon, I made myself a bath and soaked in it for an hour or two.

After cleaning up, I put on my camp clothes and headed down to the hotel restaurant where I ordered a burger, salad and fries for dinner. The burger was a bit plain, so I put some of my salad in it to give it a bit more texture and taste. =)

Then I just relaxed the rest of the evening reading my Kindle and watching Netflix and YouTube videos on my phone. Living the good life!


Looking back at St. Bees from the cliffs. It was low tide when I left!

Lighthouse near (but not ON) the trail.


The trail went by an active quarry, which is actually where red stone for some of the structures in Carlisle came from (such as the Carlisle Castle and Citadel).


Coast to Coast walker memorial!


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