Coast to Coast, Cumbria to North Yorkshire: The Wainwright Route Achieves National Trail Status
News that the much-loved Coast to Coast Trail will finally become an official National Trail - which brings in an additional £5.6m from Natural England - should not be surprising. For some time it has been one of England's most popular and iconic walks. The only surprising thing is the time it took to designate it.
It was in 1973 that Alfred Wainwright extended his route from the Lake District by describing this walk of 300 km, which begins on the west coast at St Bees in Cumbria and ends in the east at Robin Hood's Bay on the Yorkshire coast. There's a handy book you sign to show you've made it to the Bay Hotel and possibly a certificate. You can, of course, do it the other way around, but as Wainwright wisely pointed out, by going west to east, you have the prevailing weather behind you.
He wanted a walk that gave a cross section of the North of England, so you climb up to the Lake District from the Irish Sea, through the Quaker landscape of the Howgills, down one of the finest in Yorkshire Dales, then take one last triumphant wilderness crossing of the North York Moors. It's a great route and manages to include the beautiful spa town of Richmond along the way, for some half-time refreshment and a break. No wonder it quickly became a national favourite.
I can claim to know the walk as well as anyone because I took it , chimerically, with a pack mule, which meant that my pace was relatively slow. Jethro, while a tough character, wasn't the fastest on the blocks, but that slow pace allowed me to study the terrain in more detail.
I have found that small market towns such as Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria have been transformed by Coast to Coast, as it is a natural stopover for the approximately 6,000 walkers who use the route each year. Today the town has a Coast to Coast fish and chip shop, several outdoor promenade shops and a bustling tourist information center in the old cloisters. Much of this is down to one person: by including Kirkby Stephen as a key stopping point, Wainwright put it on the map.
After the announcement of the new national trail status, I discussed it with Mark Peatfield, the owner of Eden Outdoors walking gear store in Kirkby Stephen.
Although there is a plaque honoring Wainwright in the main square, there is no statuette. If this needed to be rectified, I asked Mark.
"I was born in what is now the Coast to Coast Fish and Chips Shop," Mark said . "Fish and chips was Wainwright's favorite dish. I remember he ate it. We wouldn't have any visitors at all without him. These days - or at least after the pandemic - hotels get a lot of people staying throughout the season.
News that the much-loved Coast to Coast Trail will finally become an official National Trail - which brings in an additional £5.6m from Natural England - should not be surprising. For some time it has been one of England's most popular and iconic walks. The only surprising thing is the time it took to designate it.
It was in 1973 that Alfred Wainwright extended his route from the Lake District by describing this walk of 300 km, which begins on the west coast at St Bees in Cumbria and ends in the east at Robin Hood's Bay on the Yorkshire coast. There's a handy book you sign to show you've made it to the Bay Hotel and possibly a certificate. You can, of course, do it the other way around, but as Wainwright wisely pointed out, by going west to east, you have the prevailing weather behind you.
He wanted a walk that gave a cross section of the North of England, so you climb up to the Lake District from the Irish Sea, through the Quaker landscape of the Howgills, down one of the finest in Yorkshire Dales, then take one last triumphant wilderness crossing of the North York Moors. It's a great route and manages to include the beautiful spa town of Richmond along the way, for some half-time refreshment and a break. No wonder it quickly became a national favourite.
I can claim to know the walk as well as anyone because I took it , chimerically, with a pack mule, which meant that my pace was relatively slow. Jethro, while a tough character, wasn't the fastest on the blocks, but that slow pace allowed me to study the terrain in more detail.
I have found that small market towns such as Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria have been transformed by Coast to Coast, as it is a natural stopover for the approximately 6,000 walkers who use the route each year. Today the town has a Coast to Coast fish and chip shop, several outdoor promenade shops and a bustling tourist information center in the old cloisters. Much of this is down to one person: by including Kirkby Stephen as a key stopping point, Wainwright put it on the map.
After the announcement of the new national trail status, I discussed it with Mark Peatfield, the owner of Eden Outdoors walking gear store in Kirkby Stephen.
Although there is a plaque honoring Wainwright in the main square, there is no statuette. If this needed to be rectified, I asked Mark.
"I was born in what is now the Coast to Coast Fish and Chips Shop," Mark said . "Fish and chips was Wainwright's favorite dish. I remember he ate it. We wouldn't have any visitors at all without him. These days - or at least after the pandemic - hotels get a lot of people staying throughout the season.
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