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We Travel With A Purpose

Our 200-Mile Trek Across the UK

April 21, 2014 by Sonia Marsh 9 Comments

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Alana Woods author pic

 Trekking across the UK

“My Gutsy Story®”-Alana Woods

 

In April 2013 I was in the UK helping my oldest daughter cope with three children under 7: two boys, 6 and 2, and a new baby girl. After the birth I stayed on because daughter and her man were getting married on 1 August in Italy and daughter had asked me to stay handy.

End of June saw my husband John touching down at Gatwick and after a week of the boys and him getting re-acquainted we took off to do a few weeks travelling. No point getting under the son-in-law’s feet.

We spent a week touring Ireland visiting John’s ancestral roots and then headed back to the UK to undertake a walk we hadn’t long known about. The famous Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast walk. John had seen it on TV in Australia before flying over. You cross the UK from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, starting at a little village called St Bees and finishing at Robin Hood’s Bay.

The 200+ mile walk takes you through the Lake District, over the Pennines and across the Yorkshire Moors just a little way down from the Scottish border.

We knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. We’d booked through a company called Mac’s Adventures and their website lists it as 4 out 5 in difficulty. But we figured We’re Aussies, we can do it.

And we were right, we made it, no disasters. But, and it’s a big but, it was a real test of stamina. And that’s taking into account the best weather the country had seen for years. That meant no armpit-deep bogs to sink into—only ankle deep—no soaking wet clothes to peel ourselves out of every evening, and no howling gales to pitch ourselves against.

And thank goodness for that, because just walking those distances—up to 16 miles a day—up and down mountains was shattering enough.

Tradition is that you take a pebble from the beach at St Bees and dip your boots into the Irish Sea. Then at the end you drop the pebble and dip your boots in the North Sea.

Start at St Bees copy
Start at St Bees

Second day in we were in the Lake District and despite what I’ve said above the weather was horrible. The guidebook advised against tackling peaks in bad weather so we took the low route. But at Loft Beck there’s no escaping a stiff climb from one valley to another—in icy sheeting rain, with gusting howling winds. About half way up I had to give myself a stern talking to. I was darned if I was going to be the one they had to send in the rescue helicopter for that day.

The second day in and the weather is foul,

we’re scaling Loft Beck and the wind it does howl,

what I would give

to be sure I will live,

is everything I’m carrying to survive.

 

The rain stings with little bullets of ice

that hit my exposed bits like pellets of rice,

it cascades down the rocks

soaking my socks,

I have doubts I will ever revive.

 

The wind roars and blows,

I can’t stem the flow from my nose,

snot flies to every point in the land

because I daren’t spare a hand.

All I want is to safely arrive.

We had two truly shattering days in the walk. The first was the last day in the Lake District, the 16 mile Patterdale to Shap leg, with no tea houses, pubs, shops or anything else to ease the pain. My God! There’s the last peak, Kidsty Pike, then there’s traversing Haweswater reservoir which the guidebook describes as “Soon you’re panting like a hippo on a treadmill” at the end of which you leave the Lakes national park and start picking up a few C2C signs. By then, if I’d had the breath to say it, I would have been calling “My kingdom for a tea house!” We were total ruins by the time we reached that night’s accommodation, much too tired to eat.

The Pennines and moors gave great expansive views and lots of boggy ground to skirt. An unexpected sight were the Nine Standards, ancient sentinels against no-one knows who or what. I imagine one day they’ll be cordoned off like Stonehenge but for now we cheerfully sat on them while taking a lunch break.

The Nine Standards
The Nine Standards

 

Alana resting at Nine Standards
Alana resting at Nine Standards

 

By the time we arrived at Ravenseat Farm, several hours on from the Standards, we were gasping for the tea and scones the farmer’s wife, Amanda, is famous for. We weren’t sure she’d be open because she’d given birth to her 8th baby less than a week before. But she was! Serving everyone herself. Now there’s a gutsy story for you! I loved the ‘Warning. Free range children’ sign at the gate.

 

Ravenseat Farm

 

Welcome tea and scones
Welcome tea and scones

The Yorkshire Moors were a delight. Comparatively easy up-and-down-dale walking with long stretches of rolling tweed colours. We were a couple of weeks early for the moors in all their purple heather glory and I was sad about that. It would have been a memory to keep forever.

Tweed coloured moors
Tweed coloured moors
Purple heather
Purple heather

For all its fame the Coast to Coast isn’t an official walk so there are no signposts in the national parks, and they make up quite a percentage of the distance. In the Lake District successive walkers have built stone cairns to indicate the path but it’s not foolproof. We wandered off non-existent paths numerous times, sometimes following other walkers who were going somewhere entirely different!

The last day was the second of our shattering walks. The North Sea came into view miles before we hit the coast and the first town of any size we spied was Whitby with its abbey ruins standing proud and alone on the cliff. But there was still a hell of a way to go and by the time we saw Robin Hood’s Bay we were almost too tired to make the steep descent to the sea where we found the tide out and had to walk half way to France to reach it!

Whitby and the North Sea
Whitby and the North Sea
Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay
John dropping pebble
John dropping pebble

 

Alana dropping pebble
Alana dropping pebble

 

Would we do it again? Not on your Nellie! Got nothing to prove by repeating it.

But it has given us a taste for more walking. I think that’s pretty gutsy of us.

 

ALANA WOODS … intrigue queen. As a novelist, that’s me. I toyed with ‘thriller queen’ as an author description but my novels are much more suspense intrigue.

I’m a storyteller from way back but not a prolific producer. It can take me years to be satisfied with the quality of a story and how I tell it.

I have two suspense intrigue thrillers, a short story collection and a writing guide published to date, and I’m reworking a third thriller that should be out this year.

Quality is the name of the game and it’s what I strive for.   Website: http://www.alanawoods.com

Please join Alana Woods  on:

  • Twitter
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She has published 4 books:

 

Amazon links: These are Georiot links that send people to their local Amazon store:
— Imbroglio:   http://georiot.co/IMBROGLIO
— Automaton:  http://georiot.co/AUTOMATON
— Tapestries and other short stories:  http://georiot.co/TAPESTRIES
Tapestries cover 255 KB
— 25 essential writing tips: guide to writing good fiction:  http://georiot.co/25WritingTips
25 Tips cover 117 KB
MGS FINAL COVER Small
Click on cover to go to Amazon

Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?

Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here

Filed Under: My Gutsy Story, Travel & Adventure Tagged With: “My Gutsy Story®” Alana Woods

Comments

  1. Sonia Marsh says

    April 21, 2014 at 6:56 am

    Alana, I now feel like I’ve exercised enough for the year, thanks to you for taking me on this amazing trek across the UK. The scenery is gorgeous, and I am glad you didn’t try this in the winter.
    Sonia Marsh recently posted..Our 200-Mile Trek Across the UK My Profile

    Reply
    • Alana Woods says

      April 21, 2014 at 4:52 pm

      Sonia, thank you so much for the invitation to tell you about our UK adventure. It was definitely a case of just putting one foot after the other. Essential, though, to keep looking up to take in the amazing views. If any of your readers are walkers I recommend they think about this one — but as you say, in good weather. It would have been absolutely miserable if the elements had been against us.

      Reply
  2. Sharon Lippincott says

    April 21, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    I don’t know which is more gutsy, your walk or helping your daughter deal with those tots. But the walk is definitely more adventurous and strenuous, and lots of fun to read about. I have friends who did this on bicycles. Either trip sounds beyond what I’m inclined to tackle. Bravo!
    Sharon Lippincott recently posted..Thoughts on the Writing ProcessMy Profile

    Reply
    • Alana Woods says

      April 21, 2014 at 4:55 pm

      Hi Sharon, I think trying it with bikes would have been much harder. We saw people doing it, but the terrain is so difficult underfoot — loose stones ranging from boulders to pebbles that you’re continually slipping and sliding around on — that they were carrying the bikes mostly. Unless of course they followed the roads, which is an option.

      Reply
  3. Lady Fi says

    April 21, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    I feel exercised just reading this! Well done you.
    Lady Fi recently posted..Softly springMy Profile

    Reply
    • Alana Woods says

      April 21, 2014 at 9:38 pm

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply
  4. Cynthia says

    April 21, 2014 at 11:02 pm

    Definitely gutsy!

    Reply
    • Alana Woods says

      April 21, 2014 at 11:09 pm

      Thanks Cynthia, I was a little worried that it didn’t really qualify as gutsy, but I’ve come around to thinking that it was — because it was a real test of fortitude for both of us.

      Reply
  5. Ginger Simpson says

    May 1, 2014 at 8:35 am

    You were gutsy to take on three grandchildren let alone the trek. I immediately recognized your writing as that of a fellow author. You put me in the scene and allowed me to experience it with you. Best of luck in the polls, and thank you for sharing your story with us. Isn’t it wonderful how our memories dim and hold on to the things that make our lives more pleasant…but only when we let them.
    Ginger Simpson recently posted..Meet Cindy Johnson from Shortcomings – #YAMy Profile

    Reply

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