Epilogue

There are three types of people in the world those that can count and those that cannot.

If you are one of these three then this is the walk by numbers

Overall distance         330.25 km (205 Miles)

Average per day        19.43 km

Ascent                        11,310

Descent                      11,249

Time out                     90 hours 53 min

Stopped                     15 hours 28 min

Speed                        4.37 km per hour

The official distance is 190 miles but you should add some extra for getting lost and retracing steps and deviations down spur roads to accommodation and back, in my case +15 miles.

The official ascent and decent is 8,200 metres, that is if you stick to the low routes and only take those high routes where there is no other option but to go up.

Along my walk I chose additional higher ground over Dolly Wagon Pike, High Crag, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn, Striding Edge, Bleaberry Crag, East Grain, Gunnerside Moor and Melbecks Moor adding another 3,110 metres to the official accent and descent. Well worth the effort.

Overall I walked briskly each day but this is mainly due to the fact I was on my own, a single person can just move faster that a couple or a group.

The weather this time was much warmer and made this a very memorable walk showing the English countryside in all its sunny glory.

My one hope was that those days in 2011 where it rained I had sunny days this time, and for the most part this happened, which is remarkable.

However my kit was always packed for all types of weather and contingencies. You never know when you might fall in a gill, or ravine or need some extra socks.

Walking on your own changes the dynamics completely than when walking as a couple or two couples.  Most people doing this walk are couples, or groups related or friends so it is harder to connect, but not difficult if you want to.

For me I was happy to wander at my pace on my own and enjoy the solitude.

I did meet a lot of very nice people, and a lot of Aussies I must say, albeit briefly.

I was warmly welcomed when I arrived at Manchester, with a mini family reunion of cousins and extended families.

Mike and Jen came up to see me in Glenridding, Dave M drove for three hours to Richmond for dinner then three hours home.
Jane, my cousin, who walked with me from Richmond to Danby Wiske and Catherine, my cousin who met us for dinner.

Janet & Phil (Maggs’ cousins) came over from Redmire and Phil cohearsed me into a pub-crawl, such a sweet talker.

I finished the walk with a celebratory meal at the Bay Hotel with 3 other couples who all started on the same day, which, given the variances in rest days and daily distance the fact we started and finished together was surprising.

Grahame and Toni a Welsh couple, Graham holding a gate open for me on day one as I passed them on St Bees Head. Andrew and Tes, two Tasmanians I first met on day two going up Loft Beck. Nigel and Sue a couple from Dorsett I first met at the Scafell hotel after day two.

There were many occasions where we stayed at the same accommodation sharing breakfasts together and evening meals. Not seeing each other for a day or two or three then passing each other more than once some days.

Friendships that start with a simple gesture, like opening a gate and a g’day and as the walk continues the friendships grow.

It is said that there are no strangers on the Coast-to-Coast just friends that have not yet met.

Then there was old Roy, I never saw him after our encounter outside the co-op before turning up to Great Tongue.

We all enquired about him at our ‘last supper’ but no one had seen him either.

We looked for his name in the walker’s book at the Bay Hotel but no mention of him.

I hope you are OK my friend.

In addition I carried an extra stone from St Bees and dispatched it into the North Sea, for a special person, but that is another story and for another time.

Thank you to all those who have made this walk so special, and if you read this and are considering “am I capable”, give it a go, you may be surprised.

And finally now I can say that I have walked across England twice.

Will there be a third time?

I hope so.