UK COAST TO COAST ADVENTURE JOURNAL | Day 3

While day two of my UK coast to coast hike (which you can read about in my last post) was marred by tearful feelings of failure, day three was a much more positive experience. A relatively short day at just nine miles, we hiked from Borrowdale to Grasmere, once again opting for the high route in order to soak up more of those amazing Lake District views.

I’ll be honest, there were still tears. And it was still tough going. But it was a much nicer day all round – especially once we were up and over Greenup Edge and heading on the beautifully rocky route along the ridge to Helm Crag and down towards Grasmere.

The Rematch with Red Pike

The benefit of this being a series of blog posts published chapter by chapter, rather than a book released all in one go, is that I can say thank you to those who read the last post and commented or sent me messages. I really felt the love, and you helped me be much more stoic about what was not really the best experience on that particular day last October. Honestly, thanks so much for that, you made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve even had an invitation from a friend to head to the Lakes to give it another go. It’s in the diary, the rematch is on. The aim is to head back up Red Pike so I can enjoy – actually enjoy – the stunning high route over High Stile and Hay Stacks. It’s not until October, so I even have time to up my fitness before then. And time for another B12 check-up, too.

But in the meantime, I’m back with the next episode in this UK coast to coast adventure journal series. We woke up in the camping field at YHA Borrowdale, and went to sleep in the camping field at YHA Grasmere. Let me tell you about it.  

UK COAST TO COAST HIKE ADVENTURE JOURNAL

Day 3 | Tuesday 12 October | Borrowdale to Grasmere

Waking up in my little tent in Borrowdale, it felt much less like the morning after the night before than I had thought it might. I was a little stiff, certainly, but was pleasantly surprised at how my body felt after the previous day in the Lake District fells.

Having said that, we did wake up to rain. Which is not a terrible thing to happen, but I can’t deny that it adds difficulty to my morning routine and therefore causes my bottom lip to push out, just a little bit. I suppose, given that this part of England, well just up the road in Honister, is said to be the wettest in England, some rain was to be expected. And it wasn’t exactly a lot of it, just some drizzle.

Morning Routine

Given that we had booked breakfast at the YHA (booked and paid for the night before), it seemed sensible to get our bags packed up first, so we could get out on the trail straight after eating. This would become our routine over the next couple of weeks – whenever breakfast was available to purchase onsite, we’d get packed up first, and then sit and eat in a more relaxed manner without the requirement to get organised once we’d filled our bellies.

Doing this also meant we would make the cut off time for our baggage transfer service (read day zero) with ease; just one of the things we did to make sure we weren’t causing ourselves any stress during this coast to coast hike.

The frustrating thing about packing up in the rain is that everything gets wet, because you are wet. For starters, it’s impossible to get out of my Banshee without allowing the dampness inside. Maybe it’s just me and my ungraceful manner, I don’t know. At least I have enough space in that little tent to get everything other than the tent itself away and inside my large red duffel bag, before I (eventually) have to brave the outside.

Benefits of YHA Camping

Thankfully the process was eased greatly because we were camping at a YHA. The hostel at Borrowdale has a massive overhang in front of the main doors, so we could do most of the work to get things in our bags under cover – you don’t get that at most campsites. And as campers have full use of the hostel facilities, including the dining room, self-catering kitchen, lounge, showers, and drying room, we were really in no position to complain about a bit of morning drizzle.

We took our time over breakfast, which consisted of a plate of cooked deliciousness and a couple of cups of tea. The YHA had a problem with one of their deliveries which meant choices were a bit different to normal, but it was still good – fresh, hot, and plenty of it.

Once full (very full, I even noted in my journal to order less the next day…), we cleaned our teeth, filled our water bladders, took our duffel bags to the bag store, and got back on the trail. All by 8.30am. It doesn’t sound early, but I thought we did pretty well, considering we were a whole hour later on day two. Finding a morning routine when on any kind of trip that involves moving on every day takes practice, and working out how best to organise yourself is part of the adventure.

Longthwaite, Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite

Borrowdale is made up of three small settlements – Longthwaite, Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite. The YHA sits rights on the main coast to coast route at Longthwaite, meaning there was no walking back to the trail, we could just lace up our boots and carry on in the same direction as we were going when we arrived the night before. The rain had just about stopped, too, which I was most pleased about.

Our route took us first to Rosthwaite, with its grey stone cottages and small hotels, where we crossed over the ‘main’ road – the narrow but often busy B5289 which turns into Honister Pass a bit further up, and then over Stonethwaite Beck. Picking up the Cumbria Way (which is on the list…), we followed the beck for a short while, before we came off the diamond marked path and instead walked alongside Greenup Gill for the next mile or two.

Our guidebook warned us that the river here can become like one long waterfall if it’s been raining a lot, but while it was flowing fast and loudly, it wasn’t causing any issues to the path. There is something lovely about walking by fast flowing noisy water, one of my favourite hiking soundtracks.

All Climbs are Slogs

The path here was great; hard packed but easy underfoot, and simple to follow. We were pretty much following the contour line until Galleny Force, a beautiful waterfall, when the path began ascending up towards Lining Crag.

It was gentle to begin with, but soon became much more demanding on my legs and lungs. It’s fair to say I was struggling again, both with the exertion and my emotions, but I kept trying to remember that the previous day I’d made it up Red Pike, and so this very short nine-mile day was more than doable. We both took our time, plodding along at times, walking faster when we were able, making the most of the scenery all around us.

It’s times like these I like to remind myself that stopping to look back from where you came is always worth the time. The views back down to Borrowdale became more and more impressive with each metre we ascended. The cloud had risen, the rain had stopped, and we were treated to some spectacularly moody scenes from the side of that hill. I must have been in a better place generally because I was actually able to enjoy the view at the time and not just in hindsight, so all was not lost.

After a fair amount of climbing on a decent and well-worn path, with a few steps thrown in where it got very steep, we dropped down into a basin-like feature. It was sheltered there in the shadow of Eagle Crag, and perfect for a snack break. Apparently, the mounds we stood on to pose for photos are called drumlins and were created by glacial movement years (and years) ago. And the dips between the drumlins? They’re called dungeons! Oh, how I wish I’d studied geology and understood the landscape better! Are there geology courses on Skillshare?!

A Bit More Up

It soon got a bit chilly up on that hill, so we continued the climb up to Lining Crag. This was mainly steps, with a few water crossings to navigate, and we plodded slowly but surely up to the top. I made good use of my walking poles, which are a must for hilly hikes for me these days, and took my time, audibly panting but feeling more-or-less in control of my body.

Things got a big boggy up on Lining Crag and especially on Greenup Edge, but we were able to weave and pick our way around successfully. I now know that the bog here was nothing compared to what we’d experience later in the hike – if you’ve walked in the Yorkshire Dales, you probably know what I’m talking about, but I’ll save that story for another day.

Just Enough Cairns

Navigation on this section was reliant on cairns and fenceposts; there were just about enough landmarks to mean we didn’t need to take and follow a compass bearing. The guidebook I had with me included some handy tips on what to look out for, such as a specific double cairn, a hole in a wall, and a couple of stream crossings, to help us stay on the right track.

It was also an important reminder that those nice-looking piles of stones you see when out walking in the countryside should be left alone, and you shouldn’t start new ones. They really are vital when navigating difficult terrain. I can imagine if we’d had low cloud or rain on this section, it would have been a lot harder to successfully make our way across without holding a compass out in front of us at all times.

I really liked it up there. We’d only walked a handful of miles from Borrowdale, and had only a handful of miles left to get to Grasmere, but it was wonderfully remote and rugged. I felt that sense of smallness I love about being in big places, genuinely feeling I was part of the view rather than just looking at it. This is the very reason I go hiking, and is probably the number one reason for wanting to take on a big hike such as the UK coast to coast.

The Other Side

Once up and over Greenup Edge, we were back on easy-to-follow stone path, which descended quite steeply, crossing the same stream three times. We caught our first glimpses of Grasmere from here, and could see our whole route down into the valley, which looked gnarly but fun from this angle.

As we were layering up to head up onto the ridgeline, we watched a man coming up the valley path from Grasmere with his dog and an enormous pack topple over on the last few steps of the ascent. We headed over to make sure he was okay; he was fine, he’d just slipped on a loose bit of rock, no damage done.

One of the reasons I love hiking with Jenni, apart from the fact she’s a great friend, is she is very good at striking up conversations with others on the trail – and wants to do so. I’m very introverted, and while I would certainly have checked the man was okay, I’d have quickly continued on my way, back into my own little walking-focused world. But here we were, stood chatting for ages, playing with his dog, and sharing hiking notes.

He was heading up onto the fells for the night, out to enjoy the majesty of this place. He explained he’s been doing this for years, and keeps coming out because one day he wouldn’t be able to and wanted to make sure he’d explored as much of the area as he could before then. It really made me think. I’ve not done much wild camping, but I do understand the reasons people do it; to be out on the fells in the quiet, away from everyone and everything, just you and nature living side by side for a few hours.

Calf Crag, Gibson Knot and Helm Crag

We could have gone down the way that man was coming up, following Easedale Beck into the valley and to Grasmere. But we were here to do the high routes where possible, and todays looked rather fabulous from where we were stood.

The weather was being kind enough, so we left our new friend to head up onto Blea Rigg or Langdale Pike, depending on what took his fancy at the time, and took a left at the fork in the path to go over the ridgeline that stretched out in front of us.

The guidebook promised a long hard walk with rocky steps and bogs, and we certainly got all that. As seems to be the norm in the Lakes, the ridge walk included a handful of steep downs and ups. There were more people on this section of trail, mainly day hikers heading up from Grasmere, and it was good to chat to a few of them along the way.

We sat on Calf Crag for a tea break, taking shelter from the cool wind by a rock and letting our legs completely rest as we took in the view. From there we hiked and scrambled around or over Moment Crag, Gibson Knott, Bracken Hause, and finally, Helm Crag.

The view from Helm Crag was simply stunning. We could see full circle – the clouds were low and moody, but the views were spectacular (who wants blue sky, anyway?!). The path had been rocky, the route over each crag not completely obvious, but that high route was one hundred percent worth the effort.

Down (Down and Down) to Grasmere

Helm Crag sits right on top of Easedale, which means the walk down into the valley is short and sharp. Not quite as gruelling as the hike down from High Crag the previous day, but one that tested the knees none-the-less. We descended a little over 300m in less than a mile, zig zagging down a rocky, gravelly, and slippery path. It was slow going, our knees ached, but it was definitely worth it for those views from Helm Crag.

At the bottom we took a detour the book recommended through an arboretum. Named “Poet’s Walk” after Wordsworth, who wrote much of his poetry around here, it was a beautifully sheltered and green walk along an easy footpath through dense woodland. Apparently, the Lakeland poets planted many of the trees in this arboretum, I can see why they liked it here.

The path brought us out of the woodland at Lancrigg Hotel, just as the heavens opened and the rain arrived. Fortuitously, the hotel has a walker friendly tearoom, where we sat to enjoy a cup of coffee and the most delicious slice of orange, lemon and poppyseed cake. Sitting in the bay window while the rain fell heavily outside was a lovely treat.

YHA Grasmere

Our second YHA in a row, YHA Grasmere Butharlyp Howe is situated just outside the village in an old manor house in beautiful grounds. A lovely hostel, the rules and set up here were different to those at Borrowdale, but the warm and friendly welcome was very much the same.

We set up our tents, still wet from putting them away in the rain that morning, on the camping field in front of the main house. Arriving much earlier than we had to Borrowdale the previous night, we were able to make proper use of the washing and drying facilities, top up our battery packs in the lounge power sockets, and sit on the sofas catching up on messages and sorting out a few photographs.

Hike Your Own Hike

Whilst doing my laundry I got chatting to a man doing the UK coast to coast hike in short two and three-day sections. An older gentleman, Dave had got caught in the rain that we escaped by heading into that tearoom, and was trying to dry out his only jeans and shoes. He was sodden, and I was grateful the rain had waited until we were down from Helm Crag before it really went for it.

Drying rooms are fantastic, a real luxury when hiking long distances, and a very good reason to stay somewhere with one when you’re next planning a long-distance hike. It was lovely to hear about how someone else was tackling the same hike we were on in a slightly different way – it might be the same path, but the way you walk it is a very individual thing.

We could have easily walked down into Grasmere for a pub dinner, but we were happy hanging around the hostel, relaxing and chatting with other guests. And you can’t beat a cheap and cheerful YHA supper club – we were served a hearty portion of meatball pasta followed by fruit salad, which was tasty, comforting, and exactly what we needed to refuel and ready ourselves for the next day.

I could have easily napped in the warm and comfortable lounge after dinner, but I knew I really should get an early night for a proper sleep. I drifted off with ease, hoping my legs would once again recover fully overnight and I’d wake up ready to go again.

Reflections on Coast to Coast Day 3

Day three of my UK coast to coast experience was a good one. Hard, but happy. Our hiking day might have started and ended wet, and involved constantly changing up the number of layers we were wearing, but we were grateful that the cloud lifted for the most part, and we were blessed with spectacular views at every turn – in front, behind, and all around.

Nine miles doesn’t sound like much, but it was a big nine miles. We were on the trail for seven hours or so, including lots of short breaks plus that decent length stop in the tearoom. We hiked steep ascents and descents, scrambled over crags, navigated disappearing footpaths using cairns, avoided boggy sections, used stepping stones across water falls, wandered through a beautiful woodland, and ate great cake.

My fitness was still taking a battering, I had a tearful moment or two on the way up Lining Crag (that climb is steep!), but it was a pretty great day on the trail, all in.

Recommending YHAs

If you’re looking to hike the UK coast to coast and haven’t already considered it, I would highly recommend using YHA accommodation along the way. There are a handful of YHAs with camping fields accessible from the Wainwright’s traditional route, giving you the freedom and personal space of having your own tent, but with access to everything the hostel has to offer. This normally includes hot showers, self-catering kitchen, dining room, lounge, washing machine and drying room, and even a bar (check on the YHA website for specific facilities).

Our stays at YHA Borrowdale and YHA Grasmere were gifted (thanks Anita), but the £12-15 per night it normally costs is a fair price for the benefits, and I will definitely be camping at more YHAs in future.