Well, I'm about to embark on a cross-country hike literally across an entire country
I'm gonna be walking 190 miles or a little over 300 kilometers from one coast of England to the other
and following on in tradition
I'm gonna be picking up a
Stone here from the shores of the Irish Sea on the west coast and carrying it with me on foot all the way
To the East Coast when I'll get the northern sea so me and this
Little stone here have a seriously epic journey ahead of us. So we better hit the trail and get moving
New tracks offer flexible self-guided walking and cycling coast-to-coast trips
However, I've decided to join their popular 15-day guided walk
Making this journey with me is a small group of like-minded travelers and our local guide
It's been a really great opportunity meet some people that I wouldn't have otherwise met they're from different countries
but also completely different backgrounds to myself and you know
It's just been fantastic to have the laughs along the way and the ups and downs, you know
literally, but also figuratively to say being part of the group spoon-feeding enormous photos originally described by Alfred Wainwright in
1973 England's coast-to-coast walk has become legendary as one of the world's top long-distance warps
Due to the sheer distances
Unpredictable weather and some steep climbs. It can be a challenging experience for many people. It's certainly a challenging walk
I think most people say that at some point or another
You know it is
190 miles it's the height of Everest and the descent of Everest over the whole journey
So you do need to prepared for that. It's not outrageously hot, but it's challenging enough just to sort of keep you
Interested. No, it's it's it's challenging
It's not for somebody who's never walked before sure but if you're a walker, it's definitely doable
Yeah, just a little bit of prep work and maybe some physical training
But the rewards for all this hard work are truly extraordinary
Well, I will admit to having been a little bit naive about how incredibly beautiful just what could be
I didn't picture it as one of those walks that you go on for the incredible scenery
Feeding mountains and huge vistas yet. If you look all around us here
Absolutely
Beautiful. I
Would say in spots
Breathtaking very lush and green and just very very natural
So yeah
One of the things that attracts me about coming to the coast-to-coast walk is that it takes you through three of the national parks in
The UK so it takes you through the Lake District then through the yorkshire dales and then the North Yorkshire Moors
So three stunningly beautiful areas
Well, the 15-day guided walk is rated as challenging covering between 12 and 39 kilometers per day
There is also an 18 day Rambler option still quite challenging. It reduces. The number of kilometers walked each day
Well, here we are yet another incredibly quaint
Beautiful little English village. It's just so cool to be able to show up here after a long
Sometimes quite arduous days walking and just know that you have your accommodation sorted out
nice private room comfy bed
A few pints in a cozy little English pub and a lovely meal waiting for you
I tell you when it comes to comfort food the English they know how to do it. I love the English pub culture
So we've tried as many pubs as we can possibly
And the trip advantage again of coming with an organised group is the accommodations all sorted out
So you rock up at a place and they're expecting you and your rooms ready and that sort of thing, which is great
You don't have the hassle of organising all that sort of thing
Every night has been slightly different but the rooms have been spacious and the hosts have been really wonderful the bed and breakfast
There's a very personal touch
Each morning kicks off with a hearty English breakfast before hitting the trail and since our bags are transferred from hotel to hotel
For us all we need to take with us are our bare essentials
Making each day's walking is light and easy as it can possibly be
one thing I find really fantastic about the coast-to-coast walk is the sheer distances that we're actually
walking
To be able to look at the world map and find two points and sort of say we walked on our own two legs
From this point to this point no car. No plane. No train for me
that is a huge huge sense of accomplishment you
know you've closer and closer to that goal of getting to the other end and
For me, it's tremendous and then to look back and think I did it I think
That really motivates me and after nearly two weeks walking the northern sea on the east coast of Britain comes into view
the feeling that we had just crossed the entire width of England on foot is something hard to describe I
Had kind of an image of what it might be like but you know, this is where you surpassed it. I'd suggest anyone who's
Wants to challenge themselves get themselves out of their comfort zone a little bit and come to somewhere
Extraordinarily beautiful to come and give it a go. Yes. Well this these
It's it's it's massive and I would love everybody that I know to do it because I think it's fabulous
You