C2Cx2 2014 Planning
Our 2010 C2C walk had been such a fantastic experience that we sometimes talked of doing another long distance walk at some stage. Graham looked at alternatives in the UK and elsewhere. Mary wanted to do the C2C again but, after coming down off a real high at the end of the previous C2C, she suggested that next time we turn around at the end and go back to St Bees. Graham's counter-proposal was to do the C2C one way but to do one of the many alternative crossings the other way. We agreed on this, and decided we would begin with the alternative walking east to west so we could look forward to the camaraderie of the C2C for the return.
We looked at the alternatives, some of which look like really good walks, but most involved a significant journey from their start or end to the start of the C2C. Mary's preference was to walk the entire route, including the connection between the two walks, so we needed a walk that started or finished near St Bees. The Long Distance Walkers Association website (http://www.ldwa.org.uk/index.php) enabled us to compare alternative routes against the C2C. The North of England Way (NoEW), a walk devised by David Maughan and described in a guidebook with detailed hand drawn maps, parallels the C2C between 5 and 20 miles to the south. It begins at Ravenglass, about 15 miles south of St Bees along the Cumbrian Coastal Path, and finishes at Scarborough, about 15 miles south of Robin Hoods Bay via Ravenscar along the Cleveland Way. By walking the NoEW in reverse, it could be combined with the C2C as a circular walk – from Ravenscar to Ravenglass and return. Should it be the C2C O walk (C2C circular), C2Cx2 walk, the C2C2 walk (mathematically incorrect, but catchy), or the Two Ravens walk?
So when were we going to do this walk? The weather had been good for most of our previous C2C in September, so we opted for another autumn walk. Mary's preference was that it should be sooner, while we were still fit, rather than waiting until we had both retired. We already had an Australian birdwatching holiday planned for 2013. Graham had retired but Mary still worked four days a week. She would have accumulated a bit over 5 weeks leave by September 2014. So September 2014 it was!
We had several guidebooks and the Harvey maps from our previous C2C, so that part of the walk was covered. A copy of the out of print guidebook for the NoEW was purchased on the web, and the route was then traced on google maps and on OS maps. A web search for NoEW revealed that Brigantes provide a luggage transport service for the route, and a couple of reports by people who had done the walk (Sheep Happens, Walking Places Forum). A further report appeared just before we left for our walk (Lite Hikers Blog). So unlike the C2C, for which the number of blogs seems to have increased exponentially over the past decade, there was little information available on the NoEW. The parts of the NoEW coinciding with the Cleveland Way (about half of one day) and the Dales Way (three and a half days) could be explored through reports on those other walks, but the remainder was going to be more of an adventure.
Our recollection several years after the event was that we had been able to walk the 17 day C2C itinerary relatively easily in 2010. To fit our C2Cx2 into the holiday period Mary had available, we planned a more challenging itinerary with longer daily mileages of up to 20 miles. We (Graham) also looked at variations to the C2C route so we could see more of England.
Having explored the route, decided how far we could walk in a day, and read about accommodation options along the way, we devised a 31 day walk itinerary that included two rest days. Allowing for travel to and from Robin Hoods Bay and a couple of days in London, we could squeeze the holiday into Mary's leave period.
The plans were finalised in December 2013. Because of Mary's back problems, brought on during a long haul economy flight a decade ago, and very little recovery time before the start of the walk, we again decided to treat ourselves to business class fares, this time flying with Cathay Pacific.
We began booking accommodation in January 2014. The Tripadviser site was useful for getting a feel about options in each of the places we wanted to stay. We found suitable accommodation in all but one of the towns and villages. Along the C2C route we booked into most, but not all, of the places we had liked in 2010.
We had planned to spend a night in London after our flight before heading up to Scarborough. When we attempted to book train tickets from London to Scarborough as they became available 12 weeks before the travel date, we found there were no discount seats available on our intended day of travel – the last weekend of the summer holidays. So we booked train tickets a day earlier on the day of our flight arrival, saving almost £200 and giving us an extra day in Scarborough. To ease our way into the walk we decided to use the extra day to split what would have been a long first day of walking into two shorter segments.