Coast to Coast Path

This is the full Coast to Coast Path National Trail, a point-to-point crossing of northern England from St Bees Foreshore on the Irish Sea to Robin Hood's Bay on the North Sea. The official distance is 190 miles (306 km) one way, and most walkers take 12 to 15 days. It is not a loop and not an out-and-back, so the finish leaves you a long way from the start. Roughly the last 50 miles fall inside the North York Moors, but the record here covers the whole trail rather than that final stretch alone.

The usual sequence runs St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge, Rosthwaite, Patterdale, Shap, Kirkby Stephen, Keld, Reeth and Richmond, then over the Vale of Mowbray and Cleveland Hills before crossing the moors to Glaisdale, Grosmont and Falling Foss and dropping into Robin Hood's Bay. The reward is the sheer variety: sea cliffs, high fells, limestone country, dale villages, riverside miles, farmland and finally open heather moorland and a second coast.

Rated 8/10 and genuinely demanding as a continuous walk. The western Lake District section is the hardest, with steep, hilly and remote ground; later sections include easier lower-level walking and flat agricultural miles. Surfaces change constantly between cliff paths, fell paths, rocky and boggy upland, bridleways, lanes, forest tracks, riverside paths and village streets. Expect wet feet on the uplands and slow going where the ground is stony or peaty. Some sections have optional lower-level alternatives; the line stored here follows the official main route only.

High fells and upland rivers give way to upland hay meadows, Atlantic oakwood, limestone outcrops, plantations and working farms. Human traces are everywhere: castles and priories, slate quarries, Swaledale lead mines and the iron and alum workings of the North York Moors. Wildlife interest is broad rather than guaranteed, with upland birds, ground-nesting moorland birds and meadow species along the way.

Dogs are welcome on public rights of way, with real restrictions. Livestock is common in farmland, so keep dogs on a short lead or to heel near stock. Coastal paths include unfenced high cliffs. On moorland, dogs must stay on public rights of way in most places, and from 1 March to 31 July they must be on a lead shorter than 2 metres to protect ground-nesting birds.

The start is at St Bees Foreshore, served by the beachfront car park on Firth Drive, with rail access to St Bees from Carlisle or Lancaster. At the eastern end, buses connect Robin Hood's Bay toward Whitby station. Because the route is one way, plan return travel, luggage and overnight stops before you set out. There is no general route-wide wild camping entitlement, so book accommodation or get landowner permission rather than assuming you can pitch.

Walkers drawn mainly to moorland and sea cliffs, rather than a full country crossing, often prefer the Cleveland Way, which keeps to the North York Moors and its coast in a far more compact package.