Coast to Coast Path: Limestone Country

Friday 28th August 2026

On the day before this walk I had left the Lake District and reached the village of Shap where there are not many affordable places to stay for the solo traveller, so I caught a bus to the town of Penrith and, after spending the night there, I caught a bus back to Shap. This meant I didn’t restart the Coast to Coast Path until mid-morning with almost twenty miles of walking ahead of me. However, unlike while walking across the Lake District, the terrain was now relatively flat over wide, empty lands, so I was confident that I could easily cover the distance. The Coast to Coast Path soon took me out of Shap, across the railway line and up to the M6 motorway, which marks a third of the way across the country. I had left the fells of the Lake District behind me and, as I passed the now disused Shapfell Quarry, ahead of me was a very different landscape with limestone crags soon lining my way. A clear track took me into a vast, open landscape under dark clouds that threatened rain and on reaching the enclosed settlement of Oddendale I entered the Yorkshire Dales and turning right I set off into the open heather moorland. The easy walking soon led me to an area of limestone outcrops that was a fascinating place for me to stand while gazing at the plants growing in the sheltered cracks between the limestone slabs, but soon I lost all sense of direction and it took me awhile to locate the path again.

While light rain briefly fell, the path took me across a very gently undulating terrain around the head of the River Lyvennet before turning south to pass through an area where some young trees have been planted. I previously did most of the Coast to Coast Walk in 2010 and it has been interesting for me to compare and look at the differences that have been made to the trail since then with the biggest being national trail status, but seeing these trees planted on what was previously empty moorland is more subtle. I have also been intrigued by the many changes that have been made to route of the trail since Wainwright first devised the Coast to Coast Walk more than fifty years ago. His stated aim was to stick to right-of-ways, however, it soon became apparent that this was not the case and his biggest problem starts at this point. Wainwright took the trail across Great Asby Scar, a vast limestone plateau with little public access at the time, so eventually the trail had to be diverted around it. Initially this was along roads through the village of Orton, which added two miles to the trail, but the revised edition introduced a new route through the farmland below the escarpment. 

Wainwright’s original route is now technically access land so it could be taken, but the modern route is shorter and easier to follow, so, while it would be interesting to explore the original route across Great Asby Scar, I would need plenty of spare time and not while doing the Coast to Coast Path. The national trail follows the revised route and it is the route I took in 2010 so I did so again, though it is very dull as it crosses many enclosed, grassy fields. There was some compensation with the slopes to my left rising steeply to the tops that the trail original crossed while to my right, across the wide Lune valley I could see the Howgill Fells in the distance, with the weather surprisingly clearing at this point, though rain could still be seen ahead of me. Eventually the agricultural interlude mercifully ended in an area of moorland with the purple flowers of heather shining brightly under the grey, overcast skies. 

At a crossing of paths Wainwright’s original Coast to Coast route comes down from the hills but the modern Coast to Coast Path turns right at this point, so the meeting is brief, as I headed south. Wainwright originally took the trail around the northern banks of Sunbiggin Tarn, but the trail later took a wide diversion to the south along a road and then on what was originally described as difficult to follow and very wet, but is now easy going with wooden causeways crossing the wettest section. I enjoyed the abundance of wild flowers and heather on Tarn Moor, which was a pleasure for me to walk through in weather that was better than feared. Although I missed the Lake District, there was a lot to appeal in walking amongst this rich vegetation in quiet isolation, which you don’t get in the Lakes, and the gentler gradients made it considerably less tiring. Unfortunately, the landscape soon deteriorated to be replaced by a monoculture of grass grazed by the sheep of Ravenstonedale Moor, so I was relieved when a walled enclosure disrupted the monotony. After crossing a road I was finally reunited with Wainwright’s original route, which for seven miles had been going its own way, though there were still more variations ahead. I was now on a clear track running beside a wall, which was eventually crossed, only to continue following the wall. The Coast to Coast Walk originally crossed this field, but now the path goes around so as not to disturb the remains of ancient settlements.

With stunning views ahead of me into Smardale, the steepest gradients on this section of the trail took me down into the valley and after crossing the bridge I climbed back out with fabulous views of Smardalegill Viaduct on the disused Lune valley railway line. As the gradient eased heather appeared again, but soon I left the moor with more tedious walking while ahead of me I could see heavy rain falling on the Pennine range. This prompted me to put my waterproofs on, but the rain never came and I eventually realised that the wind was coming from behind me, so the rain clouds had passed over my head but not dropped their rain until they had reached the Pennine range. The access road for Greenriggs Farm brought me into the town of Kirkby Stephen at the end of one of the longest stages of the Coast to Coast and, surprisingly, I enjoyed it. The weather could have been much worse and while there was none of the dramatic scenery of the Lake District, the gentle gradients had soothed my body, which I appreciated. I may have left the Lake District behind, but the Yorkshire Dales doesn’t disappoint in comparison.

Coast to Coast Path: Haweswater

Thursday 27th August 2026

Although this was the first time I have done the whole of the Coast to Coast, I previously did most of the trail in 2010 when I just covered the parts in National Parks. On that occasion, my course through the Lake District was not too dissimilar to the route I had now taken, and my decision to stop at the Windermere Youth Hostel, in the Trout Beck valley, was repeated from 2010. So, my route now was following in my steps of then, through the village of Troutbeck and up the valley with the Troutbeck Tongue dominating the view ahead of me. I hadn’t planned on climbing the Tongue, but I since climbed it in 2010 I couldn’t resist the temptation now. A steep climb led me through the bracken with misty views down the valley until I reached the outcrops that adorn the summit. I had enjoyed a bit of sunshine at the start of this walk, though thin, hazy cloud soon began to thicken and the weather slowly deteriorated throughout the course of a day that would finally, tragically, take me out of the Lake District on the Coast to Coast Path. I had a lot of regret about this, but the worsening of the weather somehow made the necessity of leaving the Lake District easier for me to accept. After reaching the summit of Troutbeck Tongue I made my way along the extended ridge that took me past several rocky outcrops slowly descending to reach Hagg Gill and the start of Scot Rake. 

A clear path led me steeply up the western slopes of Froswick into an increasingly strong, cold wind while the clouds descended onto the tops of the fells, so when I reached the top of the ridge I decided I would not be following my 2010 route over the top of High Street. It felt too windy for that so I turned right onto a thin path that clings to the mountain edge above Gavel Crag and Bleathwaite Crag with occasional breaks in the clouds affording me with tantalising views down the valley to Kentmere Reservoir. This may not have been the quickest route, but it was an exciting path, and eventually I reached the clear, rocky descent that led me to Nan Bield Pass, which must be one of the greatest mountain passes in the Lake District. There, I turned left to descend a very rocky path, eroded in places, that slowed my pace considerably so that I became concerned, which prompted me to hurry once the terrain had eased and eventually I reached Mardale Head. Turning left, I followed the path that crosses the ridge that comes down from High Street while Haweswater Reservoir was looking rather depleted following the hot, dry weather this summer. The arm of the reservoir that extends to Mardale Head had no water in it and, after crossing the ridge, the remains of Riggindale Farm could clearly be seen, revealed where originally it had been covered by the waters. After crossing Riggindale Beck I finally rejoined the Coast to Coast Path, but with time on my mind I kept up my pace along the narrow path through tall bracken while many insects flew around me.

A steep climb took me across the slopes below Castle Crag while affording me with views, through the haze, back across the reservoir, towards the Rigg, with Branstree behind. The distant views were very poor so I turned my attention to the path and didn’t take another picture until I reached Shap Abbey. After a brief respite while crossing Whelter Beck, I crossed steep ground again, below Whelter Knotts, and eventually reached the Forces on Measand Beck, but this was too heavily wooded for me to see the waterfalls, so I didn’t stop. However, my rapid pace thus far beside the reservoir meant I could now slow down and take my time along a wider path to the end of Haweswater Reservoir where I turned into the small community of Burnbacks and onto a delightful path through woodland that led me to a road. There was a complicated arrangement here, crossing the road, over an ancient packhorse bridge and then over a footbridge, but I believe there are plans to build a new bridge to avoid the difficulties. Wainwright, in fact, never came this way. His original route went via Naddle Gate via a pre-existing right-of-way, but the Coast to Coast Walk was diverted in 1994 to Naddle Bridge and from there along permissive paths alongside Haweswater Beck. Where the trail leaves the river the route has been changed, thanks to national trail status, conforming to the right-of-way that previously led to an impassable fence, which now has a stile to enable onward progress past Highpark buildings and Rawhead. 

Behind me, in the distance I could see the mountains that surround Haweswater while around me the scenery was agricultural with rolling hills, which made it clear to me that I had now left the Lake District behind. At the end of all my holidays in the Lake District I have to say goodbye, to tear myself away, leaving a part of my heart behind, and this holiday is no different. But the difference is that my holiday is not over and, in a way, I now had a completely different holiday ahead of me, a second phase. There was a lot more of this trail to come. The rest of the walking was tedious with one point where the path was not clear, so I had to check my navigation, which brought me to the River Lowther, beside the ruins of Shap Abbey. As the long promised rain finally began to appear I followed the footpath that keeps off the road and led me into the village of Shap where this stage of the Coast to Coast Path ends. This is a heartbreaking stage of the trail because it had brought me out of the much-loved Lake District, but it also brought me to other places that have their own appeal. The rock scenery around Nan Bield Pass was stunning, one of the best places in the Lake District and now I had left the national park, to pass into more subdued, more agricultural surroundings. The rest of the Coast to Coast Path would not be able to match what I had just walked through.