On the 27th of June 2009 at 5.25 pm, a successful completion of the walk, made in the style described above, was made taking 12 days and 9 hours, walking East to West.
Outlined in the following page is a detailed report on the planning involved and lessons learnt during the undertaking.
Please use the links above to access further information.

The purpose behind this venture could not be summed up better than by old A.G. himself, when reading afterwards in his guide, A Coast to Coast Walk -

" Plan your own marathon and do something never done before, something you will enjoy, a route that will take you to the places often read about but never yet seen, you will be on your own, unhampered by human beings en bloc, relying on your own resources to complete what you set out to do. Preferably go alone and do it off your own bat, for it is the solitary walker, always, who most closely identifies himself with his surroundings, who observes as he goes along, who really feels the satisfaction of achievement "

A.G Wainwright

View EC2C in a larger map

Be under no illusion that this walk is waymarked throughout. It is an unofficial route and as such suffers from a scarcity of signage that, depending on your outlook, will lead to a more or less enjoyable experience.
However your preferences, you will be led on a quiz chase of contrived progress that for me added to the character of the trail and endeared me to its individuality.
Ideally take a guide book, maps, compass and Gps and know how to use them, as crossing some of the remoter sections in bad weather could be interesting. There is a wealth of helpful information on the Web about this walk so don't be disheartened, knowledge is security and weighs nothing so pack as much as you can!
I chose the East to West option, Robin Hood's Bay to St. Bee's. Walking this direction, chosen as the bulk of the food weight would be consumed by the time the Lakes was reached, proved to be a fortuitous decision. Contrary to the opinion that its better to have the weather at your back, the Westerly wind initially cooled and prevented excess sweating, consequently saving water. Luckily, during the Lakeland section, switching to an Easterly, gave much needed assistance up them hills!
Having the Lakes, as the last third was indeed the "Jewel in the Crown" and I would favour this direction every time. The only downside seams to be that St. Bee's has not the historical finishing significance or character of Robin Hood's Bay.
Wainwright's route was followed for the whole distance, taking the direct route between Rosthwaite and Patterdale and the High stile alternative between Rosthwaite and Ennerdale Bridge.
I aimed to walk 16 miles a day but this varied in reality to between 14 -19 miles.
Daily mileage detailed below.

Day 1 - 15
Day 2 - 16
Day 3 - 14
Day 4 - 16
Day 5 - 17
Day 6 - 17
Day 7 - 19
Day 8 - 14
Day 9 - 16
Day 10 - 15
Day 11 - 15
Day 12 - 16

See Navigation post for more info.

Pre walk


This is based on a no pan, no washup system and was conceived to require the least amount of water and effort possible.
Food is stored and hydrated, via cold or hot water from the Stove System and eaten in the same resealable bag (1-5). Hot water hydrated food is placed inside a thermal jacket (9) to preserve heat and aid in the cooking process, this also conveniently acts as a hand friendly heat barrier during eating.
For more info on this cooking system see The Alpine Oven blog.
The daily menu includes:

Breakfast (1) - porridge with dried milk, sugar and freeze dried fruit. 658 Kc, 200g
Drinks pack (2) - tea, coffee, fruit tea, soup, cocoa. 492 Kc, 158g
Lunch (3 & 6) - assorted nuts, dried fruit, two seed bars and oatcakes (6) 1803 Kc, 402g
Dinner (4) - pot noodle. 561Kc, 124g
Pudding (5) - angel delight with added dried milk and freeze dried fruit. 420 Kc, 115g

This equates to just under 4000 calories for a packeted weight of 1kg per day. Total weight of food to be carried for twelve days equals 12kg.
Drinking vessels (7) are cut down Pot Noodle pots 17g and hold 300ml, for tea and coffee.
A Spork (8) 10g completes the system which has been proven on a 3 night acclimatization camp above 3000m, on the Allalinhorn glacier above Saas Fee in Switzerland.



Pictured below are the meals packaged into 12 daily packs, (gas canister for scale) and view inside of rucksack, protected from heat by metallic bubble wrap. Not much space left!



Post walk
Thrown in at the last minute were 12 Mars Bars 720g and 4 tubes of Primula squeezy cheese 660g ( for the oatcakes ), taking the total weight of food to 12.4kg. The Mars Bars were a heavy addition but worth their weight in gold for that extra boost when needed. The squeezy cheese was also essential as I could not have eaten the dry oatcakes on their own.The food as a whole worked well, the only drawback being the lack of water effecting the processing of dry food. Nuts were un appetizing in a dehydrated state and being heavy, I would reduce the amount in future. 100g of porridge was a lot to eat first thing in the morning so I would do likewise, down to about 70g. Pot noodles were good but I wish I had taken more flavours as I got a bit tired of curry every night! I did carry out 1.43kg of food that I had not time, inclination or water to eat, my appetite was effected by trapped wind, dehydration, exhaustion and the heat. I could have comfortable left out a days food over this period but who's to say these conditions are typical. Here's a short video showing the simplicity of food preparation in the field, a Pot Noodle shown in this example -

The pre-prepared fast, no fuss meal preparation really paid dividends at the end of a long hard day.

Pre walk

Pre walk

The "SILVERPOINT Solar Trio" Solar Charged LED Torch (1) will be used as my light source, saving weight on carrying a separate torch. It will be positioned on top of my sack and will charge its own 7oomAh/4.8v internal battery in daylight hours. It's power, via lead (6), can be used with adapter (4) to charge my phone (3) which is also my MP3/radio. It can run my GPS (2) direct via USB connection or charge spare AA batteries (5) for its use.

Whilst never an ideal energy source ( power to weight ratio ) compared with taking quantities of high capacity batteries, I am persevering with the "alternative technology" tack as it potentially offers the benefits of longer periods of autonomy. This will inevitable lead to investing in lightweight thin Powerfilm technology.

Shortly before leaving I adapted the Solar charger into a higher capacity more adaptable unit. The casing was taken apart and the batteries substituted for four removable high capacity AA rechargeable. The bare unit was then placed in a small water proof pouch. The benefits being the obvious higher capacity storage, the charged batteries could be used in my GPS and it was possible to make sure the unit was fully charged before leaving by using a mains charger. The whole thing weighed no more than the cased original , achieving a better power to weight ratio. The total number of batteries taken were 6 AA's.

Post walk

There was always going to be a shortage of power using this system but I admit I did not perceive to run out so drastically towards the end. The GPS batteries lasted till about day 6 where they had to be rotated regularly as they were not charging thoroughly. Charging my phone took it's toll on the batteries and during the last 3 days my phone was dead and the GPS would stay on for about 2 minutes, before cutting out, every battery rotation. As I lost my map on day 10, navigation proved problematic and it's a miracle I made forward progress but I love a challenge and this made it thrilling to the very finish! A better more reliable power system is needed for any future outing.

Pre walk

The tent (5) is a Robens Summer Wind 1.4kg, which is single skin and and the lightest I own, so lets hope for good weather! It has been packaged it in such a way that pitching and striking will take the minimum of effort. The tent, groundsheet and Thermorest Prolite mat (6) 460g are folded together and bundled into a grey Exped dry bag (photo 1). Unpacking takes place in photo's 2, 3 and 4 and erection, using two walking poles (not shown) and pegs, completes the shelter. The intention is to strap this to the outside of my rucksack as most of the space is taken up by food. The sleeping bag (7), which is a down Alpkit Skyhigh 400 (no longer made) weighs 1.06Kg including orange Exped dry bag (photo 1). Totalling 2.866kg, this is not the lightest combination but for now it will have to do.
Click on picture for higher resolution.

Post walk

The experience with the tent was very positive. Quick and easy pitching at the end of a late day, being tired, hungry and besieged by midges, was a blessing. Single skin tents usually suffer with condensation and this was no exception, despite the high amount of ventilation. This led to packing away and erecting a wet tent which added to the overall weight carried and was unpleasant to enter. Having said that, the wet interior allowed for the effortless killing of midges which easily stuck to the wet side walls.
The sleeping bag gave mixed results, during the first half, I was slightly cold at night at higher altitudes, during the second and warmer half, it was adequate. I neglected to take a silk liner bag, due to the extra weight but this would have solved the problem and also kept the bags interior cleaner.

• Tent - Robens Summer Wind


• Sleeping bag - Alpkit SkyHigh 400


• Sleeping mat - Thermorest Prolite


• Bothy bag - Terra Nova Bothy 2


• Stove - MSR Pocket Rocket and Jetboil Cup


• Rucksack - Grivel Alpine 55


• Trekking poles - Alpkit CarbonLite


• Footwear - New Balance Trail


• Hydration - Platypus Hoser


• Water Filter - Travel Well Pocket


• Gps - Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx


• Camera - Olympus Stylus 1030SW


• Solar Charger - SilverPoint Solar Trio


• Dry bags - Exped

Notes on equipment

Choice of foot ware, played a major part in fatigue. Trail running shoes, all very well for an ultralight approach, were inadequate when burdened with a 28kg pack. Every stone underfoot painfully felt, prevented comfortable sleep. Feeling like they had been beaten with sticks at the end of the day became a dreaded curse.

The majority of navigation, made by following a downloaded GPS track, was planned to cut out time wasted in way finding. This approach, while not recommended, allowed all energy to be channelled into forward progress as any mistakes, however small, were keenly felt. Maps were used as a backup and to aid day, route and water planning logistics, no guide book was taken due to weight saving. The downside being that no historical, cultural or factual information could be added to the experience, although this was a calculated compromise from the offset.
My Gps, a Garmin Gpsmap 60CSx was loaded with waypoints, obtained from the Web, which allowed me to accurately follow and correct any errors in my orientation along the way.
Two Footprint Coast to coast strip maps, East and West, were used and found to be very good on the whole, although a frustrating lack of detail in certain areas was experienced.
I downloaded a copy of the strip maps onto my phone as a backup but on losing my map days before the finish, I also ran out of power, so this redundant backup was of no use to me but maybe to a future "unplugger".