Coast to Coast walk — frequently asked questions

The Coast to Coast is traditionally quoted as 190 miles (306 km) from St Bees on the Irish Sea to Robin Hood's Bay on the North Sea. The 16 stage lines published on this site sum to 186.9 miles (301.0 km); exact distance depends on which variants you walk.

Most walkers take 12 to 16 days. Sixteen days walks one stage a day and has no day over 18 miles; 14 days is the common choice; 12 days needs three days past 18 miles. Rest days are on top.

It starts at the beach in St Bees, Cumbria, on the Irish Sea, and finishes at the slipway in Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, on the North Sea. Tradition is to dip your boots in the sea at both ends and carry a pebble from one to the other.

West to east. That is the direction Wainwright described and the way most people walk it: the prevailing south-westerly weather is behind you, the hardest fell days come while you are fresh, and accommodation and baggage transfer are organised around it.

Yes. It opened as an official National Trail on 26 March 2026, after Natural England confirmed the upgrade in 2022 with a multi-million pound programme of surface repairs, gates, signage and waymarking. Wainwright devised the route in his 1973 guidebook and it was walked unofficially for over fifty years before designation.

Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991) was an English fellwalker and guidebook author, best known for his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. He devised the Coast to Coast and published it in 1973, deliberately as an example of a route anyone could invent for themselves rather than as an official path.

Three: the Lake District (stages 1-5), the Yorkshire Dales (roughly stages 7-10) and the North York Moors (stages 13-16). The Vale of Mowbray in between is farmland and is the flattest part of the walk.

It is a serious long-distance walk: 8813 m of ascent across the 16 stages, much of it in the first week. Individual days range from easy to very hard. The route is unwaymarked in places and stage 8 crosses open moor where navigation matters. It is not technical — no scrambling is required on the standard line — but it demands hill fitness and the ability to navigate in poor visibility.

Patterdale to Shap (stage 5), with 1128 m of ascent over 15.3 miles — the most climbing of any stage, and graded very hard. Stage 8 over Nine Standards Rigg is the hardest for navigation and underfoot conditions rather than for climbing.

St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge at 17.1 miles (27.5 km) if you walk one stage a day. The shortest is Shap to Orton at 5.4 miles. Combining stages on a 12-day schedule pushes the longest day past 21 miles.

About 8813 m across the 16 stages, of which 3879 m — more than half — is in the five Lake District stages at the start. No schedule moves that; a longer itinerary spreads it over more days but the climbing is where it is.

Yes. Much of the route is not waymarked as a single continuous path, and the crossing of Nine Standards Rigg on stage 8 is open moor where a map and compass, and the ability to use them in mist, are genuinely needed. Carry a paper map as well as a phone.

As a first long-distance walk, yes — with preparation and a 15- or 16-day schedule. It is not a good first walk in hills: several days involve sustained ascent, exposure to weather on high passes, and route-finding on open ground.

April to October, with May, June and September the pick. June has the longest daylight; September has thinner crowds and often settled weather. See when to walk.

For June to September, months ahead. Book the scarce nights first — Keld, Blakey Ridge and Clay Bank Top have very few beds between them — then fit the rest of your schedule around what you get.

No. Baggage transfer companies move a bag between each night's accommodation, so you walk with a day pack. It changes the walk considerably on the big ascent days, and it is what most people do.

There are campsites at intervals along the route, and several stage ends have one. Wild camping is not a general right in England outside parts of Dartmoor; on this route it depends on the landowner. Carrying camping kit also adds weight on the days that already have the most ascent.

Yes. It is a public right of way and a National Trail — there is no permit and no fee. What costs money is beds, food and any transfers or guiding you arrange.

No — the great majority walk it self-guided. A guided tour or a local guide for part of the route is worth considering if you are unsure about navigation on the moorland stages or want the logistics handled.

It varies by stage and it is the thing people get wrong. Some stages pass taps and villages; stage 8 from Kirkby Stephen to Keld has no reliable safe water between Hartley and the descent into Swaledale, and the moorland becks are peat-stained. Each stage page states what is available; fill up before the dry ones.

Patchy, and absent on the high and moorland sections. Download offline maps before you go — the free app works with no signal — and do not plan on being contactable every day.

Much of the route is walkable with a dog, but there is grazing land and open moor with ground-nesting birds throughout, so leads are needed for long stretches, and not all accommodation takes dogs. Check each night's booking before you commit.

The moors on stages 8, 9, 14 and 15 are managed for grouse, with shooting from mid-August. The right of way stays open, but you may meet shoots in progress; follow any signage and keep to the path.

In the towns — Kirkby Stephen, Reeth, Richmond, Osmotherley — and very little in between. Keld, Blakey Ridge and Clay Bank Top have no shop. Buy food for the following day when you pass a shop, not when you need it.

No. This is an independent guide and app operated by Pixelo Mobile Ltd. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Natural England or the National Trails.

Yes. All 16 stages, offline maps, GPS tracking, the heritage audio guides and the safety check-in are free, on iPhone and Android.

Use the trip request form: describe your dates and what you need once, and local providers come back to you. There is no agency in the middle and no commission on your trip.