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C2C Walking 
Holiday Information

190 Miles > 3 National Parks > 1 epic journey!

8th June – 22nd June 2025

If you’re looking for an unforgettable experience, then the Official Coast to Coast Guided Walking Tour is for you!

Spanning from one coast to another , the guided walk lasts 14 days – led by one of our expert guides who detailed interpretations of the coast to coast landscape, geology, fauna, flora, history and heritage along the way!

You will be in for a treat! Book your once in a lifetime holiday now, filled with:

  • stunning views, cool insights and unspoilt hamlets
  • lots of walking
  • fantastic accommodation
  • delicious food
  • secure parking
  • daily baggage transfers
  • unspoilt hamlets
  • lots of laughs
  • unforgettable memories & much more!!

 

Not to be missed!

The price is per person and based on twin sharing rooms.

We specialise in Coast to Coast tours, and that means we can deliver a deluxe experience.

 

High Quality Accommodation
You will be staying in our personally selected and high quality, friendly accommodations. We curate a great range of country inns, guest houses, farmhouses and small family-run hotels for your trip, each visited by our team to ensure excellence. Delicious filling breakfasts are included with your stay.

 

Expert Guide
One of Walkers’ Britain’s highly trained and experienced walking guides will look after you during your Coast to Coast walk. Each of their carefully selected and licensed guides bring a personal aspect to the trip. They have experience in mountain/expedition guiding, adventuring and all things outdoors. Through their enthusiasm and knowledge, you’ll get a very good insight in the flora, fauna and history of northern England. Your guide is on hand to ensure your holiday runs smoothly.

 

Daily Luggage Transfers & Store
Our drivers travel the route each day on a consistent and reliable schedule moving your bag with care and professionalism from accommodation to accommodation, always ensuring it is there by 4pm (and often much earlier depending on location along the route). If you are coming to England as part of a longer holiday and have items you do not need for the Coast to Coast, we can store them safely and securely in our office for the duration of your trip and then drop off at your final accommodation.

 

Assistance Pre- & Post Trip
If you need assistance or advice on anything related to your trip then we will happily help and can arrange for you.

 

Support From Us
We’re available 7 days a week and not just in office hours to help you with any query or request either prior to or during your wonderful trip. Don’t forget we are the only local and the only specialist Coast to Coast holiday provider. Meaning we can freely give you any insights into the route, we will meet you as you pass through, we can even look outside our window to tell you exactly what the ground conditions are like and what the weather is doing.

Our packages cover all of the things you will need, with just your lunch, evening meal and travel insurance for you to choose and pay direct.

 

Evening Meals
Tasty options throughout the walk including country pubs, restaurants, bistros, and local takeaways (look for our suggestions in your Info Pack). Allow around £20 – £25 per person for a two-course meal.

 

Lunches
Your appetite may change along the route as you adapt to the challenges and you may have special requirements, which is why we avoid choosing your lunches for you. As with evening meals, there are often many great local options to choose from and in any case your accommodations can provide a packed lunch (which you simply order on arrival). Allow around £5-£7pp for a full packed lunch including sandwich, snacks and drink.

 

Travel Insurance
We have developed a partnership with the leading travel insurance company Citybond – part of the TIF plc group. They provide a comprehensive range of travel insurance offering high levels of cover for medical emergency, repatriation, personal baggage, cancellation and much more. This partnership grants you 10% discount on their policies when you give the unique referral code C2CP10. To see more please click here.

Planning your Arrival / Departure

Bus links – Train Links

 

Which airport is closest to route?

The closest ones to the start and finish (and hence easiest to travel to/from) are Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

How to get to St Bees from Airport (applies whether London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow)

Train to Carlisle then local service to St Bees

 

Stay up to date with the latest route conditions, closures and diversions

 

Travel Advice to St Bees, Kirkby Stephen and from Robin Hood’s Bay

We recommend that you have suitable and adequate travel insurance that includes cover should you have to cancel your holiday/booking or abandon after you have started.

 

St Bees – If you are travelling from overseas you might find travelling by rail directly out to St Bees and back from Robin Hood’s Bay your easiest option. In this case your first night will be at St Bees rather than Kirkby Stephen. Manchester is the nearest international airport and there are rail stations at Whitehaven and St Bees on the west coast. Approximate rail journey time from Manchester to St Bees is between 4 – 4.5hrs depending on connections. It is always best to buy your rail ticket in advance – see www.nationalrail.co.uk or traveline.info

 

Kirkby Stephen – If you are travelling by car, your easiest option is to drive up to Kirkby Stephen, centrally situated just off J38 of the M6. Here you can spend your first night before parking your car in our secure pound in the morning and taking the Packhorse Minibus out to St Bees to start your Coast to Coast journey. If you live close to Kirkby Stephen and can get to us by 8.00am – you could drive directly to us, leave your car and catch the minibus departing by 8.15am prompt. You can also travel to Kirkby Stephen by train – it is on the famous Settle-Carlisle railway line.

 

Robin Hood’s Bay / The End of your Trip – If you want to come straight back to Kirkby Stephen when you finish your trip, bear in mind that the Packhorse bus departs at 4pm latest from Robin Hood’s Bay. You will need to decide whether you want another night at Kirkby Stephen before setting off home, or whether you want to jump straight into the car and head off at 6.15pm when the minibus gets back. If you are travelling from overseas, Manchester is the nearest major international airport. Travel there by bus or taxi to Scarborough station (we can arrange the taxi on your behalf) and then by train. Total journey time is approximately 3.5 – 4hrs. If your onward travel is heading north then you may find train from Whitby station to be the best option. This is approx. 20min by bus or taxi from Robin Hood’s Bay. See www.nationalrail.co.uk or traveline.info

After an exhilarating day walking, cycling or running along the Coast to Coast, the right accommodation is essential. Welcomed into a friendly, clean, comfortable and characterful accommodation to stay is an absolute must. We are very demanding in the standards we expect for our customers.

 

Our accommodation hosts are our trusted and valued partners in ensuring you have a special trip. From 400-year-old cottages and farmhouses, through family-owned country inns and colourful guesthouses, there are over 130 places we use and visit frequently.

 

We look at your overall trip and curate it so the places you stay give you a full flavour of the styles and characters to be found on the Way. No two consecutive nights may be the same as far as the physical surroundings go, though the warmth of the welcome, quality of the lodging & food and facilities to dry your kit are a constant.

 

With over 130 places, it’s a little hard to list without some key omissions! We take your nights and mornings seriously, and so do our accommodation choices.

 

For this holiday, accommodation is in twin-sharing rooms, though there will also be a limited number of single rooms booked on first come basis (single supplement incurs a charge).

Single room supplement 2025 GBP£670

Book Your Coast to Coast Adventure

Secure your booking with just a £200 deposit today.

Want a more bespoke Coast to Coast trip? Create your own adventure here.

Coast to Coast Packhorse is part of PHSV Ltd. Your booking contract will therefore be with PHSV Ltd and your payment will be made to PHSV Ltd.

Key Information

Price from: £2280

Days: 15

Type: Guided

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C2C Holiday

Itinerary for your
C2C Walking Holiday

Dedicated to the Coast to Coast route devised by fell walker Alfred Wainwright, C2C Packhorse has served walkers and cyclists across this route for many years. Based at Kirkby Stephen, close to the trail’s halfway mark, the Packhorse provides a comprehensive range of services, thus creating a supportive backdrop to your self-guided trip.

Make your own way to the starting point of the Coast to Coast walk in St Bees. It’s located on the edge of the Irish Sea with views across to the Isle of Man (where we offer a walk as well). You should have time to visit the Abbey church, which has features on the local history and has a display on a mummified knight that was discovered in a lead coffin from the graveyard. If you have an extra night here, you can walk the coastal path or quiet inland roads to the attractive town of Whitehaven with its marina and great museum. It is famous in the annals of the US navy as the site of an elaborate raid on the British mainland by one John Paul Jones during the American War of Independence. This evening you will meet your fellow walkers and guide for a trip briefing.

Today is our first day walking the Coast to Coast! We start with a climb from the beach taking a footpath along red sandstone coastal cliffs of St Bees Head. It has England’s only breeding colony of Black Guillimots.

We then move inland over hilly ground to the edge of the Lake District National Park. Dent Hill is the first real fell that we cross and will give you some indication as to whether you are fit enough for the following days! Although short, there follows possibly the steepest descent of the whole tour, which is down to Nannycatch Gate and Beck. It is a delightful stroll which brings us to the final descent to leafy Ennerdale Bridge.

The day’s total ascent 780m / descent 665m. Note: 8 June departure only, the entire group will walk to Ennerdale Bridge before being transferred by taxi to Cleator (approx 10 mins) to overnight. You will be transferred back to Ennerdale Bridge the following morning to continue your walk.

Walk on a quiet and scenic footpath along the shore of Ennerdale Water, with a bit of an easy scramble under Angler’s Crag at Robin Hood’s Seat. A long walk on a forest track then continues to Black Sail Hut, which is the smallest youth hostel and originally a shepherd’s hut.

A steep climb follows up the Lowther Beck before traversing some of the Lakeland fells, perhaps with views down to Buttermere. Finally you reach the ‘drum house’, which marks the descent path to the Honister Slate Mine workings & cafe and Borrowdale.

This is perhaps the most delightful valley in the Lakes with its crags and broadleaved trees. Borrowdale is a delightful ensemble of hamlets: Seatoller (the wettest place in England), Longthwaite, Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite. Delightful riverside paths connect the places and their pubs together – if you have sufficient energy left for the evening. You might be interested to know that ‘thwaite’ is old Norse for paddock. The day’s total ascent 765m / descent 785m.

Enjoy classic Lakeland scenery over Greenup Edge to Easedale and Grasmere.

Grasmere is one of Lakeland’s most celebrated villages and hopefully there is time either this afternoon or tomorrow morning to visit the poet Wordsworth’s home at Dove Cottage and drop into the famous Ginger bread shop! The day’s total ascent 750m / descent 760m.

A great walk over Grisedale Pass (609m/2000ft) and around the small mountain lake of Grisedale Tarn to Patterdale.

In good weather and if our group is reasonably strong, we recommend that we take the detour route up St Sunday Crag. It will give some exceptional views down across Ullswater on the descend to Patterdale, possibly the most breathtaking of the trip.

The day’s total ascent: 900m / descent 805m (via the optional route over St Sunday Crag, less if we avoid this). *Add 1½ hours for the detour of St Sunday Crag.

After completing today’s walk, some would say this was the most difficult stage on the Coast to Coast walk.

The day starts with a steep climb up past pretty Angle Tarn. We’ll then hike up and onwards to a critical cairn where we turn off the route to High Street. It will take us up and over Kidsty Pike (780m / 2560ft), the highest point on the Coast to Coast, and then descend steeply to walk along Haweswater. This is a huge body of water that was conceived in 1929 to supply Manchester with drinking water, drowning a couple of villages in the process.

We then undulate through fields to Shap Abbey, the most easterly point of the Lake District National Park. This was the last abbey to be founded in England (1199) and the last to be destroyed (1540). It nevertheless is a pretty place to take a break with some new interpretation signs. After this, we continue into Shap, the old granite mining town with several pubs and shops. The village offers an interesting insight to the history of the area. The day’s total ascent 1174m / descent 1009m.

There follows a hilly section across Limestone Moors with limestone pavements in places strewn with ‘erratic’ boulders moved there by glaciers.

Finally we drop into the gentler climes around Orton. From here, a diversion of about a mile can be made to this quaint picturesque village that is home to Kennedy’s Chocolate Factory shop to lead you into temptation. Walking now between Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales, there is a lot of attractive farmland to cross with a section of moors around Sunbiggin Tarn – an important site for birds.

A steep descent to the Scandal Beck at Smardale Bridge makes for a nice late lunch stop. Then ascend over Smardale Fell for the pretty descent into Kirkby Stephen’s attractive market town. Its St. Hedda’s Church contains the 8th Century Loki stone relating to Norse Mythology. The day’s total ascent 808m / descent 950m.

Climb out of town to the cairns of Nine Standards Rigg (661m/2170 feet) with its array of obelisks.

This is an ancient possibly boundary feature that no one has any real knowledge of. It marks the Watershed of England. Next we cross squelchy moors down to Keld in Swaledale. If it is a wet and cold day we might relish a scone and tea made on the farm at Ravenseat, where they breed prime rams. The moors then become increasingly gentler as we walk into Keld with its many waterfalls and old stone barns. The day’s total ascent 780m / descent 575m.

There are two options today.
>> The first is the slightly longer & higher alternative over wild moorland with long-abandoned lead mines, a magnet for the industrial archaeologist.
>> The second option is the pretty route via Swaledale, which is a lovely option if we have unfavourable weather or we just prefer a lower level walk. There is a really nice pub in Gunnerside on this second route.

Our day finishes in Reeth an attractive green village which flourished at the height of the mining age and today does well out of tourism, hence a collection of pubs and tea shops. The day’s total ascent 838m / descent 911m (via the higher route).

Our morning walk through pretty Swaledale is lined with limestone crags on either side and allows time in Richmond for shopping (note most shops closed Sunday) and sightseeing.

The extremely picturesque North Yorkshire town of Richmond, with its cobbled market square and Norman castle, is an ever-popular destination for visitors. We may also follow the swale to Town Falls, which are quite impressive when the river is in spate. The day’s total ascent 395m / descent 510m.

This is the longest and flattest day on the Coast to Coast route, bridging the gap between the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors National Parks. Enjoy a gentle rural day, walking out from Richmond beside the River Swale and across the fields to Catterick Race Course.

We then thread our way to Brompton on Swale, an ideal first lunch stop in the churchyard. Continue trundling along beside tiny streams and quiet country roads reaching the village of Danby Wiske with its green and sole pub at 14 miles / 22.5km, 5hrs.

We may stop for a second lunch to refuel. From Danby Wiske it is primarily a road walk although there are cross-country sections.

There are two hills towards the end, a short climb to (what was) East Harlsey Castle, and then with the North York Moors pressing ever closer we have to carefully cross the main A19 road to take a lovely woodland footpath up the hill to Osmotherley. On the way, we may visit Mount Grace Priory (1398) this is a ruin but there has been restoration work and there are remaining duck ponds and drainage features.

Osmotherley is a quaint hill village with three pubs to choose from and Britain’s oldest functioning Methodist Church (1754). John Wesley came to preach here. The day’s total ascent 375m / descent 292m.

A strenuous day on Wainwright’s trail with repeated ascents and descents in the Cleveland Hills, then across heather moors to Rosedale. This is a roller coaster walk. A steep stretch from Osmotherley introduces us to the North York Moors: sandy heather-clad hills with areas of forest.

After coming off Scarth Wood Moor, there is a long ascent up Live Moor and Carlton Bank (408m) before we descend to Lord Stones Café, almost hidden in an off road embankment, ready for coffee time. There then follows the succession of Cringle Moor, Broughton Bank and White Hill – all at or over 400m. We loose and then re-ascend 100-200m between each one.

White Hill has an area of sandstone boulders called The Wainstones that we thread through on the way up. Great views in clear weather, incl. Roseberry Topping, Vale of Mowbray and back to the Pennines. From the road at Claybank Top, we then follow a moorland ridge up over Round Hill (454m) and maintain our height as the path follows the line of the old dismantled Rosedale railway line.

The moor is bleak in bad weather and punctured in places by standing stones, some marked with inscriptions. There are enticing views at times into the fertile upper valleys of Farn and Esk dales and the arrival at the ancient Lion Inn at Blakey can be a great relief. The day’s total ascent 1021m / descent 880m.

After a bit of a road perambulation past a white cross called Fat Betty, we follow an easy undulating descent down to beautiful wooded Eskdale.

We also get some views opening up to the sea. The latter part of today’s walk follows a pretty path through the woodlands on the banks of the River Esk. We come across the ‘Beggars Bridge’ a parabolic stone structure that has a story of love lost and love refound!

Our overnight place of Egton Bridge features a church with relics of the Catholic martyr, Nicholas Postgate. The day’s total ascent 265m / descent 616m.

Following a delightful private road to Grosmont, we might get there in time to see a steam train pull out for Pickering.

We then follow a very steep pull up across heather moors with views down to Whitby and its Abbey. But the sea and journey’s end is still tantalizingly far as the route abruptly changes course to visit the May Beck valley with its Falling Foss waterfall. A last area of high moor brings us to the coast, where the last 5 km/3 miles are spent on the coastal cliff path to Robin Hood’s Bay.

It will appear almost by surprise as we near it. This is a village of red roofed houses clustered around its harbour on the North Sea coast marking the end of this 190 odd-mile crossing of England. We celebrate with a drink at the Bay Hotel and as tradition states, dip our toes into the sea. The day’s total ascent 775m / descent 770m.

Trip concludes in Scarborough after breakfast.

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“Oh, how can I put into words the joys of a walk over country such as this; the scenes that delight the eyes, the blessed peace of mind, the sheer exuberance which fills your soul as you tread the firm turf? This is something to be lived, not read about…” Alfred Wainwright