The 6am bus to Preston was bang on time (£3.45) single. As I arrived at the Railway station just before 6:40 I noticed the 6:40 train to Glasgow was just about to leave. I quickly bought a paper and jumped on. It would take me to Carlisle a bit sooner than I’d planned but my motto is if I can get nearer sooner go for it. In Carlisle I read the rest of my paper in the waiting room until it was time to catch the 8:40 to Barrow. It was a cool sunny morning as we left and the train arrived in St Bees on time at 10am. My plan is to do the first part of Wainwright’s Coast to Coast walk. I did the whole walk in May 1980 with Charlie and I’m just curious how things have changed.

Preston railway station

St Bees railway station.

Things had changed a lot. I got off the train with many other walkers, some about to set off on the same walk. In 1990 we didn’t see another coast to coaster until day 5. I stopped to take a picture of the level crossing which showed the St Bees name. A woman walker rushed up to me and asked if I wanted her to take a picture of me on my camera with me in it. I politely declined. It was blue sky and sunny as I set off but not particularly warm. I reached the car park and sea wall and was horrified at the number of people heading out along the cliff top path. I headed off and pretended they weren’t there and just enjoyed the sunshine and clear views across to the Isle of Man and across the Solway Forth to Scotland.

It wasn’t all picturesque and a lot of the northern horizon was infected with wind turbines. The ultimate blot on the landscape. I tried to keep a positive view but it was difficult as most of the gates were the ludicrous kissing gates that are only designed for thin people. Anyone wearing a large ruck sack (me) can’t get through. I had to climb the wooden fence on each occasion. Madness! Someone has been paid to design these gates. Apart from the gates the path was easy to follow and I continued north until I passed the lighthouse where the path swings east. Approaching the old quarry I met a couple of locals who pointed me in the right direction.

The quarry was being used again and the path had been diverted slightly. At the quarry bungalow I turned inland along the access track. I followed it and enjoyed the easy walking all the way to Sandwith where I found a seat and treated myself to a 2 minute rest before continuing along the road north. It’s quite a nice hamlet but at the north end is a pub which was closed. I cane to Lanehead and crossed the road to follow an old track which is now a mostly overgrown path festooned with undergrowth and nettles. The path improved to a track as I approached the buildings of Demesne. I crossed St Bees Rd to Bell House where the original Wainwright route had been diverted. The diversion took me down through fields to an underpass of the railway line and back to Stanley Pond. My view is that the diversion makes sense. The path climbed through fields and under an old disused railway line until I reached the empty Scalegill Hall buildings and the main road into Whitehaven.

From St Bees Head

2007 Coast to Coast statue
by Colin Telfer.

I stopped briefly by a statue that had been erected to commemorate the coast to coast walkers. It was nice enough but the shrubbery around it was neglected. I followed the road into Moor Row which I found fairly depressing and lifeless. I continued past old empty and boarded up buildings until a sign took me across fields and across the same old rail track which was now a path and cycleway. I left it to follow a path that was being cleared by a Council worker until I came to the Cleator cricket ground which I’d commented on in my 1980 diary. There was a cricket match on then but now just a few people practicing. I reached the main street in Cleator and turned left. There was no welcoming bench to sit on. Before leaving there was a small shop where I’d hoped I could buy some water. I walked in to see two women attendants having a conversation and totally ignoring my presence.

Fawlty Towers must have been inspired by this shop. I left and continued along paths to the long climb of Dent fell. There were a few people in front of me when I reached the buildings of Black How. I set off up the forestry track and briefly spoke to a couple in front. Climbing though the conifers I caught up to a group of about 8 walkers as we arrived at the main cairn on Dent Fell. They stopped and I didn’t. As I passed them there was a waft of bad body odour, not mine. Another similar summit with a smaller cairn followed. Then there was a descent towards Nannycatch Gate which became ridiculously steep at the end. In the valley there was an easy path along the river until the road at Scarney Brow. A sign could be of use here as there is a branch in the track and no indication which way to go. The right, and minor branch, goes to the false stone circle and the main left branch goes to the main Scarny Brow road to Ennerdale Bridge. So I missed the delights of the stone circle and finished up descending the road into Ennerdale Bridge. It’s quite a nice village and as I set off along the road to Ennerdale Water I saw a man with a yellow jacket, clipboard and several children taking a cycling proficiency test. The sight was so rural and delightful. I can’t see it happening in the main urban sprawl, well not on the main roads. Ahead of me I could see Anglers Crag, above Ennerdale Water. I’d originally planned to camp there but as I’d camped there before I knew water was a problem. I reached the bank of Ennerdale Water and found a stream issuing from a nearby spring. My phone even had a signal so I decided to camp just above the waters edge.