Posts Page - Jims Walking Journey

Everest Base Camp Trek – Pherice to Lobuche

Pherice 13,911ft to Lobuche 16,175ft

The aim of the day is to get to Lobuche all in one piece and without any acclimatisation problems. I Slept OK, one of the downsides of taking Diamox is it gets rid of the water in your body which means a couple of trips to the toilet in the night, not too bad at home but when you’ve got to get out of your warm sleeping bag into the freezing cold, pitch black night, put your boots and head torch on and wander off to the toilet it’s not so great.

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Everest Base Camp Trek – Tengboche to Pherice

Tengboche 12,687ft to Pheriche 13,911ft including rest day acclimatisation walk to Dingboche 14,272ft

It was very cold in the lodge room overnight and I was glad I spent some money on a -15 sleeping bag. Saying that it’s not every day, in fact not any day that the view from your bedroom window is of Mount Everest!

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Everest Base Camp Trek – Namche Bazaar to Tengboche

Namche 11,306ft to Tengboche 12,687ft

The walk from Namche Bazaar to Tynbouche (or Tengboche) is a pure delight every step of the way. The path is good, the views are incredible and there is a real sense at the end of the day that you are entering into the heart of the Khumbu. We set off at about 8am in bright, glorious sunshine and head up through the streets of Namche Bazaar. Leaving the shops and guest houses behind we climb up out of town and reach the trail that leads to Tengboche. Continue reading “Everest Base Camp Trek – Namche Bazaar to Tengboche”

Everest Base Camp Trek – Khunde and Khumjung

Namche Bazaar walking to
Khunde 12,602ft and Khumjung 12,402ft

Namche Bazaar is known as the ‘Sherpa capital’. If you are walking in the Khumbu or doing the Everest Base Camp trek you are almost certain to be passing through this town and spending some time here. At 11,300ft it is the perfect place to spend a rest day or two to give your body some time to adjust to the rarified air. At this height, there is about a third less oxygen in the air than at sea level. Continue reading “Everest Base Camp Trek – Khunde and Khumjung”

Everest Base Camp Trek – Phakding to Namche Bazaar

Phakding 8,701ft to Namche Bazaar 11,306ft

Up at 7.10am. A breakfast of porridge with honey, toast and jam does the trick and we leave Phakding at about 9.20am. The trail is very enjoyable. Pleasant walking on a good path through the forest all the way to Benkhar (or Benkar) a very attractive looking village nestled snugly amongst the trees with the sun casting shadows on the path and the smell of blossom rich in the air. We then cross over a couple of suspension bridges. These structures, depending on how you are with height are either exciting and exhilarating to cross or scary and nerve wracking.

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Everest Base Camp Trek – Lukla to Phakding

Lukla 9,283ft to Phakding 8,701ft

Up at 6.30am. A cup of tea was followed by finishing off packing the rucksack. The contents of my rucksack will be my sole personal possessions for the next four weeks, I find the simplicity of this quite liberating, like being freed from the trappings of materialism. Left my trainers and a spare fleece behind and reckon it weighs about 9kg which should be OK. Sarita, the smiley guest house owner blesses us with a Hindu blessing before we leave and places the traditional red mark, the Bindi, on our foreheads and a flower in our hair. Continue reading “Everest Base Camp Trek – Lukla to Phakding”

Coast to Coast Walk – Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay

Day 14 Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay 19 Miles

Day fourteen, the last day, starts with a wholesome farmhouse breakfast after a good nights sleep. Over breakfast we chat to the farmer about the weather and we all agree that it has been rather wet for the time of year. It’s a dairy farm and the farmer tells us that ‘even the cows are miserable’. This makes me wonder how you can tell a miserable looking cow from a normal looking cow but I guess I’m not with these cows every day for months and years. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay”

Coast to Coast Walk – Clay Bank Top to Glaisedale

Day 13 Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale 18 Miles

The end of the walk, which for a couple of weeks has seemed so distant is now suddenly within touching distance and only two days walking away. They are long days though, seventeen to nineteen miles a piece depending on which book you read (I did this walk prior to possessing my very own GPS which no doubt would have given yet a different number!) We are dropped off at Clay Bank Top just after 9am and, like yesterday the day starts with an uphill leg and lung warmer, a steady six hundred feet of ascent from the road up onto Urra Moor.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top

The path stretching out along the Cleveland Crest

Day 12 Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top 11 Miles

Having spent two days crossing the Vale of York we are now back in hill country and about to enter our third National Park, The Yorkshire Moors. We enter the Park just outside Ingleby Cross and the trail soon starts to head upwards at a steady incline through Arncliffe Wood. It is a still, silent morning and we are the only people around. As we climb through the wood, out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of a deer. It has its back to us and is munching away on some ferns about thirty feet away. Despite our best efforts all too soon it senses our presence and rapidly darts off into the undergrowth, it’s bouncing white bottom contrasting with the green foliage as it vanishes, magician like from view.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Danby Wiske to Osmotherley

Day 11 Danby Wiske to Osmotherley 10 miles

We had breakfast with a couple who had stayed in the same B&B as us in Richmond, Michelle and Richard. They were fellow Coast to Coasters but were travelling light, they looked fit, had caught us up and would leave us behind today. Today will be the shortest day of the whole walk so we are not in any hurry to leave, finally getting on the road about 9.45am. It was another dry day with the sun breaking through the rolling clouds just occasionally. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Danby Wiske to Osmotherley”

Coast to Coast Walk – Richmond to Danby Wiske

Day 10 Richmond to Danby Wiske 14 miles

When I first walked this section of the Coast to Coast 26 years ago Gary and I walked (on the recommendation of Wainwright no less) from Richmond to Osmotherley all in one go, twenty three miles on a baking hot day. By the time we got to Osmotherley youth hostel our feet were throbbing from the road walking and we were pretty tired and dehydrated. Today will be a little bit more leisurely, we’re splitting the Vale of York in two and only walking to Danby Wiske. Richmond was quiet and the shops just opening as we pottered about a bit before setting off just as the church bells in Market square chimed for 10am.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Reeth to Richmond

Day 9 Reeth to Richmond 10 miles

After a comfortable night in the Dales Bike Centre we enjoy a leisurely continental breakfast in the bright dining room, surrounded by cycling posters and bike gear and feeling only a little out of place among the half dozen or so cyclists dressed in their Lycra. A relatively short stage to Richmond is the order of the day so we are in no rush to get out and we find ourselves in a bit of a holiday mood. Eventually we get ourselves moving, pack the rucksacks and head out into the fresh air. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Reeth to Richmond”

Coast to Coast Walk – Keld to Reeth

Day 8 Keld to Reeth 12 Miles

Keld sits right in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. If you are a long distance walker, the chances are you have passed by this village on your travels as it lies not only on the Coast to Coast Walk but also the Pennine Way. Keld is a quiet, settled kind of place. Visiting it is a bit like going to your grandma’s house when you were a child, it’s safe, comfortable and reassuringly unchanging. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Keld to Reeth”

Coast to Coast Walk – Kirkby Stephen to Keld

Day 7 Kirkby Stephen to Keld 12 miles

We don’t often consider it, but sleep is a powerful healer. Despite going to bed shattered and aching, this morning I woke up feeling renewed, the throbbing legs were feeling better and I was ready to get moving along the trail again. Like yesterday, we had breakfast with Bob and Alan who had also spent the night in the hostel. Apart from the four of us, there were only two other guests, two lads who I heard coming in in the early hours, drunk, loud and laughing. Denise the warden said they went around the country dressed as Spiderman but their car had broken down so they were stuck in Kirkby Stephen! Sounds like the plot of a road movie to me. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Kirkby Stephen to Keld”

Coast to Coast Walk – Shap to Kirkby Stephen

Day 6 Shap to Kirkby Stephen 20 miles

Had a leisurely breakfast catching up with Bob and Alan who were also staying at New Ing Lodge. Gwen and I left at about 10am and as we stopped off at the Co Op to buy our chocolate supplies for the day my eyes were drawn to the newspaper headline on the billboard outside which read, “Gales batter the Lake District!”. Gwen and I of course didn’t need to be told this news, we had lived (and walked) through it. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Shap to Kirkby Stephen”

Coast to Coast Walk – Patterdale to Shap

Day 5 Patterdale to Shap 17-18 Miles

Overnight, Gwen and I had talked and we decided that if the wind was still strong to gale force today we wouldn’t be going over Kidsty Pike. Kidsty Pike, at 2,560ft is the highest point on the whole Coast to Coast walk and is on today’s route but the wind, although not as strong as yesterday was still blowing very hard this morning and having been blown off her feet yesterday, Gwen was in no hurry to repeat that experience and indeed it would be dangerous to do so. So over breakfast I had a good look at my newly purchased 1:25000 map and hatched a plan that would take us to Shap via Boredale, under Arthurs pike, onto Divock Moor and then down to Shap via Bampton. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Patterdale to Shap”

Coast to Coast Walk – Grasmere to Patterdale

Day 4 Grasmere to Patterdale 8 1/2 Miles

Today turned into a very eventful day for what was meant to be a ‘short’ walking day. Chatted over breakfast in the hostel with Vanetta and Gabrielle and got to know them a bit and then Gwen and I walked into Grasmere for some supplies and some Ginger Bread before setting off at about 10.30am.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Rosthwaite to Grasmere

Day 3 Rosthwaite to Grasmere 9 1/4 Miles.

Today was the day I got a twenty six year old monkey off my back. Twenty six years ago, crossing from Rosthwaite to Grasmere I got Gary lost on Greenup Edge, it was a wet and cloudy day with zero visibility and after wandering around lost for an hour or two we dropped down into, believe it or not, the Langdale valley. It was a long walk to Grasmere that day and I have never forgotten it. Today though was clear and sunny and I achieved the redemption I was longing for.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite

Day 2 Ennerdale Bridge To Rosthwaite 14 1/2 Miles.

Day two dawns dry but misty. We set off from our B&B about 9.30am and walk through a silent, sleepy Ennerdale Bridge, quiet and still in morning mist. Passing the Fox and Hounds and over the old packhorse bridge we reach the shoreline of Ennerdale Water in no time. The Coast to Coast path follows the South shoreline along the whole length of the Lake and there are a couple of notable features. Robin Hoods chair, topical for us as in two weeks will will be at Robin Hoods Bay, and Anglers Crag, where the path has a bit of an incline, the first of the day to crest the crag itself.

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Coast to Coast Walk – St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

Day 1 St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge 14 Miles.

It’s a rainy start to our adventure. Gwen and I picked up the obligatory pebble off the beach at St Bees to carry to Robin Hoods Bay, I reckon a fair bit of St Bees beach must be at Robin Hoods Bay by now and vice versa. The pack maybe weighs about 10kg and my camera weighs a kilo of that. I’ve done a fair bit of walking lately and spent some time in Nepal last year so have got the packing off to a fine art with some good lightweight gear. After the beach and photo stop at the sign it was off up the steady incline to St Bees Head itself.

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