Foreward

Late in 2007 myself and a colleague from work talked about doing the Coast to Coast in 2008 following the Alfred Wainwright's classic 190 mile Coast to Coast route as closely as possible with one exception. The exception being that we would attempt to do the crossing as quickly as possible and to be relatively self sufficient so all equipment, including tent would be carried between us with the exception of food and water.

I think now is the time to mention that I have attempted the Coast to Coast twice before and failed both times on the first day. The first time I was attempting a solo four day crossing with full equipment including food - it soon became obvious that it was just not going to happen so gave up quite early on. The second time I was nowhere near fit enough and mentally its a very tough ask to do a solo crossing of this nature with full kit by yourself. On both occasions I got beyond the High Gillerthwaite YHA but had to stop before Black Sail and head north towards the Buttermere Valley to get home. As a result I had some unfinished business...

In those days although I was generally active I had not done any specific long distance training except for one of the shorter classes at the then Karrimor International Mountain Marathon (known as KIMM). I was also a competent navigator having done quite a bit of orienteering in the previous couple of years. I was pretty much just doing the events without any training in between so I suppose I could class myself as fit by most people's standards although nowhere near enough to be competitive. The main issue I had at the time was a bad left knee caused by running as a junior resulting in it being too painful to train and a lot of the time very painful to compete. I always knew it was going to hurt, it was just a case of when!

I'm now 26 and have discovered cod liver oil which has pretty much kept the knee pain at bay. Although not completely sorted, things are far better than they were a few years ago. At the start of 2007 I started to train again, beginning with 3.5 mile runs doing about 20-30 miles per week. Although I had various other injuries I eventually started to ramp up my mileage to about 65 miles a week with individual sessions anywhere up to 21 miles. In February this year it culminated in my first marathon and I finished in a time of 2.53 which I was extremely pleased with, especially considering that the field was only 100 strong so ended up running the vast majority of the course by myself. Just to give others a sense of perspective my 10k pb was 34.35 and half marathon 1.20. Although the majority of my training was on road, I was well versed in off road running having done several OMM's (Original Mountain Marathon which was previously known as the KIMM) so was not as if that sort of terrain was unfamiliar to me.

My work colleague, Steve, was to be my partner for the Coast to Coast attempt. In his late thirties he is a bit slower than me (39 min 10k and 3.08 marathon), but off road he is far more experienced so as a result we are virtually of the same standard. We knew each other fairly well as we did the OMM together in 2007, finishing 28th Overall in the Medium Score Class.

Back to the Coast to Coast 2008...

We had no real idea how fast we would do the crossing, so decided to allow 9 days, minus 1.5 for travel. We originally looked at the possibility of 4, 5 and 6 day crossings and potential rest stops, but for this type of trip it is almost impossible to say exactly how far you are realistically going to travel each day. In the end we opted not to book anything and go for the 'suck it and see' option. This way as we were carrying the tent it maximised our flexibility. The only thing we did do in advance was buy one of the handy guides detailing all of the accommodation on route. I got mine from www.coasttocoastguides.co.uk for £4 and then marked the locations on my map together with the phone number. I have to say now that it proved very useful. We decided for an end of May attempt, mostly for convienience, but also because it coincides with longer days so gave us maximum daylight and thus that little extra flexibility.

In terms of maps I still had the old 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure strip maps from my earlier attempts which are no longer in production, although can still be found on eBay. My partner got the Harvey's 1:40,000 maps which are up to date and although a bit more expensive were very good too. In the end it proved very complimentary as I had the detail of my map that Harvey's lack whilst Steve had the most up to date route on his. The majority of people seemed to be using a thickish book containing hand drawn strip maps with a descriptive text but I came to the conclusion that it was not suitable for a fast crossing and even less so if you can competently read a map. By all means use the book, but take a 'proper' map with you too is my recommendation. However, I am aware that what works for one person may not work for the next, so please go for what you feel works best for you!

Finally a section on kit. As we were intending to run a lot of the route our kit needed to be as lightweight as possible. As a result we both opted for lightweight rucksacks (30 litres for me and 25 for Steve) which we both used for the OMM. As a result we were limited in what we could take when you consider it has to carry sleeping bags, tent, cooking equipment, food, snacks, waterproofs, spare clothes etc. The only luxuries I took was a blow up sleeping mat because it might be possible we would be sleeping on very rough ground if we opted to wild camp, plus if it got cold at night I would be better insulated. Although I am used to cold nights at the OMM (held at the end of Oct in an upland location) I felt it best to avoid 'sleeping cold' for several nights in succession. I also took a camera to take snaps on route although with tiredness setting in and a limited battery I did not take as many photos as perhaps I could have done. I know this will sound pretty disgusting to most but along with Steve we opted to carry virtually no spare clothes, just a spare pair of socks, a fleece to be used on the run as of when required and a spare top. For the whole of the journey I was to wear the same pair of tracksters, lycra shorts underneath and helly top. Needless to say we whiffed a lot and was probably amongst the least enjoyable part of the journey!

The total weight of the rucksack varied considerably throughout depending upon how much water and food were being carried but excepting these items I'm guessing it was around 6.5kg (mine was a bit heavier than Steve's as I was carrying the main part of the tent).

We happened to choose exactly the same footwear - Innv8 Roclite 315's. Walking Boots although comfortable would make running virtually impossible, trainers would be potentially dangerous over the hills, so fell shoes with a bit more cushioning seemed the sensible option.

We opted to do the crossing in the classic way by going from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay. Although there is something to be said for doing the crossing the other way round - i.e. do the easiest bit first so you get fitter as you progress before hitting the hardest section at the end in the Lake District, I don't feel this rule works when running the C2C. 1) You should already be fit enough to run the C2C anyway and 2) you are probably going to get more tired rather than fitter as the route progresses, so makes more sense to get the hard section out of the way earlier on.

Now for the journey...