 The Wainwrights coast to coast, let's talk about it. I get a lot of people asking me or telling me that I've inspired them to do the coast to coast or they wouldn't have done it if it weren't for my videos or the videos that I did help them prep for the coast to coast. What I thought I'd do is a recap video on the coast to coast. I'll give you a few hints and tips and what I did, what I would do differently just for anyone who's planning on doing it once lockdown's over. I think a lot of people will be planning long distance hikes or adventures, I know I am. The first tip I would give is, well, first of all, let's just talk about the coast to coast. What is the coast to coast? It's a 182 mile hike from St. B's to Robin Hood's Bay across the width of England. And it was devised by Alfred Wainwright. It passes through three contrasting national parks, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors, which is where I was born and raised. So it was like I was heading home. And Wainwright recommends that walkers dip their booted feet in the Irish sea at St. B's and at the end of the walk in the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay. And it's also become custom to take a pebble from the beach at St. B's and throw it in the sea at Robin Hood's Bay, a lovely little symbol, like a lovely little symbolic gesture, I love that. I didn't actually stop in Robin Hood's Bay, I stopped in Whitby because I was following in the footsteps of my granddad and that's why I did it. And we talk about why people are doing this thing. Some people doing it for the challenge, for charity, for fitness, because they've seen a YouTube video and been inspired by it. I was doing it for my granddad who walked, this is his book, man. I don't know if, forgive me if you've already watched the Curse to Curse videos, but this is his Wainwright's book. You can see it's all, it's not, it's done in actual handwriting there, Wainwright. You probably can't see because of focusing issues. For my granddad's, my granddad wrote in the book, he started a little journal, it sort of teals off as I'm sure he was getting tired and focusing mainly on the hike, not his journal, but it starts with good intentions as we all do. And it's excellent, it's got a little journal built into the back of it, the original book, and then my granddad's filled it in as he's gone along, commenting on the weather, how much he paid for a bed and breakfast, really good. And it was excellent to have this as a little, just a little guide, here we go, look. The Black Bull, Kirk B. Stephen. May 31st, 1976. Bargain, bargain. I stayed there less of a bargain these days. So let's start with the tips in, what I would do first and foremost is prep. I used the Harvey map, which had the full walk in there on different pages, and that was perfect for me, absolutely perfect for me. I think now they only do it, it's a bit of a tight maneuver and they've done it with a lot of long distance walks where they've broke it up into two sections, so you have to buy sort of the east and the west section, which is, I don't know, well that's on them. So that's the Harvey maps, it was excellent so that you can, in your tent every night, you can plan out where you've been and you can plan your day the next day because no matter how much planning you do at home, you might say, well, the first day we're gonna get from A to B, but some of it might go wrong, you might have a fall or you might get caught behind a load of cows, you don't know, sir. My other tip would be just to plan loosely. Don't have a regimented plan because then you're gonna just set yourself up for failure and you'll be upset with yourself when you don't hit your targets. Just walk at your own pace. You know, that's what I found. I got up super early, set off at first light a lot of times so that I could do my day's hiking and then get to where I needed to be with time to spare so that you're not just, you know, stopping snoozing and carrying on. So you wanna be able to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, and take it all in, which I'm glad I did. You've got your maps, then you wanna plan what you're gonna take with you. It might be a little bit dated, but I'll leave a link at the end of the video and I'll pop one up here for my kit list that I took on the coast to coast, the things that I took with me and why. It was perfect. It got me there. It wasn't the lightest thing in the world, but to be honest, and this is another tip, don't get caught up in all this ultra light. I won't say nonsense because it isn't nonsense. It has got, it does serve a purpose, but don't be so militant about it. I don't think it existed too much before YouTube. I think a lot of it is based around, it makes good content, doesn't it? You wanna get your lightest thing, and you wanna, it becomes almost a game. Let's see who can get the title with the lowest pack weight in it. Do you know what I mean? We were just shaving off toothbrush bristles. Don't let that make you think you can't do it, just because you don't have the lightest bag, or, you know, you don't need stuff that you have to use sandbags to weigh down because it's so light it'll take off. You just don't need that. My granddad did it with a canvas bag, a boil in the bag cagoule, wool, all that sort of stuff. It doesn't, you don't need all the ultra light stuff. I would worry more on your fitness because if you're worried about your pack weight, saving grams, you could lose a few grams just in your body, just in yourself. You know, if you're a little bit out of shape, don't concentrate too much on the gear. I would concentrate on yourself, on your own fitness, because if you become, you could have the lightest gear in the world. You could just have a Tesco, a plagi bag on your back, and if you haven't got a base level of fitness, you're not making it. What I would concentrate on, instead of researching the lightest gear in the most, which inevitably becomes the most expensive gear, don't worry too much about that. Find a middle ground, find what's comfortable on you, and work more on your fitness, on your navigation skills, on your diet, and things like that. I think things like that will see you in good stead. Buying all the light gear isn't a fast track way to getting good on, being able to do this sort of stuff. You can't buy, you know, money can't buy you the fitness mindset, skills. You need your skills, you need your base fitness. That's another tip I'll give you. You can't just turn up having not trained and expect to do a walk like this. It might look easy on YouTube, but it's a tough walk. You know, you can be doing 20 miles a day for nine or 10 days. So I would concentrate, yeah, that's another tip, man. I'd concentrate on your fitness. Plenty of day hikes. Plenty of multi-day hikes as well, short weekend bursts, so that you get used to putting your kit up and you get used to carrying your kit and make sure you're doing elevations, make sure you're going up and down as steep as you can do, even if you're doing a stair sprint, so whatever it is, just to get your feet used to going up and down, because it's the downhill that'll catch you out. It's the downhill that'll catch you out. And that brings me on to my next tip, get yourself some hiking poles that don't have to be expensive. Even if you just cut down a couple of hazel sticks and use them, they will make the world of difference to you. It's like having four limbs. I don't think you could have done it without these, without some form of hiking stick. When you're coming down the mountain, it just takes so much pressure off your knees and your joints, brilliant. Also feet, we've got to talk about feet. I use these, the Solomon Ultra 3 GTX. And they were brilliant. I had no problems with my feet at all. I sprayed my ankle on second day, but that's just, that's life. That ain't nothing to do with these. No blisters. I think I've got one hotspot which I covered with Compede and that was absolutely fine. One thing I will say about these boots, longevity, not so clever. I'm gonna do a review of these in comparison to my new ones and let you know I'm getting on with my new ones as well. They were brilliant. Try them on. Just go to a shop where you can actually try on the boots. Speak to someone who knows what they're talking about because what's good for me might not be good for you. You might wanna wear a trail runner that dries out quick or you might wanna wear something a bit sturdier, something leather with a bit more ankle support. You might wanna just wear a pair of clogs or high heels. It's up to you. But if you don't try them on, you won't know. And don't just buy them, fresh out the box and think, right, that's it, I'm off. You need to break them in. Like with any shoe, they need breaking in. So get them a good couple of months before and take them out on a lot of hikes and get them broken before you're actually set off. Your feet are one of the reasons why you might not make it. If you get terrible blisters, then it can be a game changer. It can stop you in your tracks. That brings me on to my next tip, which is feet minting. You want a decent pair of hiking boots or whatever footwear you choose to use. Decent socks, I would invest in a decent pair of socks. I think I just took three pairs, two or three pairs of socks. So always have a dry pair of socks. I was very lucky on the coast to coast. I only got rain on one day. If you're doing the West Highland way, somewhere like Scotland where it's very wet, you're going to want to be getting to your tent and putting some dry socks on. So always have a bag with dry gear in it. Keep your sleeping bag dry, like a base layer dry, and more importantly, a dry pair of socks so that when you get back to camp, you can put all these dry things on. Any time you get a hotspot, before it becomes a blister, tend to it. Get a compete on that. Every time I stop for a drink or stop to take a photo or just stop to smell the roses or stopped in a pub for a pint, shoes off, socks off. Let your feet breathe. Every opportunity you get, you want to be letting your feet breathe. My other tip would be to practice with your gear so that you can carry your weight and so you can do the miles comfortably every day. But you also want to become, you want to get used to your kit. So I'd go out and practice, just do weekends. If you're working during the week, just do weekends, even mid-week, even just setting your tent up in the garden and just get used to that repetition, that quick set up, take it back down because you don't want to get found out when you're out on your hike. And also you won't know what works with your gear unless you're doing a multi-day hike before you go. So if it's a, let's say the coast to coast, you're aiming to do it in 12 days. You want to be doing a couple of four or five days before you attempt it, just so that you know what works for you and because you don't want any dead weight. Another tip would be to take advantage of facilities. It's not a remote hike by any stretch and you're going to be coming across plenty of pubs, post offices, shops, garages, hotels, whatever. Now I'm not, I don't know about the new world, I don't know what's in front of us as far as, because everything's a little bit uncertain at the moment, but we're just coming at this from, is if everything's back to normal and there is no national lockdown. So you've got your pubs, you've got your places that you can fill your water bottles up en route. I think I filled my water bottle, maybe once or twice in a stream and once out of a dog's bowl and yes, I would do it again. But a lot of the majority of the times you're just nipping into a toilet and filling up your water bottle. So don't worry too much about that either. Don't worry about where you're going to get water on the trail. There's plenty of stops for water and plenty of stops for food as well. So you don't need to overload yourself. There's camping shops along the way too. Kirkby Stephen in the Lake District, there's plenty of places where you can stop and resupply. My other advice would be to break it up a little bit. You don't have to wild camp all the way. If that's what you want to do, then that's cool, but I would say, you know, set yourself a goal of getting halfway and then stay in a B&B or stay in a pub, get yourself a nice meal, have a few scoops if that's your thing. I had a bath, washed all my gear in it, bath, hung it out the window to dry, nice bit of food, and then back on your way. So set that little reward. Halfway, you can have a little reward and then along you go. And then my final tip would be to just enjoy it. Just be present in the moment of you doing it because, you know, retrospectively, it'll be one of the best things you ever do. Something like that. And especially if you're doing it on your own, it can be a life-changing experience. So really take your time to enjoy the moment. You know, don't just focus completely on getting to the other end. Stop and smell the roses, take some photographs. Without you knowing it, you'll be creating your happy place. Cause I do it now. I look back on that hike and it's my happy place. It was just such a wonderful experience, you know, for the reasons that I did it and just the whole experience was just fantastic. And you can have that. So yeah, man, that's just my number one tip, really, is just enjoy it, be in the moment with it. I mean, you're not going to want to go fully, like you don't want to be overladen with stuff. But there's a happy compromise there. You don't have to break the bank. You can do it on a budget. You can do it on a budget. I think my tent cost me less than 100 quid that I did it in the Igloo. Less than 100 quid, mate. Find out what works best for you with all the gear. Cause what's good for me and what I use, you don't just want to copy and paste someone else's stuff because it might not work for you cause we're all different. You might want a tent that sets up with poles that's freestanding. If you don't use these, there's no point in getting a tent that uses hiking poles to set it up with. You'll be best off with some that's a bit more freestanding and that incorporates poles. You might want to do it in just a bivvy bag and a little tarp. You might want to do it and just stay in bed and breakfast and hotels because you can. So don't worry too much. Find your own groove. It might take a while, but find your own groove. And if you sit out and you're struggling or you do your leg or you can't make it, don't worry about it. You don't look at it as a failure. It's still, you set off and as soon as you get to the start, that's good enough. That's good enough. It's setting your intentions. Don't beat yourself up if you do fail. You can always come back and do it again. It'll just make you stronger. It'll just make you know your kit better, know yourself better. Shout out to my granddad. He was an inspiration for me doing the coast to coast walk. He was a dedicated hiker. Even had his hiking boots on coughing right at end. That's dedication. That is dedication. I've got a couple of long distance hikes planned for the not too distant future and I'm putting together a new bag for me, for me hiking in 2021. And I've got a new tent. I've got some new bits and pieces which I shall show you in the coming weeks. So stay tuned for that. In conclusion, just enjoy it. Just enjoy it. Don't think too much. I've put it here. Train hard, look after your feet and enjoy it. There's my free top tips. This video could have been two minutes long, couldn't it? I could have just come on, been like, and yet he's pink, deal with it. Train hard, look after your feet, enjoy it. Thanks for watching. Stay true, bye. That's it. For those that have, for everyone who's reached out, tagged me in post on the coast to coast, ask me for advice. This is for you. Sorry that I can't get back to everyone. But if you have done the coast to coast, after watching my videos, congratulations. If you're about to do it or you're planning to do it, good luck. Just enjoy it. Anyone who's done it will tell you that it's a great walk. I'll leave you with a little recap of my coast to coast experience and I'll catch you all soon. Bye for now. And so here we are. The Irish Sea. The start of the coast to coast. That's for Grandad and then a couple of stragglers as well for my own personal reason. The next time we'll see them, hopefully, we'll be in the North Sea. But the motivation behind this walk is my grandad who did it in the 70s. Even got in the whip because he and his mate, we did it with, boiling the bag, rain coats and stuff. My uncle's killing. We've talked quite a lot of cattle on this journey, not in a Dr. Doolittle sort of way either, more in like a mentally unstable sort of a way. It's nice to play a game sometime, dead or asleep. We're the sheep and it's... Luckily, so far, they've all been asleep. The knee. I've got my knee and my ankle strapped. Not all those who wonder, I'm lost. I'm lost. Look at this. It's simple things in life. Done in. We're playing the long game here, kids. The size of this whopper. Chicken of the woods. This place has got a picture of the sea at Whitby. It's meant to be. I'll write the headline for you. Yorkshire's sexiest rambler, mould to death by a herd of cows. There's your headline, you're welcome to it. Whoever finds this camera. Come on, out it road. Get up, get up, get up, get up. I've just out-bulled a bull, look at that. I don't know if you can, I guess you can see my biceps through this poncho. He certainly must have, he must have done. Cacked him, look, he cacked himself. Small victories, guys, small victories. Welcome to the North Yorkshire Moors. Medic! I'm going to make myself a brew. 26 miles today. Couldn't see more than a few metres in front. Sideways rain. I mean, that was a tough day, but... I found a pair of gags, didn't I? So... Really, really strong gags. This ankle, it's shooting at my shin. I think I've got shin splints. Are you getting it? Are you getting it? Just another two days to go. There it is, man. I can smell it. There you go. I don't care. I don't care if your shoes are getting wet. I'm in the sea. I've done it, we've made it. There's my stone. Even more important for me to do it, and to sort of dedicate it to him. Him and my nan as a doubler. Whoo-hoo-hoo! I've got another two little stones as well for other people, but that's private. Thanks for coming. What are you getting there, sunshine? The end of an amazing journey. I'm going to go and get so drunk. Just resting peace, big man. Right, let's go and get pissed. Adios.