Coast to Coast UK - Shap to Tebay

May 29, 2024

The hospitality at the King’s Arms in Shap was memorable, not the least because they took our luggage up to our room when it arrived, instead of leaving it downstairs for us to deal with ourselves on arrival. This was the first of our accommodation to do this, and we appreciated it so much at the end of a day’s walk. We bid them farewell at about 9:15 and set off for a ‘short’ walk to Tebay.

After our first hour of walking through fields dotted with sheep, and the signature pink granite rocks that Shap is known for, we had navigated quite a few bogs before we passed over Shap summit. We now left the industry of Shap (granite and limestone works), the high-speed trains on the Westcoast Mainline, the roar of the traffic on the M6, and sadly, the Lakeland views, behind. Ahead the fenceline opened up to reveal the Westmoreland Dales and Shapfell Quarry!

It was easy walking over Crosby Ravensworth Fell in fine weather and patches of sunshine. We chose an area of limestone rocks, which we later discovered were probably part of the Roman Road known as Wicker Street to sit on and eat our ‘first and only’ lunch. After lunch we crested the fell, coming face to face with an ‘erratic’, a huge boulder brought in and dumped by a glacier. The sometimes-boggy track gradually improved and just when the going got good, we realised we had ventured slightly off our route.

The problem we had today, was that we had decided to break an otherwise quite long section into two, staying the night in Orton, instead of pushing on all the way to Kirkby Stephen. However, the company we booked through had been unable to secure any accommodation for us in Orton and was sending us instead to the Westmoreland Hotel adjacent to the Tebay Services on the M6. This was about 2.5 miles beyond Orton, but the company had provided us with a gpx route map which would take us off the Coast to Coast path on Crosby Ravensworth Fell before Orton, and on a more direct course to the hotel.

The description of this alternate route made it sound much easier than it was, when, as we backtracked, we discovered the route the map was sending us onto was no more than a bog and unrecognisable as a track. No wonder we had missed this turning. We forged ahead, past puzzling wooden ‘boxes’ in the ground, which Wallsy eventually worked out were Grouse ‘butts’, specially constructed shooting positions for Grouse hunting. We eventually came to some more distinct sections of track, which came and went, until we had picked our way across the fell and out onto a well-made public footpath (track), which followed another Roman Road. This pathway had passed not far from where we had stopped for lunch and would have taken us up and along the top of the fell on a much better path, had we known. We couldn’t understand why this had not been provided as the alternative route.

But our problems weren’t over yet. We crossed a road near Howe Nook farm where we were meant to continue on the public footpath which would eventually take us to the M6 and a road by which we could cross the motorway and reach our hotel. Once again, we were faced with no obvious way ahead. The definition of a public path over here is of a public right of way, however, it does not guarantee that there is any obvious way to traverse this right of way! While we were meandering our way through the boggy field, trying to locate the path our map was sending us to, the farmer from Howe Nook waved us over to the left, so we did this and found a slightly more defined way along the fence line.

Soon after, as we were progressing along the stone fence, we heard the sound of a motorbike behind us. Farmer Dave, introduced himself and asked if we were meant to be on the Coast to Coast. We explained that we were on an alternate route to our accommodation. ‘Most folks go down the road,’ he said, ‘I’ve never seen any others go this way!’ After some further discussion, he advised that it was possible, but he felt we were being sent the long way around. ‘Anyhow, its 6 and two 3’s now that you’ve come this far.’ With that he wished us well and rode off. We mulled over the ‘6 and two 3’s’ comment and realised it was the equivalent of ‘6 of one, half a dozen of the other,’ as we would say.

Again we pushed on, following our allocated route, which eventually took us out of the field and onto a road. We breathed a sigh of relief until we realised that the next right turn we were meant to make, again proved to be an overgrown, inaccessible public path, through a ditch and three more fields, separated by gates. We almost turned around at this point, but Wallsy forged ahead, declaring the track that led off the road and down to the first gate, despite having knee-high grass, was actually dry and passable. I reluctantly followed and we eventually made it through the fields and onto the road, which we then followed over the M6 and finally arrived at the hotel by 3pm.

An ’easy’ 8.3-mile day with an estimated time of 3 and ¾ hours, had become a distance of 9.27 miles with a walking time of 5 and ¼ hours. I feel that the provided alternate route could have done with a bit of scouting before being offered to Coast to Coasters.

They may have saved us a couple of miles, but we certainly didn’t gain anything in time. Luckily we are in no hurry to be anywhere!