Coast to Coast UK - Kirkby Stephen to Keld

June 01, 2024

We’re halfway through the Coast to Coast walk, having arrived in Keld at 5pm, after an 8-hour hiking day. We have taken the obligatory photo with the halfway sign on the Lodge where we are staying tonight, just to make it official.

It is the first of June, which means winter has begun at home, while we are enjoying a sudden burst of late Spring sunshine here in the north of England.

It has been a spectacular day of hiking, a total of 14.25 miles, or 23 kms clocked up, over hill and dale. We left our lovely B&B and our very friendly host Elaine, at 9am, and instead of walking into town to connect with the Coast to Coast track, we walked on the path that led from the back of Bollam Cottage, down along the River Eden to Stenkrith Park and out over the Podgill and Merrygill (yes, more viaducts!) on the old Stainmore Line. Wallsy’s comment as we walked and stopped to read the information boards detailing the history of this disused railway, was that our approach to hiking is like an exam – a 2-hour test with 15 minutes reading time!

Unfortunately, although we crossed over the two viaducts, we couldn’t really view either of them. The track to the viewing area for Podgill was closed for repairs and I had to scurry down a steep fence line to get a glimpse of Merrygill, so we continued on to join the Coast to Coast path at Birkett Lane, which led us steeply up Birkett Hill, past Hartley Quarry, a very long climb, but on good surfaces.

There was a choice of routes today, with seasonal tracks offered owing to the amount of erosion and the notorious peat bogs on this section of the Pennines. Although the weather was clear, and it would have been a good day up on top at Nine Standards Rigg, the Red and Blue Routes, suggested for May-November were still very boggy by all accounts, so we chose instead to turn off before Nine Standards and head down the December-April, green route, taking us over Rollinson Gill on the less boggy side of Hartley Fell. We were glad we had, as even on this route there were a number of peat bogs we needed to carefully navigate around and find the best route across.

Fortunately, now that Wallsy has non-leaky boots, I can send him off to scout the best route ahead of me. If his foot disappears up to the top of his boot, I know not to follow that way. It’s a fool-proof system. I also found that using the clumps of rushes as stepping stones made for safe passage in most cases. We lunched in the shelter of a stone ruin on top of the fell, with views down the dale towards Kirkby Stephen. The ruins even had an ‘ensuite’ which was handy – its hard to find suitable places for a ‘wild wee’ on much of the Coast to Coast – but that’s all I will say about that!

We made it safely off the fell and onto Nateby road, where we watched two paragliders catch the currents off Birkdale Common, and then land right in front of us. The fells here were windswept and barren, obviously subjected to snow cover for much of the winter, and we followed the road down Birk Dale through a stark landscape for some 5 miles. There was an abundance of birdlife though; curlews, golden plovers, lapwings, wagtails and hen harriers, to name a few. We even saw some grouse. Finally we turned a corner and before us was an outlook of green hills dotted with stone barns, sheep, and the Swale River winding its way towards Keld.

The last 2 ½ miles was perfectly ‘flat’, we were told by a friendly motorcyclist who offered us a cup of tea! It may have felt flat on a motorbike, but the road wound up and down relentlessly teasing us, as our tired legs struggled to make it to the end of the day’s walk.

Suddenly, thankfully, The Lodge was there in front of us, with a warm, friendly welcome, a hot shower in a room with views over lush green hills and the air peppered with swifts, darting around chasing insects in the evening air. We wasted no time going downstairs to dinner, enjoying another delicious meal before retiring to rest in our comfy room in readiness for another sizeable walk tomorrow.