Thanks Laurie - I guess it's a chance we'll have to take. you never know, but it's a good excuse to buy new bad weather gear! Accommodation is booked - by the way, we did this ourselves, but have signed up Packhorse tro move the heavy stuff from point ot point.

Best

Nigel

Just returned from the C2C ( May 3-20 ) Very bad weather for the first 5 days and saw nothing but cloud and mist . Lions Inn and Black Sail were the stand-outs. April might be very cold and wet .
Laurie

Catharine / John

Many thanks for your advice. Sherpa keep coming up in research, so I'll start with them. Current plan is for a Wednesday start, so we get to Shap on Saturday. Thanks also for the advice on booking accommodation.

Although I live in Kent these days, I still have family in Cockermouth, so we can stay there and then get a lift to St Bees for our start point.

Thanks once again

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

My sister and I did C2C in August 2006 and used Sherpa to transport our bags - an excellent service. We booked all our accommodation ourselves, using YHAs where possible (although there are fewer now than there were then) and B&Bs or bunkhouses otherwise. We didn't have any problems booking just for one night: C2C is so popular that B&Bs are used to it. The Sherpa Van website shows accommodation on Coast2Coast

Tips:
- drive to Kirkby Stephen, park your car there and catch the train via Carlisle to St Bees.
- if there is anywhere nice to stay in St Bees then I have yet to hear of it. If possible, do the above and start walking straight away so you end up somewhere else on day one.
- try and stay at Black Sail Hut as this is something of a legend! (though you will need to carry enough things with you for one night as the baggage service can't get here)
- the only place to stay at Blakey Ridge is the Lion Inn, whatever else you may read. This gets very booked up.
- do stay in Robin Hood's Bay on the last night. You will want to celebrate here and you will regret it if you have to head back. YHA Boggle Hole is a clifftop walk away but will you really want to do this after a few beers and in the dark?
- catch the Sherpa Van or similar service back to Kirkby Stephen at the end.

Hope that helps.

Catharine

Hi Nigel,

I have used services of several companies for bag carrying and they have always delivered.I think C2C Packhorse,Sherpa & Contours all do Coast to Coast & I have used all successfully in past.
As far as accommodation goes,you can have an easy time and pay the organisers fee but as you have so much time in hand and there are two of you you should not have too much difficulty getting accommodation sorted.There used to be a very good guide produced by Doreen Whitehead but I am not sure if this is still available - perhaps someone who has done C2C recently can advise.
Try to get through the Lake District midweek if you can - a lot of B& B's will only do 2 night bookings at weekend.
Enjoy the walk.

I'm in the very early stages of planning to walk the C2C next April. There'll be 2 of us, using the route detailed in Martin Wainwright's book published in 2007, and sticking to the low level sectors (e.g. no diversions over Striding Edge etc.).

Does anyone have recommendations on which company to use to transport baggage from stop to stop, and also whether it's worthwhile in having that company book all the accommodation?

Thanks and best, Nigel