Driving may be harder than walking...logistically

Because we're approaching this walk in an unconventional way (not walking coast to coast, nor even coast to middle, but walking a coastal loop then driving to the Lake District, and walking select segments not necessarily in the right direction or all together) we may have replaced a major walking challenge with a major driving one instead.

I think I'm the only one tangled up in the details of this. I'm hoping that a blog post will either untangle my brain or get everyone to freak out :)

Day 0: "Fancy meeting you here!"

All arrive in St Bees. Likely Cs by minivan, Ls and Ms by train.

Day 0 or 1: "Paperwork"

Everyone who might feasibly drive the 7-seat minivan has to present at the car hire place (probably Budget in Workington) to be added to insurance.

Day 1: "Warm up"

Loop walk, 5-8 miles
Acquire provisions (snacks etc) for days ahead

Day 2: "Drawing straws to (not) be driver"

Drive 6 people St Bees to Ennerdale 20 mins
Drive back 20 mins
Pick up bags and 4 people, drive St Bees to Ennerdale 20 mins
(Walkers set off east, 11 mile walk)

Drive bags Ennerdale to Grasmere 50 mins
Drive Grasmere to Honister Hause 34 min
Walk west to meet rest of party
Walk back to Honister Hause with everyone

Drive 6 people Honister Hause to Grasmere 34 mins
Drive back 34 mins
Drive 4 people to Grasmere 34 mins
Drink

There are some alternatives possible here. The first is simply to skip to the final step without ever leaving St Bees :) More reasonable alternatives include having all of the second group walk west with the driver. And/or finding 4 people willing to explore the public bus system at the end of a 11 mile walk (I'll sign up for that happily, so just need 3 more volunteers.)

Map of bus system

I don't think 6 people + all bags will fit in the van. It might even be tight with 4 people + all bags. So that also complicates things.

Day 3: "We can't all drive..."

As muscles scream from the previous day's hill climb, there may be great enthusiasm for being the driver today.

Drive 6 people west Grasmere to Rosthwaite 29 min
Walkers set off east, 9 miles 2000 ft el
Drive back to Grasmere 29 min
Remaining 5 people walk west from Grasmere to meet eastbound crew

Some alternatives here too. The van could be left in Rosthwaite, as long as the eastbound crew were determined to make it all the way to Rosthwaite to drive it back to Grasmere.

Also, depending on the bus experience from day 2, the eastbound crew could take the bus from Grasmere to Rosthwaite.

Day 4: "8 miles till a rest day"

Simpler days beckon

Walkers set off east, 8 miles 1800ft el gain
Drive bags to Glenridding with up to 5 people 38 mins
Walk west to meet eastbound crew

Day 5: "Sit down protest"

I picture us spending the day on the lawn of one of the hotels in the sunshine drinking gin and tonic. Except that it probably will be raining and none of us will have the energy to walk to the bar to get the drinks and, since we're not in Kansas any more, no-one will bring the drinks to us. So we'll just slump somewhere blob-like.

Day 6 and beyond: "Too far away to care"

The biggest walking and driving challenges will be behind us. We'll be a well-oiled machine (or a creaking, groaning, grumpy machine) so I'm not going to think this far ahead.

Motivation that seems to be working...

So the bingo card idea didn't seem to work.... but the combination of MapMyWalk.com and a FitBit has been magical for me. Here's an example of a MapMyWalk summary of a recent wandering:

And similarly from FitBit:

Definitely highly motivated by meeting my goals on FitBit, and enjoying the mapping of MapMyWalk.

I'm plotting a two-Starbucks walk AND a three-Starbucks walk for the weeks ahead.

Motivation

You'd think "not wanting to feel like I'm dying after the first few miles of the walk" would be sufficient, but it hasn't been so far. So I need something more fun and immediate.

On a walk up to Starbucks with R last weekend, I thought that a bingo card approach might work for me. That day was under 40 degrees and sunny. How about I check off different conditions for walking at least 2 miles? Two done so far this year:

< 40, sunny // 4 miles to RR Starbucks 1/5/14
< 50, windy & dry //4 miles to Avondale 1/11/14

Future possibilities:

1. Below freezing, sunny
2. Below freezing, cloudy
3. Windy and wet
4. Heavy rain
5. Fog
6. Drizzle
7. Sunny
8. With backpack
9. < 60
10. < 70
11. < 80
12. Starbucks -> Starbucks (8 mile round trip....two of those one weekend and I think we're ready!)

Worth a try!

Updated schedule, showing mileage and elevation gain each day....

Added more accurate mileage each day, and some elevation gain information too. Easier to read if you click on it so it opens up full size...

Gosh this mapping stuff is hard....

I really thought I could quickly put together a map showing where we are walking and which parts we're driving. Turns out not to be easy (or maybe even possible!) to create such a map. So I'm starting with this aerial view:

Now off to Photoshop with the version that shows the roads, so I can manually add the stopping places and the parts where we're driving. How silly!

OK, here's the resulting map, which I've also used as the blog background for now...

All accommodation booked for Cs and Ls, some for Ms

Here's the plan:

• Mon June 30th St Bees, Stonehouse Farm (C, L)
• Tue July 1st St Bees, Stonehouse Farm (C, L)
• Wed July 2nd...Grasmere Hostel (C, L, M)
• Thu July 3rd....Grasmere Hostel (C, L, M)
• Fri July 4th....Best Western Glenridding  (C, L)
• Sat July 5th....Best Western Glenridding  (C, L) FORMAL NIGHT
• Sun July 6th....Bampton, Crown and Mitre (C, L, M)
• Mon July 7th....The George Hotel  (C, L)
• Tue July 8th....Augill Castle north of Kirkby Stephen  (C, L)
• Wed July 9th....Augill Castle again  (C, L)
• Thu July 10th....we scatter!

Stonehouse Farm...a working farm, where we'll spend the first night, walk a short 5-6 mile loop the next day, returning to the farm for the second night.


We'll then drive from St Bees to Ennerdale, and walk to Seatoller (anywhere from 10-12 miles, just depending where we decide to stop and take a ride). From there we'll get a ride (car and/or bus) to Grasmere, where we stay at the Grasmere Independent Hostel:



Next morning, my guess is that the party will divide into groups. One group will get a ride back to Seatoller (or more likely, Stonethwaite) and walk the 10 miles to Grasmere. One group will stick close to the hostel, maybe exploring Grasmere itself. Another group might head west to meet up with the group walking east. Lots of wonderful flexibility! Second night at the hostel.

From there, we walk the 10 miles to Patterdale. Would love to think I could do Helvellyn, especially Striding Edge, but I'm probably dreaming.

Then two nights at the Best Western Glenridding, spanning a rest day:


The hotel has a swimming pool and is close to Ullswater, where there's a steamer boat and other distractions. DC had the brilliant idea that we should have a formal night (in the tradition of cruises) and this will probably be when that will happen.

Suitably rested, we head out again for an 11 mile hike to Burnbanks, from where we'll hitch a ride to Bampton, where the 11 of us will occupy all of the Crown and Mitre's accommodations:



Next day, off to Orton, 12 miles if we walk it all, but my guess is that we might get a lift to Shap and walk from there, for a total of 8 miles. In Orton, we'll stay at the St George Hotel:



Then that last hike, 14 miles, to Kirkby Stephen. Though we'll have cheated so rampantly by then that who knows what we'll actually do! For sure, we get a ride north from Kirkby Stephen to Augill Castle for the last two nights.

The Cs will be in the Orangery:

The Ls in the Stable:

Ms TBD!

First accommodation booked, plans taking shape...

The walk gets ever shorter! In order to not be trying to book accommodation in Grasmere over the weekend, we're going to skip a section between St Bees and Ennerdale Bridge. We'll do the coast portion, then loop back to St Bees. Then drive to Ennerdale Bridge (or more likely, to the western shore of Ennerdale Water). We'll walk to Seatoller (12 miles) then another 12 miles to Grasmere on Thursday. 8 miles to Patterdale (Glenridding) where we'll spend two nights. 11 miles to Burnbanks, drive to Shap, 7.5 miles to Orton, then a final 12 miles to Kirkby Stephen.

So we were at 82  miles, now we're subtracting about 10, so probably 72 miles or so?

I've booked two nights for the C family at Best Western Glenridding:
https://plus.google.com/102065772183112106415/photos?hl=en


And a night at The George Hotel Orton:
http://www.thegeorgehotelorton.co.uk/



And booked the last two nights at this awesome place....
http://www.stayinacastle.com


Enquiries out for Stonehouse Farm the first two nights, Seatoller house night 3, Grassmere Hostel night 4, and Brookfield House night 7. Taking shape, taking shape!

Training program? Er....