The walk:
- We walked 320 kms (about 200 miles)! Each day we walked between 25,000 and 37,000 steps.
- Our longest day was the last day from Grosmont to Robin Hood's Bay.
- Our quickest day, last Tuesday we walked 14.1km/8.75miles. This wasn't our shortest distance but we were getting better at walking long distances, even with sore feet.
- Our highest climb was Kidsty Pike: 780m
- Our hardest climb was Dent Hill at just below 400m/1300ft; not so high but this climb was towards the end of our first day and it was hotter than we ever expected.
It was a TOUGH climb! But Allan was grateful for the encouragement from a stranger.- Our steepest descent: Raven Crag. This was straight after Dent Hill and went straight down.
- Our muddiest day: The last day. We walked through woodland and across moors that were exceptionally wet and therefore muddy after a night of heavy rain.
We walked through three national parks: The Lake District National Park, The Yorkshire Dales and The North Yorkshire Moors. Each of these National Parks was beautiful in their own way, and different. It's difficult to say what was the most beautiful part we walked through, but Swaledale was so beautiful with
the stone barns,
the Swale River, 
the many valleys,
The pretty houses 
The walk from Ravenseat Farm to Keld was particularly stunning and the cloudy sky made the countryside even more beautiful.Our journey:
We planned the walk to take 20 days; 16 walking days with 4 rest days. We feel that it was the perfect way for us to accomplish our goal. We walked for 3 days then rested in Grasmere.
We then walked for 4 days, which included Kidsty Pike (our longest and most trying day. We got soaked right at the end of a long walk). Our second rest day was in Kirkby Stephen.
Three walking days followed, before another rest day, this time in Richmond, the perfect place for a rest. 
Spent the day enjoying the history and beauty of this great town.
Refreshed, we headed into our longest walking period, 5 days straight. We had a couple of shorter days in this group, including Great Broughton to Blakey Ridge - we strolled along the track, taking the opportunity to chat with fellow walkers and enjoyed lunch sitting on a rock,
looking across the moors and down into Farndale Valley, before arriving at The White Lion soon after lunch, with time for a restful afternoon and evening. 
Our final rest day was in Grosmont
And then our final day - our longest and in many ways, our toughest but with the finish line nearly in sight, we pressed on to receive the prize and what a joy!!
The characters we met:
Firstly there was Don, an 82 year old American who was walking on his own. We first met Don sitting on a rock with his shoe off. He was in trouble but at the end of the day, there he was. And each day he finished. Everyone along the walk seemed to take him under their wing and we all watched out for him. We had dinner together with Don in Grasmere before he continued on. Because we rested the next day, we no longer walked with him. We were very sad to say good-bye but delighted to see his name in the register when we reached Robin Hood's Bay. He is the oldest person to have completed the Coast to Coast walk.
Mike and Tina were from New Zealand and we walked with them from Grasmere until Kirkby Stephen, where we stayed in the same accommodation. They had to take the bus one day because Tina had fallen over and hurt her hip. They were very laid back about the walk and untroubled about not walking one day. We enjoyed being able to encourage one another. I would love to know if they managed to eat that lunch that Rachel packed for them, it was huge!
Brad and Alex were from America - a grandfather doing the walk for the third time because his granddaughter asked him to take her on the walk. He had a saying: Pain has no memory! We did enjoy our conversations with them and Brad was particularly touched that we showed care towards Alex. We stayed together at Cambridge House in Reeth and were sorry to have to say goodbye.
Then there was Paul, from Sydney. He was everybody's friend. He only decided to do the walk 3 weeks ago and consequently had some out of the way accommodation. I am still intrigued that people are happy to walk alone. I guess on a walk of this nature, you will always have someone to chat to or confer with concerning the maps. The highlight for Paul was when he found wings under his feet. Towards the end of a tiring day he was struggling to put one foot in front of the other when suddenly a cow charged him. Paul said he's never run so swiftly before!
The Brits were amazed with us Australians because we always wore hats, they don't seem to worry about getting the sun on their heads. In fact they love the sun and will do anything to enjoy it. As we were walking through Shap we came across a lady standing in her front garden doing the ironing! She said to us that she didn't want to waste the sunshine by being stuck inside doing her chores so she had a long extension chord and her ironing board outside. She was already starting to get sunburnt.
Alfred Wainwright would often tie a knot in the 4 corners of his hankie and use it as a hat. This man mustn't have a hankie ...
Yes that's a shower cap!!
This Irishman was like a mountain goat even with all his gear on his back. Once again, a great encouragement to us. He gave Allan some helpful training in the use of walking poles. We are so thankful for the opportunity to complete the Coast to Coast walk. And we are so thankful for great weather. We did experience a good soaking but only once. We suffered no injuries that stopped us completing our goal. Allan does have a very sore heel now, but with the help of his poles, he was able to finish and that was what he wanted to do.
