Coast to Coasting #6: The wrap and what we learned

With the whole width of England behind me, my C2C adventure is over now. 
I learned a lot during the planning and execution - you might find some of these tips and hints helpful when you organise your first C2C or any other UK multi-day long distance walk.

Staying

You can use one of the many walking package companies such as Sherpavan who will book the whole trip for you including all your accommodation (as well as transporting your big bag, giving you track notes and looking after you). 

But honestly, you might save money (if not time) by doing the booking yourself. We stayed in a mix of guest house, BnB, hostel and hotel. Hostels in the UK, both YHA and independent are amazing now - offering great meals, ensuite options and a bar!
We booked most of our accommodation through Booking.com, always within walking distance of or directly on the path, and I loved everywhere we stayed almost without exception. Mobility accessilbe options were available at the awesome Haweswater Hotel, Park House Country Guest House and Maltkiln House. A lot of places also welcome dogs (except YHAs and the excellent independent Thorney Howe Hostel in Grasmere which boasts 3 very bolshy resident cats).
Hint: Have a wonderful and organised friend like Wendy who will book all the accommodation then send you a detailed spreadsheet asking if you would like to make any changes. Wainwright move over, Wendy is my new patron saint of the C2C.

Eating and drinking 

Some accommodation and a lot of the path is remote from towns or villages with shops, so finding meal options is important. We always booked places that provided breakfast - almost all provided cooked vegetarian options. We pre-booked dinner at remoter stays or ate in the pub in villages.
Many accommodation places offer a packed lunch at an extra cost. These are pretty much the same offering of sandwich, chips, fruit, chocolate or muesli bar. Vegetarian options are universal but I think if you are GF you might need to plan a lot more carefully. In the smaller towns, we sometimes opted to buy our daily lunch from the Co-op or village bakery.
Hint: Eat the chips early in the day before they get crushed in your pack, but do eat them because in the warmer weather you need the salt.

A lovely surprise were the honesty tuck boxes we encountered on the path, which ranged from a simple esky with cans and choc bars, to a Halloween themed fridge and bench in a farmyard, to a garden pergola with a kettle and cake. Some small YHA hostels have honesty “cafes” in their premises you can use during the day.
Hint: I took a pack of my favourite herbal tea bags because many places only provide good old brown tea. Next time, I will take a small bag of milk powder because hotels don’t provide enough UHT milk on their little tray for my taste.
Drinking was not a problem! The UK pubs of course are great; many welcome muddy-booted hikers and even serve tea. England is in the grip of a gin frenzy and products from local distilleries abound (not to mention the Lake District distillery’s salted caramel vodka). 
And of course you can drink the tap water. But don’t drink the coffee. 

Getting there and getting around

There is one good thing about getting old: I qualified for a National Rail Senior Card which I bought before I left home and which gave me around 30% discount on tickets. I mostly pre-purchased my rail tickets ahead through the Trainline app. In the Lake District the local bus services are good and often advantage hikers.
We used Packhorse to take our big bags from one hotel to the next and they never let us down. The service is great and costs less than 10 pounds per bag. If you have an off day, they will take you as well as your bag!
Hint: Pack your “big” bag light anyway because you still have to carry it up and down winding staircases. Once again, my elastic pegless clothesline was my best friend because I was able to wash and dry my hiking gear every night.
The C2C seems to be getting more and more popular but it is not easy; if you can’t take my friend Graham with you (with his Outward Bound background and close relationship with his compass), take a look at the maps and guide books I recommend because the navigation is not always simple and the signposting is patchy at times. 
I also got a giffgaff SIM for my phone - good value and heaps of data to access the web, use Google maps to find your digs, hot spot your iPad, and identify plant and bird species you see along the way because phone coverage is good on the top of fells. Wendy used MapMe’s app.  
Best of luck and happy walking!