The variety of visual beauty in today’s first stage of the Coast to Coast walk (or C2C as some signs said) is close to unimaginable. From low light on the Irish Sea as we climbed St. Bees Head, to the soft lavender of the velvet grass (actual name, I’m walking with a couple who run a rare plant nursery and they know their plants), to the sweeping views at the summit of Dent Hill across the coastal plain to the shrouded hills of Scotland to the north and tall mountains of the Lakes District to the east, to the deep and lusciously green valley of the Nannycatch Beck (stream) running high from the recent heavy rains, to the wildflowers and foxglove dotting all the open fields and slopes and ridges, it was almost too much to take in. It’s spectacularly scenic here, we walked over 14 miles, we lost the actual C2C at least a couple of times and it didn’t matter, we had a pint and a great dinner and it’s time to close the drapes against the sun that doesn’t go down until 10:30, and get some sleep.
Grace Mattern 