ACROSS LAKELAND - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 12

Buttressed by so much of interest and antiquity on the one hand and the swelling
Irish Sea on the other, St Bees is both a fitting and inspiring overture to the walk, and
a place to come back to when time is at less of a premium and the sense of urgency
and keenness for the impending departure no longer appropriate.

St Bees to Cleator

Distance 13.6km (8½ miles)

Height Gain 280m (920 feet)

Half a mile or so from the village centre, the beach at St Bees is the recognised starting
point for the Coast to Coast Walk. Here the tourist has invaded the scene - tea room,
car parks, toilets and a caravan site straggle the coastal frontage, and suddenly for
the walker escape becomes a high priority.
The first section of the walk is across sandstone clifftops, rare in Cumbria, a fine
elevated introduction on which to attune legs, lungs and mind. Beyond the coast the
mess of Whitehaven's industry is passed, thankfully in a brief passage, before the
more relaxed agricultural landscape around Cleator that heralds the high fells and
deep valleys of Lakeland.

The sea wall, built to protect St Bees from the worst ravages of the sea,
ends abruptly in a downfall of boulders and debris from the ever-crumbling
cliffs, soon to be encountered. This is where the walk starts.