A group of friends from Croxley Green, near Watford in Hertfordshire, recently completed a walk across the top of England, and helped raise funds for CHIPS in the process.
Made It!
Brian Thomson and Phil Brading, both members of St. Oswald’s Parish Church in Croxley Green, undertook the famous Coast to Coast walk with their friends Ges and Jane Carey. The walk, from St Bees on the Cumbrian west coast, to Robin Hood’s Bay on the east coast, covers a distance of 190 miles (305km) and passes through three of England’s spectacular National Parks, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.
The full distance was completed over two separate weeks. In September 2006 they covered the first 82 miles from St Bees across the Lake District to Kirkby Stephen in 6½ days. A year later, almost to the day, they returned to Kirkby Stephen to continue the walk eastwards, crossing the Pennines and passing through Swaledale and the Vale of Mowbray before working their way over the Cleveland Hills and North York Moors, finally reaching Robin Hood’s Bay 7 days and 108 miles later. Logistics support was provided by Brian’s longsuffering wife Gill, who dropped off and collected the walkers at every stage, as well as moving their luggage between lodgings.
Starting out from St Bees on the west coast
Phil says: “All Coast to Coasters follow in the footsteps of Alfred Wainwright, the legendary walker of the Lakeland fells who pioneered the route. It was a great experience, but we also wanted our efforts to help raise funds for CHIPS, which is our Parish Project for 2007. We are delighted that, thanks to the generosity of our friends, we have been able to add more than £500 to the total raised so far for this very worthwhile cause.”
A massive THANK YOU to Phil and Brian and those that sponsored them so generously from us all at CHIPS.
The finish at Robin Hood's Bay on the east coast