Last day of the C2C

Ethan and Chris Dubois have been looking for the shorter blog version to go with their shorter attention span, here it is: woke up, hiked 14 miles, finished the C2C. Done.

For the real fans:

Awoke to a gorgeous day, clear blue sky, cools temps, you could tell it was Fall. Had the standard bfast, chatted with an older guy (60s) who was doing the C2C with his 5 buddies. He had done it 15 years ago with his son. He claimed this is the second most popular hike in world after the Appalachian Trail. He also gave us the great tip which was to not throw our pebble into the Irish Sea (tradition), but save it as a memento. Good idea. We had to go to the next hotel to get our lunches, they screwed them up, and then it turned out the sandwiches were lame anyway.

So away we went on the last day. We’re always fresh in the morning, and today was no different. It seems like in the morning we achieve 3 hrs of progress (as described in our book) in 3 hrs. But then in the afternoon it takes us like 5 hrs to complete the last 3 hrs. Headed up a path next to the road. Birds are singing, geese overhead, empty trail. Perfect. Then we dropped into a little river valley, followed the stream for about an hour. Slightly missed our turnoff up a hill to a super steep section, but we backtracked and found it. We’re pretty good on the uphills as our aerobics are kickass now. It’s our feet that are hurting.

We finally got to the top of Dent Hill and had great views of the Irish Sea. If the feet were good we might have even done a little Irish Jig. We could see the rest of the route to St. Bees (our last town). As this was about 12:00 we passed all the folks heading the other way. Of course they were in awe of us for finishing and they were in their first day. I tried not to give too much advice.

Went thru a few towns. April couldn’t resist a fresh potato/onion/cheese pasty (like a turnover). Stopped for lunch which was bad so we threw our sandwiches away, just ate the banana/juice/muffin/candy.

Got minorly lost again as we crossed a field but we caught ourselves at the end of it as the maps didn’t line up. It turns out we really liked the whole navigation thing. It was like a puzzle we had to solve each day. It took both of us and our 2 books and our map. They say the C2C is the hardest route to follow in England because it’s not an official trail so there very little signage. We helped an older couple who were out for a day walk with their directions.

Ok finally we got to the coast. But the damn trail curves way around north of the target town, and then curves south to follow the coastline hills down to St. Bees. It adds about 3 miles to the route.

I was hoping the exhilaration of the end and the ocean and the wind would carry us those last few miles, but it turns out it didn’t. We were exhausted. Yesterday and today, both 14 miles, were fairly difficult. Especially in the afternoons as our bodies were screaming to get off our feet. So we slogged along.

The my stomach started gurgling again. Serious problem. There were people following about 100 yards behind us. But I had to really go. So as we passed a stone wall I jumped to the left and took what was probably the quickest crap in the history of the C2C. Start to finish took about 15 seconds. Maybe less. Boom went the explosion, and I was working the toilet paper before everything had hit the ground. A few quick wipes, pulled up the shorts, covered the whole thing with grass, Purelled, and away we went. They have these plaques you can get carved/engraved as you finish, they read “Peter and April Spiro hiked 192 miles on the C2C”. Maybe I should get one stating “Quickest crap on the C2C.” It’d be a Spiro legacy I could hand down to my kids. Ha-ha.

Ok so we finally drop down to the water. We put our feet in. But we save our pebbles we had carried from the North Sea.

Then we realized we still had about an hour left much of it up the headlands. Shit. So away we slog. By this time we’re really knackered. Not really excited to finish, just happy to get off our feet. We finally hit bluffs just above the wide sandy beach below St. Bees. Rested on a bench. Then dropped down to the beach, and surprise the older couple we had helped earlier today came out to greet us. They were staying in a camper right on the beach and had been looking for us. They shook our hands and the guy gave April a kiss. Very nice. If we weren’t so tired we would have stayed and chatted with them but we had to get to our B+B.

Absolutely great B+B called the Abbey Farmhouse. Building is from the 1500s. The owners were really gracious and welcoming. They usually get people leaving their B+B to start the trip so they liked us ending it there. They offered us a bottle of wine but we couldn’t drink it cause of my stomach and April is off of wine. They have wireless. It sounds like a great bfast (they get their pork products from the same organic farm that supplies the Queen). Free range organic eggs, baked in the Aga. Our room is huge, bed/sheet awesome, shower is good, robes in the room. And they did a wash for us. Brilliant!

Once April got that robe on it took a ton of convincing to get her out for dinner. But we did go, I had salmon and rice, April had fish and chips. Again I must say I totally underestimated the quality of the food. It has been quite good.

Limped back to the B+B, April tried to read and fell asleep with her book in her hands in about 2 minutes. I finished this, now I’m hitting the sack.

Training to London tomorrow. Will see Mimi probably Thursday. Heading to Italy on Friday.