En Route : Southampton to Manchester to St. Bees

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.”

 Carl Sagan

 

Between Ocean and Trail

Today was one of those necessary in-between days that does not belong fully to one journey or the next.  Only yesterday we had still been within the ordered, enclosed world of Queen Mary 2, having crossed the Atlantic from New York to Southampton aboard the world’s last ocean liner. Now, after many wonderful hours of sleep in a hotel bed, we woke at 6:30 AM to the beginning of a very different kind of crossing. Ahead of us was Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, a walk from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, and beyond that – we hoped - an ambitious sequence of trails across Britain. But first, we had to bridge the gap between the ship and the footpath by train.

When the alarm clock sounded, we both felt as though we could have slept all morning. Reluctantly, we got up, took our showers, packed our bags, and went down to a breakfast of cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, toast, and coffee.  By 8:30 AM, we had dropped our luggage off in the long-term storage at the hotel (the reason we had chosen to stay there), and were on our way to the train station.

It was a short 15-minute walk to the Southampton Central Train Station on a warm, humid, and overcast morning.  We still had to make an extra effort when crossing roads to look right first, and the many roundabouts still desperately confused us with the cars travelling on the other side of the road, but we hope this will become more intuitive over time.  

The train station was packed, with people forming queues and milling about on the many different platforms.  Happily, there were extremely friendly and helpful railway personnel on every platform who kindly pointed us in the right direction.  The first leg of our journey was a 4-hour ride to Manchester Piccadilly station.  There, we had 20 minutes to change trains.  The train to Lancaster was standing room only and had many stops, which made the hour-long journey rather awkward with our large packs.  Ultimately, we ended up squeezed against the doorway, trying to stay out of the way as people pushed past, leaned against us, texted and went about their daily business.  In Lancaster, we had just 12 minutes to switch to the train for St Bees.  Once again, we never would have made it without the extremely helpful station staff.  

Birds, Marshes, and Landscapes

Although we weren't always positioned so that we could see outside, we noticed a shift in the landscape as we headed northward.  We began in more urban areas, separated by lush green fields filled with sheep or cows, many of whom had relatively small calves or lambs.  The wildflowers and fruit trees were in full bloom, giving additional colour to the landscape.  In Birmingham, we noticed quite a few abandoned factories, while Manchester looked like an intriguing place to visit, being in the midst of a revitalization from industrial to high-end.  A definite highlight was the landscape around Stoke-on-Trent, where the train line followed along beside a series of canals that were filled with colourful Canal boats. 

While the entire journey was beautiful, a definite highlight was the Lake District, which we travelled through for the final 2.5 hours of the trip.  On one side were extensive tidal marshes, beyond which lay huge sand dunes and then the blue expanse of the sea.  On the other side, steep hills rose up, their colourful sides brushed with green, red, and black.  The rain created a layered effect, causing the hills to disappear into the distance.

One of the best parts of this leg of the journey was seeing huge flocks of birds out on the tidal marshes. The train was travelling at quite a clip, making identification of unfamiliar species a challenge, but among those we recognized were Grey Herons, Great Cormorants, Black-backed Gulls,  Pied Avocets, Egrets, Shelducks, Crows ....It was a birding paradise, and it was tempting to hop off the train and spend more time here.

It was a reminder that even on a travel day, the world was not merely something to move through. The journey north was already offering signs of the landscapes we were entering: sheep fields, marshes, rain-darkened hills, old industrial towns, canals, and seabirds. All in all, we got to enjoy parts of England through the train windows in fragments.

Arriving in St. Bees

We reached the small seaside town of St. Bees around 6:40 PM.  A gentle rain was falling as we made up the steep and narrow streets in search of accommodation.  Earlier, we had learned the campground was booked solid, which rather worries us.  The vibe of St Bees is somewhat similar to what we experienced in Saint-Pied-de-Port at the beginning of the Camino Frances. Many couples with backpacks and hiking clothes were wandering the streets in search of food.

Having few options left so late in the evening, we made our way up to a B&B.  Needless to say, the welcome was brief.  The man who met us quickly showed us to the room, handed over the key, and told us to leave it in the door when we departed in the morning. He also made it clear that he had a family party underway and did not want to be disturbed that evening. There was no mention of how to pay, where we should go for our included breakfast, where to find the Wi-Fi code, or any of the small practical details that feel very important. Added to which the room seemed to have no heating, the shower only ran with cold water, and the room was distinctly musty.  All of which made the situation feel a little more uncertain.

Given the lack of information about breakfast, we walked to the local store and bought crumpets, jam, and a few drinks for the morning. It was not quite the organized beginning we had imagined, but it was enough.

Evening Preparations

Having dropped off our backpacks and prepared for breakfast tomorrow, we headed out to find dinner under the assumption that in the coming days we will largely be limited to freeze-dried food.  By 7:30 PM, we were at the beautiful Manor Inn, eating veggie burgers and fries, drinking beer, and trying to figure out some of the coming stages.  After days of being carried across the Atlantic and hours of being carried north by train, tomorrow we would begin moving under our own power again. The forecast called for heavy rain, possibly 20 to 50 millimetres, and the first stage promised around 24 kilometres with significant climbing and descending.

It felt like a trial-by-fire beginning for two hikers who had done very little to prepare for this specific trail. Of course, this was not our first crossing of a country. We had walked across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail, crossed much of France on the GR65, walked the Camino Francés from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago and beyond to Fisterra, followed routes through Portugal and Spain, and crossed landscapes in many directions. But every route asks something different, and the Coast to Coast would have its own demands.

From St. Bees, we will walk west to east across England. In a few weeks, if everything went to plan, we would cross Scotland from southwest to northeast on the Pennine Way, West Highland Way and Great Glen Way, and then perhaps – time permitting return to England to walk east to west along Hadrian’s Wall. There was no denying that the schedule was ambitious, maybe – we wondered from time to time – more than we ultimately would be able to do.  But for now, the next step was simple. We had to begin.

That night, lying in bed, we listened to the rain outside the window and to a discontented sheep bleating somewhere nearby. We were tired from the long day of quick transit, grateful that the train connections had gone smoothly, and aware that morning would bring a very different kind of journey.

The ocean crossing was behind us. The trail was waiting. And outside, the rain kept falling.

See you on the Trail!