First Glimpse of the Coast-2-Coast...

After dinner, we walked the half-mile to the beach to find the C2C trailhead. Along the way we passed this statue of St. Bega, an Irish princess who fled across the Irish Sea to avoid an arranged marriage.

Here are the first of many sheep we would see over the next two weeks...

...and here is St. Bees Head, the first hill we would climb the next morning.

Jimmy did a good deed by collecting a bunch of trash off the beach.

Here’s another look at those sheep. Jimmy eventually joked that the Coast-2-Coast should actually be called the Crap-2-Crap because it’s nearly possible to step on sheep poop the entire way across England.

Starting with a Special Beer...

There was a slight chill, but we were thrilled to see the bright blue skies.

We started the evening at the Coast to Coast Bar with a Wainwright beer in honor of Alfred Wainwright, a British guidebook author and illustrator who described his 192-mile (309K) route in a book in 1973. Not quite sure what the bartender was doing at the moment I took this photo.

Kent’s aunt joined us for dinner at the adjacent Manor House, which was delicious. As silly as it sounds, I went to the trouble of pre-booking dinner for each evening as most of the villages are so small that I didn’t want to risk that we wouldn’t be able to eat somewhere nice with vegetarian options.

Praying It All Goes Well...

...actually just visiting the St. Bees Priory as there’s not much else in the way of sightseeing in this small village of 1,800 inhabitants.

Originally built in the early 12th century, it has been restored many times over the centuries and was in fantastic condition. The ceiling was truly impressive.

The Norman arch over the door was also really interesting.

The village itself was small and quaint. I was surprised by the lack of stores catering to the 10,000 or so C2C hikers that come through annually. I figured for sure there would be an outdoor adventure shop, but there was only a small grocery store with an ATM that only took UK PIN cards. What a relief that we didn’t forget anything as it would have been very difficult to replace any missing gear.

Off to St. Bees...

On July 13, Kent, Carlin, Jimmy and I set off early in the morning to catch a flight to Manchester where we then caught a train to St. Bees, where the Coast-2-Coast trail starts. It was hard to believe after all that training, we were just one day away from starting our trek across England.

We checked into the Stonehouse Farm, the first of 17 places we’d stay while we crossed Northern England.

Jimmy’s and my room was in this old farm building; it was old-fashioned, but surprisingly large.

Lovely Views of Bonn...

Jim led us up another hill to a beer garden at the top of Petersberg. After enjoying a beer, we took some photos overlooking the amazing views.

Yes, it’s true that the boys had to wait for me whether we were going uphill or downhill.

Once all the way down, we caught a ferry to cross the Rhine. It was a great way to see just how much ground we covered as we started at the bottom of the hill on the left, hiked to the top and then across to the top of the hill on the right and back down.

Nina met us once we got back onto their side of the river at another beer garden for a final beer together. Can definitely understand why they’ve loved living in Bonn and very glad we finally had a chance to visit.

Hiking in Bonn...

The following day, we took a bus into the center of Bonn, where these two cool dudes posed for this photo before we had brunch.

We took a tram across the river to the foot of the hill so we could go on a hike. It was my first hike since my fall and I was relieved that I managed pretty well.

Samantha, Jim and Nina’s eldest, came along which was handy for taking this group photo.

Once we reached Heisterbach Abbey, Nina and Samantha opted to catch a bus home while we continued on to see the ruins. The original basilica was finished in 1237. The monastery flourished until 1803, and the church and monastery were torn down in 1809. Only the apse with the ruins of the choir remain, which was really cool.

Ahrweiler and Into the Night...

The only city we cycled through was Ahrweiler, which both Veronica and Ashlynn visited during a school trip, but Jimmy and I had never been to. The medieval gate was impressive...

...and the pedestrian area was quaint. We stopped at a wine bar to try some local wine.

Eventually our route led to the Rhine River where we passed the remains of the Bridge at Remagen which was captured by the US, but eventually collapsed in March 1945 after the Germans attacked it several times in failed attempts to regain control.

We cycled into the sunset and finally stopped at a riverfront restaurant for dinner. I wasn’t thrilled about cycling the rest of the way in the dark, but Jim loaned me his helmet which had a funky but very effective light.

As our group leader, Jim was relieved when I told him it was one of the best cycle rides I’ve ever been on.