Coast-to-Coast Blog

  • Introduction

    Introduction

    This is the adventure story of two septuagenarian brothers Dennis and Michael. Dennis is 73 and a retired trial attorney who spent a rewarding if stressful career in the courtrooms of Rhode Island guiding medical professionals through the horrors of medical malpractice lawsuits. He abandoned that scene 15 years ago for the quieter realm of […]

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Latest Posts

  • Plans are proceeding apace!

    I promised to report updates and there is an update to report. The return to England is set. Rooms in B&Bs have been booked  and airfare secured and paid for. Mike and I will board a flight in Providence on September 3, 2023 to arrive in Orton, Cumbria, UK on the afternoon of September 4. […]

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  • It’s settled. We’re going back

    A quick update here to let our followers and friends know that Mike and I have booked our return trip to England to complete the Coast-to-Coast walk.  The necessities of business and family require that we put this off until late summer next year but the wait will serve only to boost our enthusiasm. We […]

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  • Post Script

    Our faithful followers will know already that Mike and I quit the trek just shy of the half-way mark in Orton, Cumbria. We are safely home now taking care of our loved ones and ourselves (Mike: bruised rib; Dennis: left foot tendonitis).  But plans are well under way for our return to England to complete […]

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  • Orton to Manchester Airport

    Yes that’s right.  Mike and I favored discretion over valor and decided to wend our way home.  We were just shy of the half-way point of our planned journey, so plotting a return to finish the walk will be easy.  And we will return. I just need to be with my kids and grandkids right […]

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  • Shap to Orton

    This was billed as the easiest day of the entire journey and it probably was – at least in terms of footsteps and walking.  We left the Brookfield Guest House at 9:20 and wandered across rolling hills and dales into the Yorkshire Dales.  There were no cliffs or swamps to navigate though there was a […]

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  • Patterdale to Shap (Part Two)

    Those who have paid attention know that the walk we are on was first outlined in the 1970’s by Arthur Wainwright. He was a legendary fells walker who has attained a somewhat mythical, almost deific status. It now turns out that Mike and I are removed from the great Wainwright by a single degree of […]

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  • Patterdale to Shap

    My Apple watch informs that Mike and I logged 9.49 miles walking today with elevation gains of 225 feet.  The beauty of these miles was that each of them happened on a paved surface.  So, while we cannot be called slackers, we do not object to being called sensible septuagenarians. After yesterday’s near death experience […]

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  • Grasmere to Patterdale

    Ummm…. WOW! After yesterday’s outing, Mike and I were tempted to claim today as a restorative day off to nurse sore shoulders (well – one sore shoulder that would be Dennis’) and overall fatigue.  But this morning presented a different idea. We would walk today and take tomorrow as our rest day. After all, today’s […]

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  • Rosthwaite to Grasmere – Tolkien must have lived here

    My description of today’s hike can be summed up thus: grueling; taxing; satisfying; awe-inspiring; aches; fatigue.  But WORTH EVERY BIT OF THAT! But the thing that I’ve fixated on today is the names of the places and geographical features of this landscape. After breakfast today we left the sleepy village of Rosthwaite that is nestled […]

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  • A special post for the kids

    Olivia, Damian and Riley – I MISS YOU. But here’s a picture that you will like – especially Olivia.  I hope you’re getting up early and getting to school on time. This trip is great fun but I can’t wait to see you guys again! A real mushroom seen along the shores of Ennerdale Water […]

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  • Ennerdale Bridge to Rosthwaite (warning – a lot of boring detail)

    This was a day of epic adventures by any standard! It started in a routine way when we sat down next to Haimish and Amanda for a full Cumbrian breakfast at the B&B. We departed at 8 :45 for what was billed as a 15 mile walk – the longest in the Lake District – […]

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  • St. Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

    Today was a day of challenges.  Perhaps the biggest challenge on a day like this one that occurs at the beginning of any new adventure and that is the challenge of the unknown. Mike and I have both read the books and watched the videos. We’ve completed practice walks with backpacks and trekking poles. A […]

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