The idea for creating this site came about early in 2009 when I was researching the route whilst planning to walk some of the stages. I realised that there was an awful lot of info on the web but it had to be searched for. Why not gather all of that information and put it into one, easily accessible place I reasoned?

www.thecoasttocoastwalk.info is my answer to that and hopefully you will find the site useful and let me have feedback - positive or negative. My ambition for the site is to build it into the top resource centre for the Coast to Coast walk and the first port of call on the web for potential Coast to Coasters on the route.

The site was started in February 2009 and I have decided to put it live as soon as possible for two reasons. Firstly, with people starting to plan their Coast to Coast trip now it gives people a chance to find the site, read what is on the site and hopefully learn something from it. The second reason is that with people looking and using the site as a resource centre it will hopefully offer me the chance of getting more feedback from users and hopefully build the site into the complete Coast to Coast site.

A little bit about me, Dik Stoddart, the person behind the website, the photo above is of me heading down into Langstrath whilst walking the Cumbria Way in 2008. Since 2004 my wife, Lou, and our faithful hound Patch have been walking the Lakeland fells and slowly bagging Wainwrights as we go along. Sadly Lou died in June 2009 leaving everyone who knew her with a very heavy heart and a big hole in their lives. The site will be kept going as a tribute to Lou who was not only my wife but my best friend, fell-walking buddy and someone who I was lucky to have shared all too brief a life with.

I am also the person behind www.thecumbriaway.info which is intended to perform the same job for the Cumbria Way as this site will hopefully do for the Coast to Coast.

Hopefully the site will evolve into a useful and informative resource centre for the Coast to Coast on the web and also act as a focal point for user interaction such as trip submissions, photos, tips and advice from Coast to Coast veterans. Please get in touch with me if you have any feedback, photos you would like to see on the site, journals or links. In fact if you have anything Coast to Coast related send it in to me at
dik@thecoasttocoastwalk.info

Thanks are due....
...... to the following people:
Lone Walker of the brilliant Walking Places website for kind words,offers of help and supplying plenty of photos of the route. The Andover Ramblers, Christopher Weddell, Brian and Gail Downing, Wally Trimble, Catherine & Kate for the use of photos, fellow members of the Wainwright Society for feedback and encouragement, friends who have walked the route and offered their perspective on the site and many others who will get a mention here when I remember!