St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge
Stage 1 of the Coast to Coast Path (an official National Trail since 26 March 2026) and the moment every walker remembers: by tradition you dip your boots in the Irish Sea at St Bees beach and pocket a pebble to carry 190 miles to Robin Hood's Bay. The day opens on the red St Bees Sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head — north-west England's only cliff-nesting seabird colony and England's sole breeding site for the black guillemot — before turning inland through Sandwith, Moor Row and Cleator across the West Cumberland plain. The walk then earns its 'Hard' rating on Dent Hill (352 m), the first real climb, with views to the Isle of Man and the Lakeland fells, followed by a steep drop into the hidden Nannycatch valley and on through Nannycatch Gate into the Lake District National Park, finishing at the welcoming village of Ennerdale Bridge. Note: the original clifftop start between St Bees South Head and Fleswick Bay has been closed since a December cliff fall, and an official signed diversion is in place — follow the acorn waymarks.

St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge