good luck mick,we,ll probably pass you on our Patterdale- Shap leg so watch out for 3 blokes who look lost.

...er, maybe not forkhandles! After arriving at Lord Stones 10 mins down on last attempt (8.10! on sched. should've been around 5-5.30) I had no hesitation in booking a taxi to lick my wounds in a B&B (eventually) in Northallerton! (many thanks to Ros of Stokesy taxis and the landlord of the Blue Bell at Ingleby Cross for helping me get fixed up) There was no point in returning a 7 day or 6 day time and I could not face another night in that damn bag after spending the worst night ever on the moor above May Beck...
Maybe I'm just going to have to face it... at 57 I'm too old for such an undertaking... although, interestingly, I got talking to the guy who does the plaques at RHB and he told me of a 54 yr old that did a W-E in 3days 4hrs! I would like to shake that man's hand! (a touch of the robe might do the trick...)
So, once again I'm left trying to sort out what went wrong...

Bad luck but if you didn't try you wouldn't know. I guess that in a few weeks time you will think that "I'll just give it one more go"!

Unlucky with your Attempt Mick, Have another go, you know you can do it !

Thanks for the encouragement!
-it does go a long way.

Well, just maybe - still haven't got my head around this yet, after 6 months of training as well!
There's not much to tell... turned out to be a rather expensive 40 miler!

Day0 - 8pm start. Arrived off the bus 6.20 (too early - you can only mill about RHB for so long...)
The forecast is for cool and overcast with windy conditions developing towards end of week - sounds good. With time to kill managed to find a pebble this time... how do I know it's not from St Bees?
Found a better route out of RHB - half way up King St. some steps lead down to the sea wall from here a path brings you up to the roundabout (less steep I thought?)
The path at Bay Ness climbs up to quickly connect with the former railway trackbed. This is still an 'ethical' line I feel, as it still allows for a clifftop start and the trackbed helps if there's a need to get across the boggy bits before dark. Wet feet from the top of the overgrown intake road, but the moor crossing is much more civilised in the light. (In retrospect this is the only advantage I can see in a June attempt to this schedule) After the road the second shorter bit of moor is much wetter and I'm wishing I'd packed those Seal Skinz now as I've started on a slightly wrong line - but again because it's June and still light I can see where many other Coasters have come the other way as I head more to my left. Coming off the moor a little breeze is welcome and I do think about dropping the landing gear, but it's still light and I'm not yet aware of just how bad the midge population is yet down at the car park! When I arrive there I realise I'd probaly be eaten alive and reluctantly trudge back up to the open moor (now with daylight gone) to try and find a level spot. I should have gone with my 1st instinct! Even up here the breeze seems to have dropped and the little blighters are forming a cloud. My insect repellant wipes prove useless and are more effective when I set light to them!
The site is not as flat as first judged and it turns out to be the worst ever night in the bag... utterly miserable trying to breathe through scrunched-up hole... and that's before it starts to rain...

Day1 - May have got some snatches of sleep but delayed getting up from 3.30am for an hour. Feel like a damp corpse in a body bag! Down sleeping bag is wet.
Pre-bagged muesli goes down a treat with luxury cup of tea with P/Rocket carried this time. Manage to dress avoiding midges by darting from place to place...
Off for 5.18am.
Steady to Grosmont. Ford is passable this time. Pleasantly surprised to find Midge Hall (hmm, how'd it get it's name, I wonder...) refurbished and lived in! Arrived Grosmont at 7.20 to find Co-op not open till 9am on Sunday (this is after sitting on bench opposite till after 8pm!) Planned food stop. So waited using the opportunity to further dry the sleeping bag on fence. This turns out to be a disaster looking back - and no better than last attempt, as though I haven't learned anything! At this hour should only be quick wash and water stop. So arrive up on schedule but leave an hour down!
Coffee stop at rd. turn off after Glaisdale Rigg. Discover I've added orange tab. to only water carried! Still it's sunny and there's a bit of breeze that helps to further dry out bag. Arrive Lion Inn knackered and slightly dehydrated with heat - feel ill here and can't eat food ordered - on return from toilet find it's been cleared away...
Trackbed is a bind in the heat of the afternoon - an umbrella would have been great as there is little breeze. The high point is being buzzed by an angry curlew! For the first time I think a companion would be good to help pass the miles. Rant at resting walkers on how pointless it all is... they laugh...
On descending to the road at Clay Bank Top a misplaced footing jars back badly on drainage stone channel built across path. Arrive Lord Stones okay though but with v. sore feet - mentally I've had it with heat and previous nights lack of sleep! Realise 5 days is off - too easy with mobile phone to book taxi...

So, on reflection:
1) Lack of sleep. With packing-up, didn't get to bed till 4am on night before travelling - planned to catch-up by sleeping on coach. Bad idea - Yorkshire Coastliner (after National Express from Leeds) is more like a service bus that literally goes 'round the houses' at Tadcaster and York.

2) Thinking maybe that my bivvi arrangement is currently too basic. Need to be more weather confident.

3) Need to be more self-reliant. I wasn't sure whether the shop in Glaisdale would be open, and I forgot to re-check opening times at Grosmont after moving start date 1 day fwd. (this was to ensure arriving at A19 Monday morning where services open at 6am)

4) Ineffective insect repellant. Need some sort of midge netting for head end of bivvi bag (or go back to a tent!)

5) OTMA - on the move accessibility was poor. This made me irritable! I had lip salve - but couldn't find it!

6) Too hot in June for covering country quickly (for me at least, where most of my training involves trying to keep dry through winter and spring) Have actually weighed sm. folding umbrella since... (160gms)

The plan of blister prevention by using blister plasters taped on from the start proved useless as they wouldn't stop on for more than about 3m with either wet or sweaty feet and arrived at Lord Stones in marginally better state than last time...

so that's about it...
I have considered going back to boots and tent!
cheers
lwm

lwm wrote: "2) Thinking maybe that my bivvi arrangement is currently too basic. Need to be more weather confident."

I've been thinking about this problem. Recently used a bivvy bag instead of tent, very successful, but in really wet weather I'd be looking for some shelter.
I'm wondering whether to take the flysheet, pole and pegs but leave the inner tent at home. That way I'd have the flexibility of a bivvy bag and the weatherproofing of a tent at a slightly lower weight than carrying the whole tent.
Or I could rig a shelter with an ex-military cape, a couple of short poles, and a few pegs.

Just a few thoughts....

Very interesting thoughts too, may I say...
To bivvy with the night sky, stars and or moon changing position on each awakening is something to be experienced - esp. in the dark of the countryside - incredible, and how the senses wake you from fast asleep at the slightest sound! I'm so glad I tried this for the experience. But it certainly is miserable trying to keep the rain out of the bag and a wetted-out bag just doesn't breathe, so you never know whether the bag has become porous or it's from your own breath condensing on the inside. I'd considered getting a basha tarp - then discovered that the flysheet of my tent made a good'ish' head-end cover (tried it once on the back lawn but it didn't rain!) But with the forecast being generally good for my last attempt I left the extra 500gms at home - mentally applying the 3 piles philosophy when packing -up...
When looking at more sophisticated bags it soon becomes clear that Terra Nova's lighter Laser Photon tent (660-720gms they say - £330 and not available till Sept?) is not too far away from the better bivvi arrangements (and better than some!) so the gap between tent and bivvi seems to have narrowed somewhat and a double skin tent is always going to be a more breathable set-up than any breathable fabric.
But there is no doubt that a bivvi bag puts a capital 'A' back into adventure as you are so much closer to the trail (for want of a better expression) although the rewards can sometimes be considered 'spiritual'!
A tent/tarp where one can sleep with head out for the good nights and in for the bad would be best of both worlds. My first night on the SDWay was such a moonlit night and with my tent (McKinley Solo) I was able to sleep half out of the tent and I was so tired on my last night I just laid on top of the rolled-out tent in my sleeping bag and fell asleep in the moonlight. It's been all downhill since those early bivvies! But there is certainly some extra magic involved than zipping yourself into the cocoon of a tent... but then it didn't rain!
The only occasions I've been presented with the prospect of getting 'into/out of' the bag in heavy rain were on the Peakland Way where I was able to use the shelter of the old Hulme End Station, but the tarmac beneath was harsh with just a Ridgerest! - and getting back into those wet clothes from the night before probably no worse than a cold shower...
'Out of' was the last day on my previous C2C('06) when it came on to rain heavily at around 4am. - but it wasn't as bad as anticipated because you're up and moving and soon warm up.
My flysheet and bag arrangement work out at around 925gms. Basha tarps seem to vary in weight, but I'm sure such a combination could be brought down to maybe 750gms? less surely if TN came come up with a tent less than that? - not sure, but we are both thinking along the same lines!
A good night's sleep has moved up a notch in priority for me, for sure.
Let me know how you get on with your flysheet/cape trials - I would be most interested to hear how you get on,
cheers Pete,
mick

LWM,
Hi Mick,
The number of times I have said "Never again" afetr a bad experience, only to find myself a couple of days later, thinking how I might be able to make another attempt go easier the next time. The pain soon eases off the harshness fades and by the time you are ready and excited about giving it another go, you have forgotten just how hard it was. The problem is, once again started, it very quickly comes back to you and you remember why you found it so hard last time.
It can take quite a few goes untill you get it as right as you possibly can.
I personally think a lightweight tent is a better option, and more than compensates for the extra KG and I think it would have made all the difference to your attempt. As for shoes or boots, I think a pair of lightweight Goretex fabric boots might be ideal for a route like the C2C and I wouldnt go without gaiters, even without rain the long grass in the morning can be wet.
Of course all this you will already be aware of but it may be worth a try on your next attempt. You know you will!
Dave.

I'm still shaking my head!
Yes, a lw tent would have made a big difference... it would have made all the difference in confidence, and I could have got to Beacon Hill. Leaving L/Stones at 8.30 would put me, even on tired legs, up there by 10.30 surely, and still light in June. I could have ambled down in the morning to find the A19 services open as planned... a good cooked b/fast would have set me up.
But then, I don't know... something inside was saying NO to this one. A funny thing you just can't put your finger on.
I was looking for something under the bed over the weekend and Ray Jardine's 'Beyond Backpacking' slid out... he describes what he terms 'trail shock' which sounds very much like what I felt... and he has some interesting comments on foot fungus that inhibits the development of callus (the very same that causes athletes foot) which may explain why the balls of my feet lack thick skin and very soon feel sore - it may all be down to a pair of cheap household slippers and lack of air around the feet...
You are so right the memories of the last bad experience soon come flooding back!
good advice mate...
yeah, I'll be back
cheers
mick
have you chkd you FB inbox btw?

LWM, Yes Ive checked, but still cant get my head around the thing, all thse people I havent seen for years and even people I dont know want to become friends!!?? and where does the page end it goes on forever, so I dont bother much with it, just have a look every so often.
Thats why I responded on here instead.
Dave.