<P> Wainwright recommends that walkers dip their booted feet in the Irish Sea at St Bees and, at the end of the walk, in the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay . </P> <P> The Coast to Coast was originally described by Alfred Wainwright in his 1973 book A Coast to Coast Walk . Wainwright's book has since been revised a number of times in recent years (most recently in 2003) with updates to the recommended route . </P> <P> Wainwright's book describes the route in 12 stages, each of which ends at a settlement with at least some overnight accommodation nearby . If one stage is walked per day, with one or two rest days, the route makes a two - week holiday, and web logs of coast - to - coasters seem to indicate that this is the most common way of walking the route . However, Wainwright explicitly states that he did not intend people to necessarily stick to these daily stages, or even to his route . For instance, the majority of Wainwright's stages start and end at low level with a single up - down during the day: many walkers split the Borrowdale--Patterdale stage at Grasmere in order to maintain this pattern and avoid having two major uphill sections in one day . Splitting two or three more of the longer stages, and adding a further one or two rest days, reduces the average day - length to 10 or 12 miles and makes the walk a much easier three - week trip with time to "stand and stare", an activity much approved of by Wainwright . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> I want to encourage in others the ambition to devise with the aid of maps their own cross-country marathons and not be merely followers of other people's routes: there is no end to the possibilities for originality and initiative . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="3">--A. Wainwright, A Coast to Coast Walk </Td> </Tr> </Table>

How long does it take to walk the coast to coast
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