Members of the Wainwright Society have celebrated the designation of the Coast to Coast Walk as a National Trail.
The 190-mile route, devised by Alfred Wainwright and first published in 1973, runs from St Bees on the Irish Sea to Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea.
It passes through three national parks: the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.
Derek Cockell from the Wainwright Society, who attended a launch event in Reeth, was presented with a Coast to Coast National Trail signpost by Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond and Northallerton.
The Wainwright Society first raised the idea of National Trail status in 2006 and formally proposed it at their AGM in 2007.
In 2013, members walked sections of the route to survey it and raise money for charity. Donations raised paid for waymarkers along the route.
The society later backed Rishi Sunak’s 2016 campaign for official designation, which was approved by the Government in 2022.
Since then, members have worked as stakeholders in the three-year path improvement project.
The society took part in celebration events held in each of the three national parks the trail crosses: Ennerdale in the Lake District, Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales, and Robin Hood’s Bay at the eastern terminus.
Wainwright expressed pride in the route during his lifetime, writing in 1983: "the route has never been officially adopted by the Countryside Commission, but has recently been adjudged the best long-distance walk in England."
By 1987, he noted with satisfaction the presence of a dedicated signpost in Shap, calling it "official recognition at last."
National Trail designation now brings annual maintenance funding.
The Wainwright Society – the Society was founded in 2002 with the primary aims of keeping alive the fellwalking traditions promoted by Alfred Wainwright through his guidebooks and other publications, and to keep faith with his vision of introducing a wider audience to fellwalking and caring for the hills.
It will now be marked on the maps of the Ordnance Survey.
