Further funding for Coast to Coast passport agreed

Funding to produce more booklets to support walkers undertaking the Coast to Coast walk has been agreed by North Yorkshire councillors.

The 190-mile (305km) route, from St Bees Head in Cumbria to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire, was devised in 1973 by author Alfred Wainwright.

Launched in March, the 140-page document encourages people to visit shops, pubs and visitor attractions dotted along the route. There are now plans for a shorter version of the booklet.

North Yorkshire Council said 16 councillors had funding approved through the authority's locality budget programme to help with the production of more of the booklets for 2026.

The Coast to Coast Passport scheme is operated by the Richmond Yorkshire Community Interest Company in association with the Richmond Information Centre. Walkers can order the full booklets online for £15.

In addition to information about the route, the passport also includes special offers from shops and retailers and walkers can get stamps from places they call in at.

The council said each of its members had a budget of £5,000 each year to respond to local needs by allocating small amounts of funding.

It said councillors George Jabbour, Carl Les, Yvonne Peacock, Heather Moorhouse, Kevin Foster, David Noland, David Chance, Andy Solloway, Clive Pearson, Karen Sedgwick, Eric Broadbent, Derek Bastiman, Steve Watson and David Webster had all awarded £300 each to the passport scheme.

Annabel Wilkinson and Peter Wilkinson each awarded £400.

Council chair George Jabbour walked the route over the summer raising more than £4,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

"I am very grateful to all those councillors who have committed locality budget funding to this cause.

"The Coast to Coast passport gave me a structure to my adventure and a companion that I consulted regularly.

"It allowed me to have a sense of accomplishment each time I collected a stamp and reached a milestone, which was a motivation factor to keep me going."

He said it also made a "charming memento" of the walk.

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