The Verdict Is In:
Coast to Coast Walkers Have Embraced The C2C Passport With Open Arms
At the beginning of 2024, the Richmond Yorkshire CIC decided to create a Passport for Coast to Coast walkers. It would be used as a meaningful way to record each stage of a walker’s journey and become a personal memento of their trek. Also included in the cover price of the Passport would be a customised Completion Certificate, another attractive keepsake.
​Market research conducted with a large sample of actual Coast to Coast walkers, as well as numerous conversations with the holiday companies who have been successfully serving this cohort for many years, gave credence to our belief that such an idea certainly could find a receptive audience.
However, as a newly formed volunteer-run company, we didn’t have the resources to finance the entire Passport project on our own. Fortunately, we quickly discovered that our optimism for the Passport was warmly shared by the various public funding bodies across the entire length of the route. By the end of 2024 (early 2025) we had received commitments from North Yorkshire Council, the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the North York Moors National Park, Westmorland and Furness Council, Cumberland Council and the Wainwright Society totalling over £22,000.
The CIC felt that it was vital to deliver a Passport in 2025, prior to Natural England’s completion of the £5.6m upgrade of the path, making it the seventieth National Trail, in time for the start of the 2026 walking season.
Any new product launch is bound to have a few kinks. We wanted to identify these before the formal launch of the Coast to Coast National Trail in March 2026. This strategy has proved to be invaluable and even though very few of our initial assumptions about the Passport were wrong, the 2025 pilot has allowed us to further improve the 2026 editions.
By the time the Passport ‘went to print’ a network of 80 Stamping Agents in 29 different locations had been recruited. The copywriting and design of all the necessary marketing materials was organised. The Passport stamps and inkpads were ordered! Point of sale posters were sorted and a dedicated website was prepared so that everything was ready to ‘go live’ the beginning of April 2025.
The Sweet Taste of Success
Finding Coast to Coast walkers who might become customers this year was always going to be a major challenge. Thankfully, our efforts have produced an excellent result with sales of the 2025 Edition of the Coast to Coast Passport, from April 2025 – September 2025 amounting to 1,500 copies.
Selling the Passport is of course the best indication that walkers, having learned about the venture, were willing to buy a copy to accompany them on their adventures. Yet, the real test, besides gaining sufficient trust with Passport Holders, was to engage them and listen to their comments. This has made all the hundreds upon hundreds of volunteer hours put into the project extremely worthwhile.
Media interest in the Coast to Coast Passport was extensive and included national BBC television coverage on BBC Breakfast in June.
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A sample of some of the stories that the passport generated are noted below:​
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https://www.facebook.com/c2cpassport/videos/1211882496932043/
