Whitehaven to Sunderland (C2C) 2010
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If you don’t want to read the full account of the ride please scroll to the bottom for a brief summary and a list of tips that you may find useful
My brother Andrew and I try to undertake a “challenge” every year and having done various walks such as the 3 peaks (national and Yorkshire versions) we decided to try something different this year – the Coast to Coast cycle ride. I’m a keen weekend mountain biker and Andrew has got into cycling since retiring but neither of us had ridden this far, for so long and over three continuous days.
Planning
After consulting the excellent C2C guide website and reading the various discussion boards and accounts written by other people we decided to go for the traditional Whitehaven to Sunderland option spread out over 3 days. Looking at the route profile we decided to get as many miles under our wheels as possible on the first day as the second looked to be quite hilly. We therefore decided to schedule our first nights stay in one of the many B & B’s in Penrith (about 53 miles) and opted for a second night in the pub in the village of Allenheads (a further 36 miles or so), leaving us a relatively steady, and mainly downhill, run into Sunderland on day 3.
Day 1
We arrived at Whitehaven on the Monday morning at about 10.30 a.m. having driven over from my home in the north-east through frost and fog to be greeted by a beautifully sunny but cool day. After a hot drink and lots of rearranging bags, checking equipment etc we dipped our rear wheels in the sea and had the obligatory photo taken next to the C2C sculpture. We eventually set off at about 11.20 and rode through the centre of Whitehaven to find the public toilets, where I immediately came to the conclusion that I was too hot with my thickest cycling trousers on. Eventually after getting myself sorted out we went on our way and soon found the well signed C2C route out of Whitehaven and onto the old railway track. This part of the route was a little bit grotty at first but as it moved away from the town it became quieter (less dogs and people) and prettier.
Making good pace we entered the Lake District proper and were rewarded with some beautiful views of the lower fells as we rode along the side of Loweswater. As we passed through Cleator Moor we spotted a white van towing a trailer full of bikes, which we guessed, was supporting a group of cyclists doing the C2C. This was to be the first of several times we would see it. Slightly further on at Lorton, after frantic phone calls, we eventually met up with one of my other brothers, Colin, and his son Paul who live in nearby Cockermouth - they planned to join us for the rest of day 1 and then get picked up in Penrith. Now riding as a group of four we set off up the long gated hillside road towards the Whinlatter pass, our first significant climb of the day. Surprisingly this felt quite comfortable and we were soon whizzing down through Whinlatter forest on a fire road and heading towards Keswick - surprisingly the order at the bottom was oldest first, youngest last!)
Passing through Keswick we picked up the old railway line, which was peaceful and quite beautiful, as we passed various walkers and cyclists (some good things did come out of Mr Beeching’s “Axe” in the 1960’s after all!). We saw the white van again just before we rode parallel to the A66 just after Threlkeld, this time a group of riders were leaning against it having a rest and some refreshments, so we gave them a cheery wave as we sped past. At the time we didn’t realise how much we would hope to see it again later that day. As we went through Scales we had a route choice to make – the “official” route to the north (left) of the A66 via Mungrisdale or an alternative to the south (right) of the A66 offered by my brother who, with his local knowledge of the area, said that there had been a lot of hedge cutting lately and that he had experienced punctures on this road in the past so it might be best to make a slight diversion. However, wanting to do it “properly” and follow the guide to the letter we decided to go for the official route – a mistake we were to later regret!
After a short while we passed a gate and immediately entered a very narrow road where there were lots of hedge cuttings in the middle of the road. We foolishly decided to tip-toe through on our bikes rather than getting off to push. Within 50 metres all 4 of us were effing and blinding and had ground to a halt with punctures. At the end of the road we met 2 girls on touring bikes who were just completing repairing their punctures! After removing our punctured tyres we discovered that we not only a puncture each, but some of us had several punctures in both wheels. Fortunately it was sunny and quite warm by now so we spent an hour replacing tubes and patching holes and then frantically pumping up tyres. It was then that we found that we had only one pump and a mixture of Schraeder and Presto valves, necessitating changing the pump valve attachment many times. We eventually moved on and came out near Troutbeck, which is where my brother’s diversion would have taken us to.
The next 15 miles to Penrith seemed to take much longer than expected -despite there being no major hills or off road sections to slow us down. This was probably because I had to pedal like mad for ¾ of a mile or so and then stop to pump up my rear tyre, which had developed a slow puncture that I hadn’t discovered when we had our enforced stop. My brother was luckier – he managed to get a couple of miles before he had to stop and blow up his tyres! Unfortunately as we had no spare tubes left we had no option but to pump up, pedal on and repeat. Where was the white van full of spare bikes and inner tubes now!!! Colin and Paul then decided in view of the lack of spare inner tubes and patches, and the delays we had experienced in fixing punctures they had better arrange to get picked up before Penrith. So after a few phone calls and sarcastic comments like “I told you so” etc they bade us farewell.
Just outside Penrith, with the lights of the town in view, my brother’s rear inner tube, which he had been running virtually flat to save us having to stop, finally gave up with a pop and a hiss. It was dark (7:30pm) and beginning to freeze by now but we had no choice but to take the wheel off and replace the tube with a spare which we knew was dodgy. We eventually rolled into Penrith about 8.30, tired but jubilant that we had finally made it.
After checking in to our B& B and having a quick shower we strolled into town and found somewhere to eat – eventually settling on an Indian restaurant recommended to us by someone we met in the town centre, where we had the traditional meal of all touring cyclists – beer and curry!
Day 2
We set off in bright sunshine from Penrith at around 10.30 after having a delayed start as we called into Arragon’s bike shop in the town centre to stock up on spare inner tubes and puncture repair kits after the problems on day 1. After replacing the leaking inner tubes we were finally able to get going again.
On paper the day ahead of us looked relatively easy after the long distance we had covered the previous day (about 55 miles) but in reality it was to turn out to be the hardest of the 3 days due to the amount of climbing involved – much of it steep, and some of it very long as well. The approach to the first major climb of the day (Hartside) was up a long, winding road that just seemed to go on and on. Surprisingly we didn’t find it too bad, not so much steep - just a continuous drag. Even when we finally spotted the cafe at the top there seemed to be a few more twists and turns and false summits. We stopped at the top and basked in our sense of achievement for a while, taking in the magnificent views and watching all the motorbike riders approaching in the distance. After eating our lunch and taking photographs next to the sign showing the summit altitude (1903 ft)we zipped up our jackets against the cool breeze and pedalled off for a nice long descent.
The next steep hill was the climb up Garrigill; although shorter than Hartside it was the steepest of the day and I was grateful for the low gearing on my mountain bike. This was the one place where my brother, laden down with a bike rack and panniers (now stuffed full with spare inner tubes), had to have a brief push – so be warned! As we climbed up Garrigill we passed a straggled out group of riders who looked familiar. At the top as we paused for a rest we decided to wait for them and chat for a few minutes. It transpired that they were a group from the RAF and the white van that we had seen so much of on Day 1 was their support vehicle. We had to laugh when they told us the logistics behind them doing the C2C – apparently as it was being done by RAF personnel they had to have a full risk assessment and health and safety back up (hence the van). This was in stark contrast to our “Do you fancy doing the coast to coast bike ride”, Yeah OK – how about next week” approach which, up until the incident with the punctures, had served us well.
Once over the top it was down into the old mining village of Nenthead and then up again (Black Hill) before whizzing the next few miles down into Allenheads and our overnight stop at the Allenheads Inn for about 5pm, feeling tired and ready for a shower, some food and beer. The highlight of the day was seeing a red squirrel hopping along some walls in Allenheads. Our hosts made us feel very welcome (we were the only guests that night) and our room, although basic, was perfectly adequate. Although we had only covered around 36 miles there had a been a LOT of climbing and the steep ups and down seemed quite relentless at times – we slept well that night!
Day 3
The ”have the full English breakfast and eat as though it is your last ever meal” idea backfired on us slightly as we came out of the pub in the morning and got on our bikes to find that we had a steep climb up Currick within100 metres of leaving the pub (the road runs parallel to a ski slope). When we got to the top it got decidedly cooler, the sun never really got out fully all day and the next 10 miles or so were quite exposed.
We passed through Rookhope and then took the off –road option up the disused railway incline. This was quite hard going fully laden but we made it to the top despite the rocky surface. After a few more miles, riding through the mist and avoiding the mud and puddles we joined the Waskerley Way at Parkhead. Here we met a girl on a road bike doing the C2C – she had decided that the Waskerley Way track was too rough for her – so she was going to go by road - we eventually met her again at Consett. This disused old railway was well surfaced and felt downhill so we flew along it at a good pace, arriving in Consett for about 12 noon. Exiting Consett was the one place on the whole ride where we went slightly wrong – the old railway line leading out of town towards Stanley was not as well signed as some of the others we had come across – perhaps it was just us getting complacent now the end was in sight?
The section from Stanley to Sunderland was probably the easiest on the whole route – well signed and flat. The scenery by now was quite industrial and there were lots of reminders of greater days gone by, when the north-east was a real powerhouse of British and indeed worldwide industry, in the form of some fascinating sculptures along the last 20 miles of the route. We found ourselves stopping every few minutes to take pictures of steel cows made out of recycled JCB’s, gigantic sculptures of engineering & optical instruments, huge metal “Transformers”, the Angel of the North and more!
Once we crossed under the A19 and dropped down to the River Wear we knew the end was in sight and, in the words of Murray Walker, we could “kick in the clutch and coast home from here”. Past the Stadium of Light (Sunderland football club’s magnificent stadium) and more interesting sculptures along the riverside we made our under the famous Wear bridge and onto the harbour at Roker before finally turning onto the beach and our finish point, 136.6 miles later.
I had a brief ride in the sea to wet my tyres, being careful not to get too much salty water over my gears, and then stopped at the large marble sculpture, recently commissioned to mark the official end point of the ride, to take some photographs. Although day 3 had been relatively short (about 48 miles or so) we were happy to be finished and had a real sense of achievement – so much so that one the way home we were already talking about what we could do next.
Summary
A very enjoyable, well planned, scenic and interesting route; highly recommended if this is your first attempt at doing a coast to coast bike ride. It is well signposted and easy to follow and you’ll most likely keep meeting up with other people doing the ride at the same time, which adds to the enjoyment.
Tips
You can probably get away without buying the map if you don’t want to as the route is very well signed and there are very few places where you will have to stop and look at a map. The guide book is however an interesting read
Martin Webb and Andrew Webb
October 2010
If you don’t want to read the full account of the ride please scroll to the bottom for a brief summary and a list of tips that you may find useful
My brother Andrew and I try to undertake a “challenge” every year and having done various walks such as the 3 peaks (national and Yorkshire versions) we decided to try something different this year – the Coast to Coast cycle ride. I’m a keen weekend mountain biker and Andrew has got into cycling since retiring but neither of us had ridden this far, for so long and over three continuous days.
Planning
After consulting the excellent C2C guide website and reading the various discussion boards and accounts written by other people we decided to go for the traditional Whitehaven to Sunderland option spread out over 3 days. Looking at the route profile we decided to get as many miles under our wheels as possible on the first day as the second looked to be quite hilly. We therefore decided to schedule our first nights stay in one of the many B & B’s in Penrith (about 53 miles) and opted for a second night in the pub in the village of Allenheads (a further 36 miles or so), leaving us a relatively steady, and mainly downhill, run into Sunderland on day 3.
Day 1
We arrived at Whitehaven on the Monday morning at about 10.30 a.m. having driven over from my home in the north-east through frost and fog to be greeted by a beautifully sunny but cool day. After a hot drink and lots of rearranging bags, checking equipment etc we dipped our rear wheels in the sea and had the obligatory photo taken next to the C2C sculpture. We eventually set off at about 11.20 and rode through the centre of Whitehaven to find the public toilets, where I immediately came to the conclusion that I was too hot with my thickest cycling trousers on. Eventually after getting myself sorted out we went on our way and soon found the well signed C2C route out of Whitehaven and onto the old railway track. This part of the route was a little bit grotty at first but as it moved away from the town it became quieter (less dogs and people) and prettier.
Making good pace we entered the Lake District proper and were rewarded with some beautiful views of the lower fells as we rode along the side of Loweswater. As we passed through Cleator Moor we spotted a white van towing a trailer full of bikes, which we guessed, was supporting a group of cyclists doing the C2C. This was to be the first of several times we would see it. Slightly further on at Lorton, after frantic phone calls, we eventually met up with one of my other brothers, Colin, and his son Paul who live in nearby Cockermouth - they planned to join us for the rest of day 1 and then get picked up in Penrith. Now riding as a group of four we set off up the long gated hillside road towards the Whinlatter pass, our first significant climb of the day. Surprisingly this felt quite comfortable and we were soon whizzing down through Whinlatter forest on a fire road and heading towards Keswick - surprisingly the order at the bottom was oldest first, youngest last!)
Passing through Keswick we picked up the old railway line, which was peaceful and quite beautiful, as we passed various walkers and cyclists (some good things did come out of Mr Beeching’s “Axe” in the 1960’s after all!). We saw the white van again just before we rode parallel to the A66 just after Threlkeld, this time a group of riders were leaning against it having a rest and some refreshments, so we gave them a cheery wave as we sped past. At the time we didn’t realise how much we would hope to see it again later that day. As we went through Scales we had a route choice to make – the “official” route to the north (left) of the A66 via Mungrisdale or an alternative to the south (right) of the A66 offered by my brother who, with his local knowledge of the area, said that there had been a lot of hedge cutting lately and that he had experienced punctures on this road in the past so it might be best to make a slight diversion. However, wanting to do it “properly” and follow the guide to the letter we decided to go for the official route – a mistake we were to later regret!
After a short while we passed a gate and immediately entered a very narrow road where there were lots of hedge cuttings in the middle of the road. We foolishly decided to tip-toe through on our bikes rather than getting off to push. Within 50 metres all 4 of us were effing and blinding and had ground to a halt with punctures. At the end of the road we met 2 girls on touring bikes who were just completing repairing their punctures! After removing our punctured tyres we discovered that we not only a puncture each, but some of us had several punctures in both wheels. Fortunately it was sunny and quite warm by now so we spent an hour replacing tubes and patching holes and then frantically pumping up tyres. It was then that we found that we had only one pump and a mixture of Schraeder and Presto valves, necessitating changing the pump valve attachment many times. We eventually moved on and came out near Troutbeck, which is where my brother’s diversion would have taken us to.
The next 15 miles to Penrith seemed to take much longer than expected -despite there being no major hills or off road sections to slow us down. This was probably because I had to pedal like mad for ¾ of a mile or so and then stop to pump up my rear tyre, which had developed a slow puncture that I hadn’t discovered when we had our enforced stop. My brother was luckier – he managed to get a couple of miles before he had to stop and blow up his tyres! Unfortunately as we had no spare tubes left we had no option but to pump up, pedal on and repeat. Where was the white van full of spare bikes and inner tubes now!!! Colin and Paul then decided in view of the lack of spare inner tubes and patches, and the delays we had experienced in fixing punctures they had better arrange to get picked up before Penrith. So after a few phone calls and sarcastic comments like “I told you so” etc they bade us farewell.
Just outside Penrith, with the lights of the town in view, my brother’s rear inner tube, which he had been running virtually flat to save us having to stop, finally gave up with a pop and a hiss. It was dark (7:30pm) and beginning to freeze by now but we had no choice but to take the wheel off and replace the tube with a spare which we knew was dodgy. We eventually rolled into Penrith about 8.30, tired but jubilant that we had finally made it.
After checking in to our B& B and having a quick shower we strolled into town and found somewhere to eat – eventually settling on an Indian restaurant recommended to us by someone we met in the town centre, where we had the traditional meal of all touring cyclists – beer and curry!
Day 2
We set off in bright sunshine from Penrith at around 10.30 after having a delayed start as we called into Arragon’s bike shop in the town centre to stock up on spare inner tubes and puncture repair kits after the problems on day 1. After replacing the leaking inner tubes we were finally able to get going again.
On paper the day ahead of us looked relatively easy after the long distance we had covered the previous day (about 55 miles) but in reality it was to turn out to be the hardest of the 3 days due to the amount of climbing involved – much of it steep, and some of it very long as well. The approach to the first major climb of the day (Hartside) was up a long, winding road that just seemed to go on and on. Surprisingly we didn’t find it too bad, not so much steep - just a continuous drag. Even when we finally spotted the cafe at the top there seemed to be a few more twists and turns and false summits. We stopped at the top and basked in our sense of achievement for a while, taking in the magnificent views and watching all the motorbike riders approaching in the distance. After eating our lunch and taking photographs next to the sign showing the summit altitude (1903 ft)we zipped up our jackets against the cool breeze and pedalled off for a nice long descent.
The next steep hill was the climb up Garrigill; although shorter than Hartside it was the steepest of the day and I was grateful for the low gearing on my mountain bike. This was the one place where my brother, laden down with a bike rack and panniers (now stuffed full with spare inner tubes), had to have a brief push – so be warned! As we climbed up Garrigill we passed a straggled out group of riders who looked familiar. At the top as we paused for a rest we decided to wait for them and chat for a few minutes. It transpired that they were a group from the RAF and the white van that we had seen so much of on Day 1 was their support vehicle. We had to laugh when they told us the logistics behind them doing the C2C – apparently as it was being done by RAF personnel they had to have a full risk assessment and health and safety back up (hence the van). This was in stark contrast to our “Do you fancy doing the coast to coast bike ride”, Yeah OK – how about next week” approach which, up until the incident with the punctures, had served us well.
Once over the top it was down into the old mining village of Nenthead and then up again (Black Hill) before whizzing the next few miles down into Allenheads and our overnight stop at the Allenheads Inn for about 5pm, feeling tired and ready for a shower, some food and beer. The highlight of the day was seeing a red squirrel hopping along some walls in Allenheads. Our hosts made us feel very welcome (we were the only guests that night) and our room, although basic, was perfectly adequate. Although we had only covered around 36 miles there had a been a LOT of climbing and the steep ups and down seemed quite relentless at times – we slept well that night!
Day 3
The ”have the full English breakfast and eat as though it is your last ever meal” idea backfired on us slightly as we came out of the pub in the morning and got on our bikes to find that we had a steep climb up Currick within100 metres of leaving the pub (the road runs parallel to a ski slope). When we got to the top it got decidedly cooler, the sun never really got out fully all day and the next 10 miles or so were quite exposed.
We passed through Rookhope and then took the off –road option up the disused railway incline. This was quite hard going fully laden but we made it to the top despite the rocky surface. After a few more miles, riding through the mist and avoiding the mud and puddles we joined the Waskerley Way at Parkhead. Here we met a girl on a road bike doing the C2C – she had decided that the Waskerley Way track was too rough for her – so she was going to go by road - we eventually met her again at Consett. This disused old railway was well surfaced and felt downhill so we flew along it at a good pace, arriving in Consett for about 12 noon. Exiting Consett was the one place on the whole ride where we went slightly wrong – the old railway line leading out of town towards Stanley was not as well signed as some of the others we had come across – perhaps it was just us getting complacent now the end was in sight?
The section from Stanley to Sunderland was probably the easiest on the whole route – well signed and flat. The scenery by now was quite industrial and there were lots of reminders of greater days gone by, when the north-east was a real powerhouse of British and indeed worldwide industry, in the form of some fascinating sculptures along the last 20 miles of the route. We found ourselves stopping every few minutes to take pictures of steel cows made out of recycled JCB’s, gigantic sculptures of engineering & optical instruments, huge metal “Transformers”, the Angel of the North and more!
Once we crossed under the A19 and dropped down to the River Wear we knew the end was in sight and, in the words of Murray Walker, we could “kick in the clutch and coast home from here”. Past the Stadium of Light (Sunderland football club’s magnificent stadium) and more interesting sculptures along the riverside we made our under the famous Wear bridge and onto the harbour at Roker before finally turning onto the beach and our finish point, 136.6 miles later.
I had a brief ride in the sea to wet my tyres, being careful not to get too much salty water over my gears, and then stopped at the large marble sculpture, recently commissioned to mark the official end point of the ride, to take some photographs. Although day 3 had been relatively short (about 48 miles or so) we were happy to be finished and had a real sense of achievement – so much so that one the way home we were already talking about what we could do next.
Summary
A very enjoyable, well planned, scenic and interesting route; highly recommended if this is your first attempt at doing a coast to coast bike ride. It is well signposted and easy to follow and you’ll most likely keep meeting up with other people doing the ride at the same time, which adds to the enjoyment.
Tips
You can probably get away without buying the map if you don’t want to as the route is very well signed and there are very few places where you will have to stop and look at a map. The guide book is however an interesting read
- Consider doing the ride midweek – it will be a lot quieter, and although the roads are generally quiet they aren’t traffic free
- Take plenty of spare inner tubes and puncture repair kits (and then some more) + pliers to remove thorns – particularly if doing it at the time of the year when hedges are cut
- Day 2 although the shortest day, distance wise was, we felt, was the hardest by far as it was so hilly. You are probably best trying to get to Penrith or as near to this as possible on Day 1
- Take a camera – there are loads of interesting feature en-route you are not likely to see again
- Don’t get too wound up about going up Hartside – it’s not as bad as some people make out – it’s just a long slow drag but you’ll get to the top eventually. If anything Currick, just after Allenheads is steeper.
- Don’t bust a gut to get to the top of each hill – there will always be another one (especially on Day 2)
- Watch out as you go through Consett – we found it a bit more difficult to spot the signs here (some were painted on the ground), some had helpfully been “removed” by the local vandals
- If you are not being supported in any way, travel as light as you can - try to take clothes that will double up for evening wear and for cycling in. What starts out as a light as a feather rucksack soon starts to wear you down!
Martin Webb and Andrew Webb
October 2010
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