coast to coast (whiteheaven to sunderland)

tomxc

I am hoping to do the c2c soon ish, but just after advice that they dont put on the website...such as will i be ok on my spd's, and any other general advice.
cheers

James Latham

I did the coast 2 coast 3 weeks ago. I opted for my road bike which was a bad idea as a mtb would be much better suited. I used spds with no problem, much of the route is on country lanes or cycle paths and the one or two off road sections have well marked alternatives.

It depends how many days you are doing it over (mine was two) but give yourself plenty of time for a climb called "heartside", it is very nasty and we ended up doing it in the dark. Otherwise take a c2c map, phone and plenty of water and you'll be fine.

You'll meet other people on your way and there are only a couple of remote bits, there are plenty of shops/pubs along most of the way

good luck
James

adb1006

I did it about 3 weeks ago also (but over 3 days :oops: ) We did Whitehaven to Newcastle though.

We did as much offroad as possible - the coachroad and the offroad climb out of rookehope - but overall there's not much. The offroad bits are a lot more challenging but i found that they break up the monotomy of road cycling!

6 of us did the ride and 5 were wearing spd's (myself included). The other one has now bought some spd's too!

Hartside is indeed a b1tch but i found the next climb - Garrigill - much much worse! It just seemed to go on and on and on - that was the closest the whole ride that i came to mentally breaking. Made it in the end though and didn't push any of the hills - cycled the lot (except the odd section of the coachroad where you had to climb over great big boulders).

Overall it was a good laugh and there's some stunning scenery!

Have Fun

tomxc

Despite the fact it sounds(and looks) pretty hard im looking forward to it, thanks for the advice

mingmong

I did it two years ago. IMHO, it's a great C2C. I enjoyed it much more than the Trans Pennine Trail.

Highs :
Whinlatter pass, the drop through the wood was superb
Hartside climbe, what a pull that was
The pubs en route, great to stop at when you've 10 miles left for the day
Vews across Edale, North Yorkhire Moors and the climb out of Rookhope to the old railway line, absolutely fabulous

Lows :
Penrith, the locals sneered. We pulled off on entry to Penrith to a pub with a boxing gym upstairs. Beware.

You'll be fine with cleats. Take plenty of food, water and a rain coat :-)

Stephen-Hawking

Done it a couple of times, it's good fun, you can get away with it on pretty much anything. Spuds are the pedal of choice I'd say.

robmanic1

Yeh, spuds all the way. Make sure you spend a night at the Rookhope Inn, it's legendary (just don't stray from the paaaaath)!

mingmong

Robmanic1 wrote:

Yeh, spuds all the way. Make sure you spend a night at the Rookhope Inn, it's legendary (just don't stray from the paaaaath)!

Eye, it's a bit 'special' in them there foothills!

adb1006

Avoid the Allenheads Inn like the plague though :shock: Royston Vasey-tastic!!!

deeptheory

adb1006 wrote:

IHartside is indeed a b1tch but i found the next climb - Garrigill - much much worse! It just seemed to go on and on and on - that was the closest the whole ride that i came to mentally breaking. Made it in the end though and didn't push any of the hills - cycled the lot (except the odd section of the coachroad where you had to climb over great big boulders).

Overall it was a good laugh and there's some stunning scenery!

Have Fun

I have to agree with Garrigill mind. I thought Hartside was ok especially when you turn onto the 'main' road so to speak just over half way up. At least then it is virtually a constant gradient.

And tom where are you planning to stop?

We did Keswick (Fri) and Rookhope (Sat). Mainly because the lads wanted a night out in Keswick but it leaves a hard day on Sat with virtually all the hills and the 6 mile sign when we got to Allenheads with a climb infront just topped it all off so to speak. Managed all the climbs without stopping so i was happy and definately a case of you get back what you put in training wise.

Strangely enough i found the last day the hardest, mentally anyway. I'd ridden all the way up to the viaduct west of Consett before so i knew exactly what i had to do to get to the finish and my house is about 500yds off the track in Washington so i found that difficult.

However it's rewarding and something i'd do again. Coast and Castles route for us next year i think.

adb1006

deeptheory wrote:

Coast and Castles route for us next year i think.

Now that looks quite good fun 8)

mtb.boy

Did this during that heatwave a few weeks ago. Boy was it harder than I thought.

Allenheads pub food was poo. Also they had lost my booking (even though I had a 10 e-mail back and forwards conversation with them), and we had to wait 2 and a half hours for it to arrive.

Last day was hard, Ended in Tynemouth - near the end there was a routemarker saying 5 miles left, 20 minutes later at 10mph there was another routemarker saying 5 miles left and then 20 minutes later at 10mph there was another routemarker saying 5 miles left - Proper annoying.

tomxc

cheers for all your advice. we are thinkin of doing it over three days and stopping in keswick(draton house) and penrith(blue swallow or glendale guest house), then getting picked up at the end of the third day.

timthetinyhorse

did the c2c last week all be it whitehaven to newcastle stoping the 1st night in penrith and the 2nd in allenheads inn

adb1006 wrote:

Avoid the Allenheads Inn like the plague though :shock: Royston Vasey-tastic!!!

yes i couldnt agree more but realy good laugh and very good food

as for the route i did it on my 80mm xc bike with egg beaters and found it spot on,

first day is easy enough with the only real climb being winlatter but even this isnt too bad, 2nd day includes the 3 big climbs but to be honest its not too bad, just make sure you carry plenty water although i did it in 3 days of solid rain so was soaked to the skin

when you get to rokehope there is the option of a offroad section called grouse moor, be wary that this section will be closed very soon for the shooting season

all in all its a good ride out

enjoy

rob

tomxc

how much training did you do for it, ive got this image of doing it then not wanting to touch my bike for another week...is it this bad or not?

Dave SS

I've done the c2c four or five times now, from both start points but always ending in Tynemouth. None of the climbs are that hard if you're reasonably fit, agree about the climb after Hartside though. The road route out of Garrigill iirc, like a brick wall! For a real test of fitness have a crack at the Old Coach Road
The only real negative for me on that route is the amount of litter that's appeared as the ride has become more popular - discarded bottles and whatnot along otherwise beautiful sections of country road and offroad trails :roll: