Coast to Coast (C2C)

menthel

My wife has said she would like to do a coast to coast next year over a few days. Looking around I think we may be best suited for a organised holiday as it will give her the creature comforts post bike that she likes (I am happy to slum it butshe likes things like beds and showers in private rooms!). I could organise it as a credit card tour but am nervous about a couple of things.

1) Parking the car at Whitehaven- is there somewhere secure to leave it?

2) Getting back from the eastern coast- are there services that will bring you and your bike back that aren't painful like trains?

3) Route- we would want to do this on our road bikes- is it possible? Looking at the routes on the internet seems to indicate there is a lot of offroad riding. I don't mind a smooth cyclepath or bit of disused railway but full offroading is not what we want!

If these problems are easily sorted then I would happily stick a rack on the back and take a couple of days worth of clothes and organise it ourselves!

So, can any of you help with the questions? What are your experiences of C2C?

markhewitt1978

Note I haven't done the C2C, but I live in Durham so know the area

menthel wrote:

My wife has said she would like to do a coast to coast next year over a few days. Looking around I think we may be best suited for a organised holiday as it will give her the creature comforts post bike that she likes (I am happy to slum it butshe likes things like beds and showers in private rooms!). I could organise it as a credit card tour but am nervous about a couple of things.
1) Parking the car at Whitehaven- is there somewhere secure to leave it?

Whitehaven isn't the Bronx, or worse, London . It'll be grand.

2) Getting back from the eastern coast- are there services that will bring you and your bike back that aren't painful like trains?

What's wrong with the train? Honestly getting the train from Sunderland is going to be your best bet. It'll take you to Carlisle, I guess you could cycle to Whitehaven from there?

3) Route- we would want to do this on our road bikes- is it possible? Looking at the routes on the internet seems to indicate there is a lot of offroad riding. I don't mind a smooth cyclepath or bit of disused railway but full offroading is not what we want!

Of course you can, if I can do it in my car you can do it on your bike. Perhaps go via Alston, lovely roads around there. You don't have to take the A-roads either, there are loads of 'yellow' roads which run parallel.

If you are doing the Sunderland route then from Consett to Sunderland the off road path (NCN7) is doable on a road bike, because I use it all the time. It's had some recent tarmaccing, there are a few rocky bits but it's not too bad.

menthel

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Note I haven't done the C2C, but I live in Durham so know the area

menthel wrote:

My wife has said she would like to do a coast to coast next year over a few days. Looking around I think we may be best suited for a organised holiday as it will give her the creature comforts post bike that she likes (I am happy to slum it butshe likes things like beds and showers in private rooms!). I could organise it as a credit card tour but am nervous about a couple of things.
1) Parking the car at Whitehaven- is there somewhere secure to leave it?

Whitehaven isn't the Bronx, or worse, London . It'll be grand.

2) Getting back from the eastern coast- are there services that will bring you and your bike back that aren't painful like trains?

What's wrong with the train? Honestly getting the train from Sunderland is going to be your best bet. It'll take you to Carlisle, I guess you could cycle to Whitehaven from there?

3) Route- we would want to do this on our road bikes- is it possible? Looking at the routes on the internet seems to indicate there is a lot of offroad riding. I don't mind a smooth cyclepath or bit of disused railway but full offroading is not what we want!

Of course you can, if I can do it in my car you can do it on your bike. Perhaps go via Alston, lovely roads around there. You don't have to take the A-roads either, there are loads of 'yellow' roads which run parallel.

If you are doing the Sunderland route then from Consett to Sunderland the off road path (NCN7) is doable on a road bike, because I use it all the time. It's had some recent tarmaccing, there are a few rocky bits but it's not too bad.

Thanks, local knowledge is useful! Some of the questions may seem silly but I get nosebleeds north of Edgeware!

menthel

Although I guess my points with regards the road bikes is to do with following the classic sustrans C2C. I guess you just map round the worse bits. Not that my mapping has much of a sucess rates, I have been down some grim stuff on my bike!

anthdci

someone i saw on a forum did it on a road bike using this route
http://app.strava.com/activities/53645576
Might give you some help at avoiding the off road bits

menthel

anthdci wrote:

someone i saw on a forum did it on a road bike using this route
http://app.strava.com/activities/53645576
Might give you some help at avoiding the off road bits

Thanks, will have a look!

dylanfernley

have you got enough time to come back via the drevers route ?-- rode the c2c many years ago on a road bike, its neigh problem, you can also avoid some of the uneccesary 'detours' the route takes to avoid A roads, some are just plain silly, take a map. We plotted a route back , via kielder forest, and langholm, back to our car just north of sellafield. the whole thing took a week, gentle pace, plenty of stops, and eating and drinking !

durhamwasp

Yeah Whitehaven will be fine for parking car.

100% you can do it on road, buy (or find online) the C2C map, and just miss out the offroad bits. If im correct, its also signposted on roads anyway. First bit to miss out is probably at Whinlatter Pass, just stick on the main road up and descend down to Keswick.

Train is your best bet back across to Carlisle, then you could connect to Whitehaven, or cycle it.

menthel

Again, thanks all. We won't have time to cycle back. The aim is for a gentle 5 day. Up on the Monday, cycle tuesday-thursday and then home (+/- a little bit of cycling) on the Friday. We could either drive up or my wife is quite interested in getting the train there and back.