Coast 2 Coast - road route - which finish point

MJS996

Hi,
I've done some searching and I'm somewhat confused.

A friend and I are planning to do the coast 2 coast on road bikes next year, but we're not sure on the options.

As I see it, there appear to be options to start at either Whitehaven or Workington, and finish at either Sunderland or Tynemouth. Now, I've followed the route from Whitehaven on-roud as far as Crawleyside (ouch - that looks tough!), but then in heading from Consett to Tynemouth, it seems to follow paths, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to cross the A1 and the Tyne. Sunderland looks like it might be easier to stay on-road?

So the question really is - which end point is best? And how easy is it on road, or are the cycle paths that it seems to route on ok for road bikes?

Thanks

tight_git

Hi

This is the route that I did on a road bike on 25 tyres. The off road sections were perfectly fine for a road bike but we stayed off the forest tracks in the lakes.

Hope that helps

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2693973

sh3p

Have done it twice, once on a 3 day holiday type thing on a Hardtail,Whitehaven to Tynemouth with stops at Penrith and Eastgate,pretty easy days but no need for the hardtail.
Did it again later that year from Workington to Sunderland in 2 days stopping again in eastgate,did it as a taster to see about doing it in a day this year.
The normal route after Crawlyside bank on the Waskerly way to Consett this is a cinder track that was the old railway, perfectly rideable on a road bike, i was running 25mm continental gaterskins, a little heavy but figured the hassle of a possible puncture wasn't worth the difference, from Consett you can take either route to Tynemouth or Sunderland.
Good luck and have fun