Ride of your lifeI believe there are two sorts of traveller: those who travel light and those who do not. I am in the latter category. By the time I’d finished stuffing saddlebags and panniers, my bike looked more like a mule fully laden for a Himalayan expedition. It was the weight of a small motorbike, something I became acutely aware of as I wound my way steeply out of the Cumbrian village of St Bees.
I was tackling the famous 225-kilometre C2C (Sea to Sea) cycle route, which goes from the Irish Sea and across the northern Lakes, before crossing the Pennines and heading down to the western shoreline of the North Sea.
There is something about cycling from coast to coast that captures the imagination. It is an easily quantifiable achievement. Unlike the well-worn route between John O’Groats and Land’s End, you can do the C2C, or any of the other coast-to-coasters, over a long weekend.
I cycle it every year in order to update my website and annually published guidebook. So I should have known better. As I heaved my way up Outrigg, the savage but mercifully short 1:5 gradient climb out of St Bees, my load swayed and wobbled, creaking in the blazing sunshine like a becalmed tallship. The heart monitor I wear when exercising registered 180 beats a minute. It was time for me to dismount.
At the top, the views over Baybarrow and across Ennerdale, Wasdale and down the coast to Eskdale were breathtaking – or would have been if there had been any breath left to take. Rather annoyingly, my 19-year-old son, George, was already over the other side and steaming his way into an ancient market town, a copy of Wordsworth’s Ballad of the Horn of Egremont in his pocket.
One of the high points of the whole route is the first glimpse of the Lake District from the old railway line from Whitehaven, now converted into part of the National Cycle Network by the cycle charity, Sustrans. Across the flatlands the mountains rise dramatically, a forbidding warning of what is to come.
We journeyed on past the tranquil setting of Loweswater, where red squirrels played in the country lane, then up through Lorton where you encounter the first serious challenge: Whinlatter Pass. The climb seemed endless as I entered the pine forest above Braithwaite and Keswick. Thankfully, there was a wayside rubbish bin into which I jettisoned some ballast (the shampoo and conditioner!). George was long gone when a speck on the horizon behind me came zooming past. He pulled over for a chat. This was Hooper the Aussie, who had already clocked up 150 kilometres before lunch, having come from Barrow in Furness that morning. It turned out he was doing the C2C before heading for Milan, where he planned to start his cycle assault on Mont Blanc. Flash git.
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Beyond Keswick we followed the old railway line along a delightful and leafy stretch of the River Greta as far as the ancient village of Threlkeld, in the shadow of that brutal and weather-sculpted mountain mass, otherwise known as Blencathra (or Saddleback). The long grind up to Greystoke was made palatable by the prospect of stopping overnight at the Boot and Shoe pub, on the village green. George was sitting outside with a pint, looking recriminatingly at his watch as I trundled in. He had finished Wordsworth and was making marked inroads into a novel.
Greystoke, as you probably know, is home of Tarzan, King of the Apes, as well as a postcard-pretty village with a church the size of a cathedral. Tucked away at the top of a long drive and behind a curtain of trees in a 1,200-hectare wooded park is Greystoke Castle, seat of the Howard family since the 16th century, when they were movers and shakers behind the monarchies of the Tudors and Stuarts.
After an unfeasibly large breakfast, we cycled on to Penrith, to the edge of the Hartside. Whichever way you tackle it, Hartside is a long climb to more than 600 metres. It is, however, rewarded with possibly the finest view westwards over the vast swath of lakeland. There’s a much-needed café at the top, followed by a glorious 300-metre descent to the market town of Alston, which Dickens visited in the 1830s to research Nicholas Nickleby. Little has changed.
Those who enjoy steep hills are now in their element. Just beyond Alston is the old mining village of Nenthead, and it is from here that the steepest and highest climbs are to be found. It was hot and still so I took my time, stopping at Black Hill – the highest point – on the boundary with County Durham, to listen to the seething birdlife on this ancient grousemoor.
Other great places to stop off if you are doing the route in three days are either Allenheads or Rookhope, both old mining villages now in genteel decline but ticking over comfortably on tourism. You can see why: this is a deeply unchanged, semi-secret fastness in the midst of an overcrowded island, a rural retreat well worth travelling through slowly.
On leaving Allenheads I gritted my teeth for the last few up-and-downers, slightly the worse for wear after witnessing the semi-finals of the North Northumberland karaoke pub championship at the Allenheads Inn. ‘This is nothing compared to the Highlands,’ said George, casually.
We coasted down the last 60 kilometres, crisscrossing the Northumberland and County Durham borders, passing through Consett and Stanley, great old steel towns looking for a role in the 21st century (but cheerful, for all that). I chose to end in Sunderland (the other option being Tynemouth, on north Tyneside), a city whose finer points often get overlooked. The route along the Wear, past the old shipyards, is as poignant as it is unexpectedly leafy and pretty. I watched the sun go down from Sunderland Marina, my burden lightened and my annual pilgrimage over. Next year I’ll take less, I vowed. George had long finished Catcher in the Rye. ‘Next year I’ll bring War and Peace,’ he announced. Flash git.
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The routes
Three Routes and how to tackle them
Apart from the C2C, there is also Hadrian’s Cycleway and the Reivers Trail. All three are well-documented with lists of places to stay and eat in this year’s Coast to Coast Cycle Routes. This information is also available on c2c-guide.co.uk. The C2C is designed to be tackled west-to-east, owing to the gradients and the usual wind direction. Hadrian’s Cycleway and the Reivers, meanwhile, are user-friendly heading east to west. Thus you have an ideal round trip, criss-crossing Britain through some of her finest scenery and most historic parts.
Hadrian’s Cycleway
Hadrian’s Cycleway follows the course of Hadrian’s Wall from Tynemouth near Newcastle, right across to the Solway Firth, then follows the Cumbrian coast down past Maryport and Whitehaven. Known as NCR72, it finishes in the attractive village of Ravenglass, near the nuclear plant at Sellafield. It is only moderately demanding – due east of Carlisle – but is spectacularly beautiful. The Sustrans-built route takes you through Corbridge, Hexham and Haltwhistle in the heart of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site and into the Solway AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). Opened in summer 2006, it is 174 miles (280km) long and part of the National Cycle Network. Most of the route is well waymarked and open, and a map and other useful pre-ride items are available from cycle-routes.org/hadrianscycleway. For more background info, take a look at the excellent website provided by Hadrian’s Wall Heritage, the company set up to develop the economy and infrastructure of this World Heritage Site: hadrians-wall.org.
Reivers Trail
This route is named after the murdering Border raiders who terrorised the tranquil backwaters of the Borderlands for 350 years up until the 17th century. It passes many castles, fortified farmhouses and churches that had to defend themselves also from rustlers and kidnappers. Starting at the mouth of the Tyne, it finishes on the Cumbrian coast at Whitehaven, taking in the shores of Kielder Water – Europe’s largest man-made lake – before making a brief foray into Scotland. Emerging from the post-industrial and partially regenerated suburbs of Newcastle, the route quickly threads into Northumberland National Park. Fine views across the towering Cheviots precede the forest tracks around Kielder, a mountain biker’s paradise. (There’s more mountain biking at the 7-Stanes centre at Newcastleton.) Soon you are into some of the least touristy bits of the northern Lakes; places like Hesket Newmarket, Ireby and Bassenthwaite.
C2C Challenge
If you’re up for a challenge, the C2C Challenge weekend takes in the 225km (140-mile) coast-to-coast route tackled in two days to raise money for charity. This is the first ever mass ride along Britain’s most popular route. Up to 1,000 cyclists usually take part. Transport is provided from Newcastle and Sunderland over to Whitehaven. There is an overnight camp at Alston, the half-way point, followed by a 112km (70 miles) ride to the Marina in Sunderland. Your bags, tents and sleeping bags are all transported, so all you need to do is pedal.
For further details see www.c2c-guide.co.uk.
Images: Simon Warner, Anthea Truby
