The 'C2C'
is a long distance cycle route starting from Workington or Whitehaven
on the Irish Sea coast, 
running through the Lake District, over the
Pennines, and ending on the North Sea coast at either Newcastle
or Sunderland. It is a mixture of off road and country lanes
although there are some short sections of A road. The off
road sections are easily avoided and tarmac roads are always close
and available.
There is plenty of accommodation available on the first section, the middle over the Pennines is somewhat sparse, but it picks up on the last section. If riding in the holiday season, it's best to ring ahead. It can be done in one day, many of the accompanied trips do it in five, (but they tend to start late and finish early), and my wife and I took three. There are some very long and steep hills, but we only had to walk a fairly short distance three times.
We started from
Workington, being the most convenient point from our caravan site.
There is a short section of
cycleway
before it goes onto minor roads. It was a pleasant and reasonably
level run into Cockermouth where we had our Sustrans map stamped
at a Supermarket. If you get stamped at all the points en
route, you are entitled to buy a C2C tee shirt. After
a few miles we took the option to go off road as the weather had
been dry. It was a pleasant track until we had to drop down
towards Bassenthwaite. This was about a mile of quite steep
single track and although the brakes didn't squeal, the stoker
certainly did. A few miles further on and the Whitehaven
route joined ours, and another few miles and our first, and I'm
happy to say last, bike problem in the shape of a front wheel
puncture, A new tube was fitted and we were on our way again
passing the head of Derwent Water and into Keswick.
Another stamp for our map and a choice of two routes to Penrith. Both start off road on the outskirts of town, but one is serious stuff being the Old Coach Road. We knew this from our walking days, decided that it was not the thing for a road tandem, and carried our machine down a long flight of badly made steps onto the old railway line. This goes for a few miles and joins the A66. This is not a road to cycle on, and should certainly should be avoided in summer. Fortunately, you soon turn right of of this and although it's a rather long detour, it's well worth it.
Again the route returns to the A66 but more or less straight across and through Greystoke into Penrith, which was to be our resting place. Diana had suggested we book ahead, but with cold male logic I pointed out that this was October in an area full of guest houses and Hotels to cater for the summer visitation. Suffice to say that the couple in front of us in the Tourist Centre got the last room in Penrith. A very helpful chap found us a place in Langwathby, about 5 miles on. Now I know it's not far, but when your all keyed up for a hot shower and a meal, 10 miles is endless, but at least it was right on the route. We had started at 11 am and reached the very pleasant guest house at 6.
A good part of their business was from cyclists, and in the pub (we went there for the food) we met a couple who were driving the route, more or less, as she had done an escorted ride the year before and wanted to show what she'd done. And so to bed.
Next morning,
the sun was no longer shining, but it was still dry. We
both approached the coming day but at least Diana had persuaded
me to ring the Allenheads Inn to book a room. The question
was, would we make it.
This was the beginning
of the seriously bumpy countryside, starting with a climb of 1800
feet in about five miles up to the summit of Harter Fell.
We could
have made it, honest, but towards the end it was more a balancing
act than cycling. We saw this track heading straight to
the summit and short cutting a hairpin on the main road. It was
obviously the old road, and typically as cars had become more
powerful , they had lessened the climb with a mile of new road
and a hairpin. Anyway, we thought it looked good and tried
to ride it, but it was badly rutted and it was walking time.
We sat in the cafe
at the summit laughing about how we had suffered.
We had been looking
forward to the next bit of the journey, which should have been
a glorious high speed freewheel from the summit down to Carrigill.
It was not to be, the prevailing westerly wind had been easterly
from the start, and had gained such power that we had to pedal
downhill just to maintain 17 mph. Into Carrigill and a steep
and steady climb out with light rain beginning to fall, and over
the tops and another long run down into to Nenthead and another
stamping point at the local pub.
After eating our packed lunch, it was
another climb out, cross into Northumberland, and then a sort
of rolling ride to our pre-booked stop at the Allenheads Inn by
about 3pm.
Allenheads lays claim to be the highest village in England, and we would not argue with that, but it is certainly a place to visit if only for the Allenheads Inn. The Landlord is a collector, nothing specific, just a collector. You name it and it will be somewhere there, not in a cabinet, but just laying around. To call for attention in the bar there is a large brass ships telegraph, although the shop window mannequin behind the bar and clad in a Bikini does not seem to respond. Words don't describe the place, you have to experience it.
Next morning we
climbed the steep hill out of the village with the Landlord and
his dog walking alongside, this says something for our hill climbing
ability, and soon crossed into County Durham,
en route for Rookhope where outside the season
reserved for the sport of killing vicious pheasants and grouse
armed only with a shotgun, you can ride on the abandoned railway
line. We had heard that it was a pretty bad surface, probably
from four wheel drives, and it was the season for the annual slaughter
of wildlife, we had to make a detour. This can be done either
by Stanhope or Ranshaw. We chose Stanhope, and after passing
through here, we were faced with another very steep climb, eventually
having to walk about a hundred metres. A level stretch at
the top and then, after turning onto a minor, another mile saw
us on the Waskerly Cycle way. From here, we knew it was
nearly all cycle path and virtually all downhill to our destination
at Roker. This cycleway has a good hard packed surface and
makes for very pleasant riding with wonderful views. You
lose the path in Consett as you have to make a short diversion
to a local supermarket to have the map stamped for the penultimate
time.
Back onto the path and knowing that it was now plain sailing, we relaxed. Little did we know what awaited us on this last stretch. Had we been on solos there would have no problems, but these cycle path barriers are not tandem friendly. I would go so far as to say that some of them had been specifically designed to stop tandems gaining entrance. At a couple of them we had to stand the bike on the back wheel to get it through. Had we been young and strong maybe we could have lifted it over. We came to dread the sight of a barrier, and believe me, there were a lot of them. The path ended in Sunderland, just near the river ridge, from where it was only a short ride to the sports centre on the sea front at Seaburn. This was it, the last stamp, and a great feeling of elation as we supped our hot chocolate. Then came the anxiety. I think you've heard this somewhere before, but this time my argument was somewhat different. " A seaside town, at this time of year? There will be loads of hotels". There wasn't, and all that there were seemed to be full. However we did find one, the Lemon Tree Hotel, and very nice it was to.
Did we enjoy it? Thoroughly. Would we recommend it? Certainly. What did we enjoy most? The scenery. What did we most dislike? The barriers. Tandemists are cyclists too, Sustrans!
Oh, and having got the stamps, did we get the tee shirts? Well no. When people do Lands End to John of Groats, or cycle through Thailand, this was not something to boast about. But we were happy to have done it, and pleased with our performance, and that's what counts.
