Coast to Coast

My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He is
thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood Bay.
Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days, severity and
logistics would be much appreciated. He is a 20 year old med student and
most of his friends are doing related courses. (which means they have well
developed right arms).

Many thanks


Peter Taylor

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 13:44:49 +0000 (UTC), in
, "Peter Taylor"
wrote:

My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He is
thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood Bay.
Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days, severity and

www.cuddle.clara.net for my version of events. I took 3 days and
stayed in YHAs at Alston and Edmundbyers. One of the cyclists in my
group lived not far from the finish which therefore provided us with
free accomodation at the end of the trip.

Love and hugs from Rich x

--
Due to a typing error on the Children's Hospital menu
Saturday evening now offers "Beef burger in a bum".
Email: Put only the word "richard" before the @ sign.

Peter Taylor wrote:
My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He
is thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood
Bay. Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days,
severity and logistics would be much appreciated. He is a 20 year
old med student and most of his friends are doing related courses.
(which means they have well developed right arms).

Many thanks


Peter Taylor

I don't know the Whitehaven to Robin Hoods Bay route, I have done the C2C
rotues Whitehaven to Sunderland, Workington to Tynemouth and also Morecambe
to Scarbrough. Took three days on the C2C routes, 9 hours on the other.

read about it on http://www.mseries.freeserve.co.uk/

In article ,
says...
My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He is
thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood Bay.
Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days, severity and
logistics would be much appreciated. He is a 20 year old med student and
most of his friends are doing related courses. (which means they have well
developed right arms).

There's an excellent website http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk which has
masses of information.

Juliette
--
nowt

Peter Taylor wrote:

My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He is
thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood Bay.
Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days, severity and
logistics would be much appreciated. He is a 20 year old med student and
most of his friends are doing related courses. (which means they have well
developed right arms).

A guy and gal at work did it in 1 day a couple of years ago. I think 2
days would be reasonable as a "challenge".

My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He is
thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood Bay.


I think you might be confusing the Coast to Coast walking route from St
Bees Head to Robin Hoods Bay with the C2C cycle route from
Whitehaven/Workington to Newcastle/Sunderland.

Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days, severity and
logistics would be much appreciated.

I did it this summer in August. Did it on a cheapo second hand 12 speed
racing cycle with a rack and panniers and full camping gear. Started
13:00 on Friday in Whitehaven and finished it 11:00 Sunday morning in
Sunderland. At 22 stone with around a 35-40lb payload in the panniers
and on the rack, I felt pretty proud of my achievement in fact I still
do. I then cycled home to Leeds.

The bits I found challenging were Winlatter Pass in the Lakes and
Crawleyside Bank out of Stanhope. I had to dismount and push.
Everything else was a relative breeze, I camped at Langwathby on the
far side of Penrith and Beamish in County Durham.

The C2C map from Sustrans is worth having. The route is a little vague
at the Sunderland end.

He is a 20 year old med student and
most of his friends are doing related courses. (which means they have well
developed right arms).

There's plenty of opportunity to imbibe on the way so their right arm
exercise regimes can be maintained.

There's an excellent website http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk which has
masses of information.



They should find it a doddle being young and presumably a damn site
fitter than me. Hope the weather's nice for them.

Vernon

vernon.levy wrote:
My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June.
He is thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin
Hood Bay.


I think you might be confusing the Coast to Coast walking route from
St
Bees Head to Robin Hoods Bay with the C2C cycle route from
Whitehaven/Workington to Newcastle/Sunderland.
The bits I found challenging were Winlatter Pass in the Lakes and
Crawleyside Bank out of Stanhope.

But not Hartside ? The climb out of Stanhope was not on the route when I did
my first C2C. One had to make a left hander in Rookhope up a lane onto an
off road section, an old wagonway, perhaps you chose to stay on the road,
some other cyclists were standing in front of the sign so we missed the turn
and ended up in Stanhope !


The C2C map from Sustrans is worth having. The route is a little
vague
at the Sunderland end.

Agreed, thankfully one of our party is from Sunderland and we called in at
his Mums for tea, whilst the rest of the party called in at someone elses
Mum in Anfield Plain.


He is a 20 year old med student and
most of his friends are doing related courses. (which means they
have well developed right arms).

There's plenty of opportunity to imbibe on the way so their right arm
exercise regimes can be maintained.

Ahh so thats why their right arm is well developed. ;-) We stayed at a pub
with bunkhouse in Nenthead so drinking was easy !


There's an excellent website http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk which has
masses of information.

My report is reproduced there too.




They should find it a doddle being young and presumably a damn site
fitter than me. Hope the weather's nice for them.

three days is doable for most cyclists.

vernon.levy wrote:

I think you might be confusing the Coast to Coast walking route from St
Bees Head to Robin Hoods Bay with the C2C cycle route from
Whitehaven/Workington to Newcastle/Sunderland.


There are off-road versions of the C2C that go from St Bees to Robin Hood Bay.
It seems to take about 6 days and the Lake District section has been described
as mountaineering with a bike. http://mbruk.co.uk/mbruk_coast_test.html.
Avoid the variant that goes down Rosset Ghyll - the bridleway there is a fair
old scramble even without a bike.

Tony

MSeries wrote:

vernon.levy wrote:


The bits I found challenging were Winlatter Pass in the Lakes and


Crawleyside Bank out of Stanhope.



But not Hartside ?

I forgot about Hartside - the apparent shortcut isn't so don't even
attempt to push your bike along the rubble strewn rough track. Nice
bacon butties though at the top.

The climb out of Stanhope was not on the route when I did
my first C2C. One had to make a left hander in Rookhope up a lane onto an
off road section, an old wagonway, perhaps you chose to stay on the road,
some other cyclists were standing in front of the sign so we missed the turn
and ended up in Stanhope !

Strange place - twenty odd miles from my home town but might as well
have been on a different planet! Theres a nice fish and chip shop off
Clifford Street.

The C2C map from Sustrans is worth having. The route is a little
vague
at the Sunderland end.


My report is reproduced there too.

As is mine must get him to correct my name. Seemed to have lost weight
retrospectively too :-)

three days is doable for most cyclists.


Three days would be a breeze with plenty of right arm exercises
throughout the days and evenings :-)

Mmmmm....must find a free weekend

Peter Taylor wrote:
My son and a few friends are planning a cycle trip in May / June. He is
thinking of doing the Coast to Coast from Whitehaven to Robin Hood Bay.
Anyone done it recently? Any tips on time - how many days, severity and
logistics would be much appreciated. He is a 20 year old med student and
most of his friends are doing related courses. (which means they have well
developed right arms).

I did it from the 2nd to 4th December this year. It might be a bit
warmer in the summer.

Severity-wise, Hartside the Climb out of Garrigill (sp?), Allenheads
and Crawleyside out of Stanhope were hard work. I got badly lost in
Newcastle due to a road accident having closed one of the routes
and not knowing the area. A Newcastle A-Z would be a good idea if
doing the Tynemouth option. Someone else mentioned Whinlatter Pass
but I didn't really find that difficult.

They say do it W-E because of the prevailing wind but it was NE or
E most of the time for me, so don't count on that. It was bloody
cold particularly at the top of Hartside and Black Hill (1998 feet)
but presumably won't be quite so chilly in summer.

I didn't try the Old Coach Road option (between Keswick and Penrith)
which is considerably harder (and rocky).

One issue for me was getting there. I live in Cambridge; the route
suggested was Cambridge-Peterborough-Newcastle-Whitehaven. All
OK apart from the Newcastle-Whitehaven bit which seemed to take
forever, and the driver had to turf people off tip-up seats to get
my bike on. I stood for about the first 90 minutes, it was almost
3 hours for the whole thing. To avoid that, next year I think I'll
train to Newcastle, then do the Reivers route and the return route to
Newcastle (a mate did that in 6-7 days, though he found that "too
much").

Accomodation wise, I didn't try to go cheap. I'd recommend the
place I stayed in Whitehaven (Glenfield House), the one in Penrith
(Albany Guest House), the Allenheads Inn (despite the ceiling outside
my room collapsing not long after I'd arrived!), and the place
I stayed in Newcastle. I would NOT recommend the place in Newcastle
that gave my room away after I'd phoned them 2 hours earlier to
book it (and then showed a seriously crap attitude when I turned
up at the door).

Simon