Coast to Coast - Whitehaven to Tynemouth

There were some changes to the group for this tour with Nick Cabrera staying at home to spoil Carolyn 

on her birthday, Brian Rowe still hoping to get a late call up to the Europe Ryder cup team and Mike

Harriott going under the knife for a knee operation. So the group for Coast to Coast (C2C) comprised......

Neil Brooks-Johnson

Just back from riding the Cross Britain tour from Lands End to John O'Groats  - clearly a glutton for

punishment.

Peter Brooks-Johnson
Neil's brother, and pleased to be taking a small break from business planning!

Chris Goulder

Still deciding on the day of departure whether to wear his cycling helmet or Chauffeurs hat!

Malcolm Wyllie
Hill climber extraordinaire and surely destined for King Of the Mountains in Cumbria after his exploits in

the French Alps.

Day 1 - Hadlow to Penrith (by car not bike!)

The Hadlow bikers tour bus was kindly made available to us again by Caroline Brooks-Johnson

and we departed on Thursday morning with the timing of departure planned a) to miss the rush hour

but more importantly b) to get a full English breakfast in at a Little Chef recommended by Neil on the A1.

A good journey up, arrived at Penrith around 5pm.  We were welcomed by Paul from Norcroft guest

house (clearly more in tune with beer festivals than cycling!). Paul did the meet and greet and

covered off the arrangements for the 2 days before focusing on our desire for fruity porridge for

breakfast. Clearly his speciality and none of us had the courage to say NO

  

Sneaky pint in Langwathby 

Malcolm and Chris popped out for a ride around 6pm

(and a sneaky pint) to warm up the legs and make sure the

bikes had travelled without any problems.

We had a good Italian pasta meal in Penrith and then

relatively early bed in preparation for the first day of riding.

Day 2 - Whitehaven to Alston - 75 miles

Alarm at 7am and breakfast at 7.45, Paul didn't disappoint with the fruity porridge! 

                   

Our transfer vehicle from Penrith 

to Whitehaven. 

The bikes were loaded up and we were ready to go

at 8.30. Paul transferred us from Penrith to

Whitehaven, a journey time of around 90 minutes.

        

Start point of C2C at Whitehaven
harbour

Chris's life long friend Colin Wadey and his wife Joan

met up with us at the start -thanks Colin and Joan for

making the effort to be there and helping us to get 

pictures of the traditional back wheel dip by the

C2C sign on the harbour side!

We got underway at just after 10am and after orienteering through the

town we found our way to an old railway line which we followed for 7 miles. 

Is it flat all the way!

Is  it really nearly October
- Malcolm delayering

Mountains ahead - can't wait!

At the old quarries the route rose away from the

old railway line and we had our first good views 

of the Cumbrian mountains! 

Getting closer to the climbs!

After Kirkland we followed quiet undulating country lanes via Loweswater 

and Low Lorton to Whinlatter Pass, the first big climb of the route. 

Malcolm had the first and only puncture of the tour on the way up the

pass. At the top we took a break for coffee and a bit  of a refuel with Apple 

Sponge and flapjacks.

One of the numerous 'quiet' roads

Top of Whinlatter Pass - time for a

coffee

Bit of off road for Malcolm!

Can't remember the conversation
 but Malcolm clearly had the
attention of Neil and Peter!

A steep descent from Whinlatter took us through Braithwaite

Not quite the Golden Gate
bridge but.....

and Portinscale to Keswick, a busy town and the main centre

 for this part of the Lake District. 

Shortly after Keswick we stopped off to look at the sacred Castlerigg 

Stone Circle; a Bronze Age meeting place.  Fantastic views from this 

point, to the northwest stands Blencathra (868 metres) and to the

southeast Great Dodd (856 metres) towers above Deepdale. 

Great views but it was the ice cream van that caught Malcolm's eye!

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Mine's a '99'

Do they not have cars in Cumbria?

 Fed up with this traffic

The route continued along quiet traffic  free country lanes through 

hillsides dotted with small farms. 

Anyone know where we are?

View after view....

   After skirting with the A66 for a few miles 

   but fortunately not going on it we arrived at is 

   Greystoke with its castle (the former home of 

   Lord Greystoke; who the legend of Tarzan is

   based on! 

.......after view

Cycle Cafe

We stopped at the Cycle Cafe in Greystoke for a late lunch

around 3pm - bacon sandwiches all round. Evidence of

tiredness crept in at this point with grumbles about the

bacon - it should be floppy in a sandwich not crispy!

Bacon butties for lunch at cycle cafe

Picture postcard

After lunch we were soon in Penrith and Neil offered up a

short cut. What he didn't tell us was the short cut was much

steeper than the correct C2C route out of Penrith. Neil took a

degree of gentle abuse fur the decision!

After Penrith there were some gentle climbs to Langwathby

but a few miles on the route gets a considerably with a long 

climb to reach the highest café in England at Hart side (580m).

After gathering together at the top of the climb Day 1 day ended

with a long and exhilarating descent into Alston. Our home for 

the evening was Alston House. 

Long day! Sheltering from the wind

I think that's Peter down there

Alston House - our home for the night

After an excellent evening meal at Alston House we took a stroll round Alston 

seeing for the 1st time a stiff cobbled climb we would face the next day. 

We also saw 2 ladies all dressed up in party frocks. Their inability to stand up

was clearly not the high heels they had on. Malcolm was distraught that the other 

riders would not go in the pub the ladies came out of to taste the ale that had had 

such an impact! Instead it was back to Alston House and bed!

A tough but very enjoyable 1st day - 75 miles and 7000 ft of climbing.

Day 3 - Alston To Tynemouth - 65 miles

Bit of routine maintenance by Malcolm
 at start of day 2

Good breakfast at 8am but the team did miss Paul's

fruity porridge! After some minor bike surgery by Malcolm

and Neil we were away as planned at 9am.

Steep cobble climb out of Alston

Malcolm lived up to his King of the Mountains reputation with an

absurdly quick ascent of the cobbled high street. After loading the

climb his time to Strava the feedback showed he was 5th quickest

of 2000 who had loaded times - awesome!

I thought day 2 was an easier day!

Leaving Alston the day started with an undulating warm up into

Garrigill followed by a short,but tough climb up and over into the

old lead mining village of Nenthead and then further climbing to

reach the highest point on the route, Black Hill (609 metres). 

This also marked the point where we left Cumbria and entered 

Northumberland. After a chat at the top of Black Hill with 

a couple of guys involved in a grouse shoot we descended 

quickly for about a mile and then on into Allenheads, the highest 

village in England. 

Bit chilly up here!

Malcolm waiting for us at the top of the climb

2nd county of the day

2nd county of the day

Spot the grouse

That was a cafe we passed down that hill

There was considerable discussion on the merits of a coffee

stop at Allenheads, Malcolm the chief protaganist for a coffee 

stop and Neil for a stop further on. After a long discussion in

lovely morning sunshine we decided to press on before 

stopping. 

We're going no further till we've had coffee

Only about 15 miles to coffee stop

Cycle sunbathing!

Third county of the day!

Moving on and into County Durham, the last real

challenge of the trip came just after Stanhope with

a tough slog up to Parkhead. Just before reaching

the summit of the climb an ash track off to the right 

bought us to Parkhead Station, converted into an

excellent café and provided a great place to recharge

and celebrate the end of the climbs! We had coffees, 

toasted sandwiches, hot beef rolls, apple custard 

and cakes. All good refuelling stuff!

A sign of times gone by!

The long and winding road!

Not far to coffee stop now Malcolm

Reliving the long climb up Crawleyside

Parkhead station - our refuel stop

The road or off road discussion

Loving this off-road cycling

At the last minute we decided to take the gravel path off-road route, 

a local road cyclist at the cafe had assured us the off road route was

fine for road bikes. It was a great call with good surfaces and no

traffic for much of the remaining distance to the river Tyne. 

Malcolm and Peter take off in front

When your're ready chaps!

Memories of the old railway line

One of a few old railway bridges we 
crossed on route

Bridges across the Tyne at Newcastle

Along the Tyne we were rewarded with great views of

the bridges and after 3 miles or so we crossed the

famous ‘blinking eye’ Millennium Bridge over the River 

Tyne into Newcastle City before completing the final 

few miles of the coast to coast alongside the River 

Tyne to Tynemouth. 

The Tyne Bridge at Newcastle

The Tyne Bridge at Newcastle

Peter, Chris and Malcolm crossing the Millenium Bridge

The Millenium Bridge at Newcastle

A welcome sight - the end of the road

 at Tynemouth!

We did it! Front wheel dip at Tynemouth

After a dip of the front wheel in the sea at

Tynemouth we were met by Malcolm's

sister Chris who had very kindly bought 

along a huge array of Rolls, crisps,

chocolate and soft drinks fora final

refuel  - thanks so much for this Chris.

Paul from Norcroft loaded our bikes and took us back to Penrith. We had a celebratory beer

or two in the Moo Bar (good old Timothy Taylor!) and then a great Pizza at Gianni's.

140 miles over 2 days, 11,000 ft of climbing, great weather, lovely part of the country. All in all a perfect short cycle tour.

Day 4 - Penrith to Hadlow

Breakfast at 8 then loaded the car up for journey back to Hadlow. Journey home definitely helped

by the European golfers in the Ryder Cup. 

Thanks go to.......

- Saddle Skedaddle for the self guided package - worked very well at a reasonable price.
- Caroline Brooks-Johnson for the loan of the Hadlow Bikers tour bus again.
- Malcolm for stepping in to replace Brian Rowe.
- Sustrans for the superb C2C route and signage.

September 2014