Over the weekend, I planned and rode an alternative coast to coast ride with my eldest son who's fairly new to cycling. The original plan was to go from Morecambe to Scarborough but on checking out the Wolds scenery and finding it far too dull and uninteresting to stimulate us, we decided instead to make the finishing point Saltburn by the Sea, just south of Middlesbrough. You can see the whole route here http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Coast-to-Coast-Morecambe-to-Saltburn-by-the-Sea
We did it over two days staying at Middleham on Saturday night and made the mistake of booking ahead. I say mistake as when we got there, we found we could certainly have gone much further and we actually arrived before 2pm which was far too early! This gave rise to the idea we could do it in a one-er at some future date. As for this time though, it was 189 kilometres and 2227 metres of climb and the climb was by no means all on day one either! There is a hilly, but fabulous section from Kirkby Sigston to Osmotherly and down to Great Broughton. Then there's a very hilly section just when you don't need it, from Kildale to Commondale and beyond. It's a bit brutal but through seriously lovely countryside that I was totally unfamillar with.
The weather was damp and cold on Saturday, which kept the traffic at a minimum and warmer and sunnier on the Sunday. We did it at an average of just shy of 25 kph and I used up 6267 calories (since replaced with interest). I'd recommend this route over the official one also.
We did it over two days staying at Middleham on Saturday night and made the mistake of booking ahead. I say mistake as when we got there, we found we could certainly have gone much further and we actually arrived before 2pm which was far too early! This gave rise to the idea we could do it in a one-er at some future date. As for this time though, it was 189 kilometres and 2227 metres of climb and the climb was by no means all on day one either! There is a hilly, but fabulous section from Kirkby Sigston to Osmotherly and down to Great Broughton. Then there's a very hilly section just when you don't need it, from Kildale to Commondale and beyond. It's a bit brutal but through seriously lovely countryside that I was totally unfamillar with.
The weather was damp and cold on Saturday, which kept the traffic at a minimum and warmer and sunnier on the Sunday. We did it at an average of just shy of 25 kph and I used up 6267 calories (since replaced with interest). I'd recommend this route over the official one also.
