C2C backwards

[Cathryn]

A quick note on our weekend cycling the C2C backwards - from Newcastle (okay, not really the coast, I know) to Whitehaven.

Firstly...yes...we had three days of headwind. Tough actually and at times, quite disspiriting. But the ease of getting the bikes on the train home (having seen about 150 cyclists going in the opposite direction) made it all worthwhile.Can't imagine the carnage on the platforms as they all try to get on one train!

We sat off from Newcastle on Saturday morning. Lovely day. Gorgeous first 16 or so miles to Consett on off-road surfaces. So nice not to worry about traffic. Then onto the Waverly Way. Out on the moors now...amazing views, but the headwind kicks in. Tough, but very beautiful. Cup of tea and apple pie at Parkhead Station made it all worthwhile. Climbing now over the Pennines through Rookhope and Allenheads and then the final, horrible push over Black Hill, the highest point on the C2C. Really hard work, made harder by the smug grins of people HURTLING in the other direction with the tailwind. We have a horrific headwind at this point, we're both shattered when we fly down into Nenthead and very happy to find our lovely B&B, Avesgarth. Suprisingly wonderful dinner at the lovely Overwater Inn with two other cyclists in our B&B, one of whom knows Cav! Very exciting.

The Pennines in the sunshine

Linzgarth Arch in the middle of nowhere

Sunday, grey skies and drizzle as we slog up a nasty hill out of Nenthead towards Garrigill. Steep climb up to the Hartside road and then a wonderful few miles of gentle climbing up to Hartside. Cakes at the top. Hmm...a theme develops. On the other side of Hartside, the sun is shining and it's glorious all day now. FANTASTIC hurtle down the other side of Hartside - we see about 150 cyclists in the next few hours all slogging up the other side. Our turn to be smug.Idyllic cycling all day. Lunch is Fish and Chips in Penrith, and then we have a lovely couple of hours heading into the Lakes. We spend the night in Keswick at another top B&B. I get a bit sloshed on some very syrupy rose wine. Doesn't take much.

Me and Liesl at the top of Hartside

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The view from Hartside

Monday...it's raining. Initially not a problem until we start the Whinlatter pass climb. Horrid. Very steep, gravelly, never ending. My full english gets a bit close to coming back up again. Nice!! Eventually at the top but wind and rain really nasty now!! A pleasant pootle through the lanes and villages on the other side, but clouds very low so we don't get to see much beautiful countryside. The final climb is horrid - wind and rain lashing our faces, we're cold and a bit miserable. It's lonely up on the moors. However we're eventually on the old railway line enjoying the final 11 miles downhill to Whitehaven. Ugly town, nasty day but we're really really proud of ourselves when we get there!!

A great trip - we really enjoyed it. Much tougher than we'd expected. I don't think we'd been cocky and assumed it would be a breeze but we definitely underestimated it and it hurt more than we'd anticipated. Great sense of achievement though, I'd hugely recommend it!! Great weekend.

SO nice to be touring again.

Please can I clarify that despite the cake intake, I am not fat, nor do I usually look like I swallowed a beachball!

 

[Kirstie]

Well if it's any consolation, I rode it the other way round and had a headwind all the way too...but it's a good ride, eh? Here is Reg at the top of Hartside on my ride which I did on my own in April last year.

 

[Cathryn]

I thought about you doing it on your own actually...I'm a bit over-cautious at times but there were some points where I wouldn't have been comfy on my own. Weren't you nervous at all? Or are you just much braver than I am.

Hartside's brilliant...I really love it, although both times I've climbed it from Alston now and I'd like to try it from the other direction!

 

[Riding in Circles]

In the picture at Hartside you are looking quite svelt, in the last one you may have eaten the other swan.

 

[Cathryn]

I don't know what happened!! It makes me laugh...

 

[vernon]

Well done Cathryn!

I am very fond of the C2C as it was my very first cycle tour. It is a challenging route but I think it sometimes better to jump in with both feet and get on with the tour rather than fret about what might be around the corner in terms of hills. Crawleyside bank was my nemesis on the route. Had I weighed up the hills before starting then I probably wouldn't have attempted the ride.

 

[Cathryn]

It was susprisingly tough. But ours is a beautiful country!!

When the sun shines.

 

[rich p]

Chapeau Cathryn! There's nothing like a headwind and a shower to keep you cool as David Coleman used to say at the London Marathon

 

[summerdays]

When the sun shines.

And that would be when?

You are lucky that I wasn't looking at that photo yesterday... the computer was malfunctioning yesterday and as a result was stretching the horizontal making everything look wierd. It would have trebbled the effect of that photo.

However I think I know why you have gained the extra weight.... (well assuming you didn't eat all the cake in every tea shop on route), I take it you were at the bottom of a slope? so its the foreshortening effect, by looking down on you (I think). And I've seen the other photos of you on here so my image of you would be one of those ones instead.

 

[Kirstie]

I thought about you doing it on your own actually...I'm a bit over-cautious at times but there were some points where I wouldn't have been comfy on my own. Weren't you nervous at all? Or are you just much braver than I am.

Not really nervous no. The only time I got vaguely concerned was going into pubs on my own for dinner. The cycling was fine and I was chatting to all kinds of interesting people with no problem at all (I surprised myself with this). In the pub in Greystoke I started chatting to the bloke next to me, mentioning that my MILs family are from the area. Then he introduced me to others and discovered that one of them knows my MILs family! Small world. In Allenheads it was a bit different as I got to the Allenheads Inn early and started chatting to a couple of people in there. My back was a bit sore so I got some painkillers out. At that point the landlady came in, who I'd spoke to on the phone. She was really sweet, said she'd been worried about me turning up in one piece and gave me a hug! I went to put my bike in the garage, came back and one of the people I was chatting to had thrown my painkillers on the fire saying he didn't approve of them! I was more than a little surprised, but luckily I had more. Later on that evening another cycling couple came in and it turned out they were from Rochdale (I'm from near there) so we had something in common and chatted all night. It all went a bit weird later on, as they had the room next to me, and had a two hour long very loud shagathon, and again in the morning. It was funny at breakfast time making small talk! On the last day I was joined by a friend (who comes on here occasionally), and ironically on that day we got more abuse shouted at us by kids in Consett etc, but it was OK.

 

[spindrift]

Why did he throw the painkillers on the fire??!

 

[Kirstie]

Because he didn't approve of pain killers. He thought I should just suffer the pain and get over it.

 

[spindrift]

Was it this pub?

View: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu_2likGlok&feature=related

 

[Kirstie]

Hm. The bloke referred to himself as 'Angel' and was drinking in there with his mate 'Billy'. I thanked him for his concern and proceeded to take my tablets. 'Billy' (who was on crutches) then went into a monologue about his various medical problems and what he had been prescribed for them...

 

[Cathryn]

That's well out of line, throwing your painkillers on the fire!! Wow. Well I think you did incredibly well on your own...well done!!

I like the foreshortening arguments, Summerdays. Foreshortening is one thing I definitely don't need. Am on a diet this week - no more beachball photos