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gavgav
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Have fun!
Coast to Coast advice
- Thread starter gavgav
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Enjoyed your write-up.
The middle section, over the North Pennines, is where I live.
So almost every time I go for a ride from home it will include at least two or three of those hills. The downhill bends are difficult in windy weather as the wind eddies and gusts up the little side vallies and can literally take your wheels from under you.
The benefits are very little traffic, except at weekends. Like many locals, I avoid Hartside even in a car at weekends due to the dangerous motorbikes and sports cars. There was a CTT Hillclimb up it last Sunday morning!
The Hive at Nenthead is only open occasionally, its a big miss but not economically viable. The next option is The Hemmel at Allenheads which is excellent.
The middle section, over the North Pennines, is where I live.
So almost every time I go for a ride from home it will include at least two or three of those hills. The downhill bends are difficult in windy weather as the wind eddies and gusts up the little side vallies and can literally take your wheels from under you.
The benefits are very little traffic, except at weekends. Like many locals, I avoid Hartside even in a car at weekends due to the dangerous motorbikes and sports cars. There was a CTT Hillclimb up it last Sunday morning!
The Hive at Nenthead is only open occasionally, its a big miss but not economically viable. The next option is The Hemmel at Allenheads which is excellent.
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- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
I've finally got round to doing my write up of the trip, which is here for anyone interested: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/whitehaven-to-tynemouth-c2c-aug-sept-2025.306221/
johnblack
Veteran
- Location
- South Northamptonshire
We stayed at the Chase for our start last year. MTB's. There was a couple of bar staff that wouldn't let us leave, ended up being a very late night with a fairly early start the next morning. Was a bit of a shabby hotel but the staff were all lovely and had a good breakfast too.
Can you describe the gauntlet at south Shields and the area if you can recall it
Thanks
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
It's a bit like running the gauntlet because the marked route doesn't take you directly through the area - it varies from cyclepaths alongside roads to old railway lines to shared paths along the river. You need to be very aware of the signage and have a reliable map to follow.
Reaching Newcastle it takes you along the riverside which is very busy with pedestrians, particularly round the area with the bars and restaurants.
After that it takes you on another mix of shared paths and minor roads through some more rough and ready areas of the city. Watch out for broken glass and electric motorbikes or scooters using the cycleways.
Edit to add: nearing Tynemouth there was one shared path that was so narrow we'd have struggled to pass a pedestrian if we'd met them. The quality of the paths can vary quite a lot.
Just as an aside: South Shields is across the river from our route. It was more Newcastle, Wallsend & North Shields.
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oxoman
Senior Member
Shields isn't to bad tbh imho, better than the city. Only issue is if your on a decent ebike your probably fair game unless in a group. Most of the rides finishing in Teignmouth seem to come along the coast road / cycle paths. Can be a bit rough in places as you ride in past various old industrial sites. They were building a massive battery plant at one point but I believe that crashed and burnt as a project. Can't say to much bad about south shields as I still have family up there on my dad's side.
johnblack
Veteran
- Location
- South Northamptonshire
I was a bit dissapointed with the end no sign posting in Tynemouth for the end point, we were riding along the seafront and someone must have realised what we were doing and directed us over the grass bank down to the Boat club, so we did manage to dip our wheels.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Its NCN route 72 isnt it? Its a bit narrow and meandering in places, we started our Newcastle to Edinburgh along there. With the GPS route on a garmin it wasn't too tricky to navigate..I can see that without that it would be easy to miss a turn or two.
We didnt have to worry about not finding the C2C end point, as that wasn't our end. We were also doing it on a morning so before the scrotes on escooters had got up!
oxoman
Senior Member
We did it the other way around and used Pedalpower to transfer us up to Edinburgh. Then meander back. We managed to leave our cars in a community centre carpark, suggested by PP used it 3 times no issues. C2C way of the roses was a bit different though, one of the lads did a deal with a local pub / club and we left our cars there with no problems. To be fair as you suggested the scroats tend to be snoring or keeping to the ginnels.
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Yes, it is NCN route 72. It wasn't bad really, I think just being tired after a long and wet day we didn't appreciate it that much.
It didn't help that our sat nav played up and took us off down the wrong side of a dual carriageway for a bit. If the signage had been better we'd not have put so much trust in it.
