Coast to Coast to Coast Ride

[lane]

We finished in Whitley Bay and stayed overnight before joinng the Reivers on the way back.

 

[Soltydog]

The C2C - before it was hijacked by Tynemouth - finished at Marine Walk, Roker.

The beach is between Sunderland's two distinctive curved piers.

That's where my first solo tour & C2C finished about 10 years ago, happy days

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I pick whatever allows you to ride from home.

 

[DCLane]

Taking a pebble from one side to another is a C2C custom, as is dunking your front wheel in both seas.

True, only my now 14yo took a rock. Which he hid in my pannier bag

 

[EasyPeez]

If you are interested in the Devon Coast to Coast, let me know. I have a spare guide book going.

Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but I think for practical reasons we'll need to look at more northern routes. Also, I hear that cycling in Devon can be a bit of a Herculean effort....

Good part of the country for doing a coast to coast though - I recall doing one in Cornwall a few years back and knocking it off in a few hours, even riding with my 10yr old son on hefty MTBs

It would be possible to do a loop: Sunderland to Workington on the C2C and back to Sunderland from Barrow which would start and end in the same place, but have no repeat sections, apart from the last mile to Roker beach.

Using the C2C outbound makes sense, it's the easiest of all the rides so you will minimise your climbing and miles into a prevailing head wind.

W2W is comparatively tough, up and down across the Dales, past the highest pub in England at Tan Hill in County Durham, and even though you've done most of the climbing by the time you reach Barnard Castle at about 100 miles, there's still another 50-odd to do.

I like the sound of this a lot. I don't know how I managed to overlook the W2W. Workington to Barrow to connect to the W2W sounds more realistic at 50-odd miles than Southport to Heysham to connect WOTR to TPT at over 100.

Can find a link to the ride on Strava if you're interested

Yes please. I'd probably prefer for us to look further afield than the WOTR, just because I'm quite familiar with most of it east of York, but I am planning to do the whole route solo at some point in the future so would be interested to see your route.

The effective C2C2C route (not quite 600km) was this:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28897777?beta=false

I like that a lot. Visiting two of my favourite places in Keswick and Robin Hood's Bay...a version of that route is definitely going into the hat. Thanks.

I've ridden most the coast/coast routes and would be avoiding The Reivers if on 30mm tyres

Thanks for the tip.

It wouldn't occur to me not to be planning my own routes.

It may seem unadventurous to some I guess, and we might well end up planning deviations or even the whole route ourselves. But having done a couple of the national long distance walking routes I quite like the idea of ticking off the cycling routes too over the coming years. Plus if I'm in charge of navigating a group of 4-8 riders across the country twice, the signposting that comes with major NCN routes gives me confidence that we won't end up stuck down a back alley behind a chippy scratching our heads and everyone looking at me. Also, I'd like to think these major routes have been planned as such to take in some fine views, good riding terrain and access to accommodation and services, so a good ride ought to be assured.
What would your reasons be for avoiding these routes and planning your own? The extra sense of accomplishment & adventure?

I pick whatever allows you to ride from home.

There'll be somewhere between 4 and 8 of us and we all live in different parts of the country. Sorry, should have made that clear in my opening post.

 

[Soltydog]

Yes please. I'd probably prefer for us to look further afield than the WOTR, just because I'm quite familiar with most of it east of York, but I am planning to do the whole route solo at some point in the future so would be interested to see your route.

Day 1, Hornsea to Ripon, picked up the route towards Pocklington & avoided the centre of York & the path alongside the river https://www.strava.com/activities/711993349

Day 2 Ripon to Morecambe pretty much followed the WOTR https://www.strava.com/activities/716613717

Day 3 Lancaster to Halifax. There was a bit of bad planning on this day Just by the M6 I ended up down a rough muddy track, which eventually led to a ford & didn't fancy crossing on the stepping stones with my loaded tourer. Then the track over the moors towards Haworth was a bit rough & ended up walking in some places, the joys of plotting your own route https://www.strava.com/activities/714230935

Day 4 Halifax to Hornsea You'll probably know of a fair bit of this route, especially the nearer home you get https://www.strava.com/activities/716622538

I'm hoping to do the WOTR in a day at some point, just waiting the the days are a bit longer & we have a nice easterly breeze on my day off I'll be travelling light though & not staying over. Last train back from Morecambe is just after 8, unless it changes in December (or any time before I attempt it)

 

[Aravis]

I Said: It wouldn't occur to me not to be planning my own routes.

It may seem unadventurous to some I guess, and we might well end up planning deviations or even the whole route ourselves. But having done a couple of the national long distance walking routes I quite like the idea of ticking off the cycling routes too over the coming years. Plus if I'm in charge of navigating a group of 4-8 riders across the country twice, the signposting that comes with major NCN routes gives me confidence that we won't end up stuck down a back alley behind a chippy scratching our heads and everyone looking at me. Also, I'd like to think these major routes have been planned as such to take in some fine views, good riding terrain and access to accommodation and services, so a good ride ought to be assured.
What would your reasons be for avoiding these routes and planning your own? The extra sense of accomplishment & adventure?

That's a very fair question. Although I know it to be true, I hadn't really thought it through before.

It may simply be not trusting anyone else! Perhaps a product of doing 99.9% of my life's cycling alone. And I really enjoy route-planning and spend far too many hours tweaking things.

It does seem that with Coast to Coast, there's an expectation that to do it properly you ought to follow one of the established routes. I may be wrong, but this is what I sense. With LEJOG/JOGLE, for example, provided you ride all the it's only the start and and end points that are obligatory, and the type of route you pick will depend on a lot of things (I've never done it BTW). Maybe C to C has evolved as a parallel to the walking routes, where I can see that you would want to keep to the actual route as far as possible.

I think all I meant to imply was that if you don't feel the need to stick to one of the established routes, you're not alone.