Coast to Coast

[400bhp]

Hi

I'm going to do the Coast to Coast (Workington to Sunderland) in September.

I'll be doing it with a mate (on a racing bike), travelling up there on a Friday night, leaving early on Saturday to do it in one day. Has anyone done this and does anyone have any advice, in particular:

a) a route planner, and

decent cafes on the way.

Thanks

 

[lanternerouge]

Hi, we did it a few weeks back, Whitehaven to Sunderland. (www.simonhowells.typepad.com/chsc2c)

http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/ has almost everything you need and you can get maps etc off there I think!

One day will be, erm fun! Good luck with it though Sure it's possible for fitter souls than us!

 

[yashicamat]

We ended up on part of the C2C route when doing our 9 highest pubs in England tour. The climb to the Hartside Cafe is hard work (from the Eden Valley near Penrith) although well graded. The Cafe at the top is well worth a visit though; plenty of good tea and tasty crumble and custard! The descent from there is steady (although not exactly one to get the pulse racing). I'd suggest avoiding the minor roads on that climb though and stick to the A-road; it's not that busy as it doesn't really go anywhere and it much better graded than the minor roads, most of which have some very steep sections that your mate on a racing bike might struggle with if he's carrying any kit.

 

[400bhp]

We did it yesterday

Instead of Workington to Sunderland, we decided to follow the new "Way of the Roses" route which runs from Morecambe to Bridlington (workington and sunderland are more difficult to get to from Manchester by train). However, to fit in with our schedule and our fitness, we decided to shorten the route end at Scarborough where there are direct trains every hour to Manchester.

We broadly followed the Sustrans route to Ripon, plotted through Bikeroutetaster and downloaded onto a Garmin. We veered off to go through Malton, then on to Scarborough. The full Way of the Roses route takes you through York then onto Bridlington.

All in all we did 140 miles and climbed about 6500ft in a day.

Fantastic route and very pleased I decided to do this. Yesterday was the official opening of the route. We passed very few cyclists on the way around. There were 2 we suspected could have been doing the route as we climbed out of Settle (1:5 climb and they were walking ). We did meet a 10 strong group of CTC riders at our stop in Ripon who apparently had helped Sustrans develop the route (one guy mentioned he was the one who first thought up the route 2 years ago, travelling on it with his wife). They were just on a general bike meet.

If anyone wants a copy of our route then let me know.

 

[ferret fur]

Well done. 140 miles in a day is not to be sniffed at. Was the route well marked?

 

[400bhp]

Well done. 140 miles in a day is not to be sniffed at. Was the route well marked?

I can't commene on the whole of the exact route because we followed a close replica using a gpx downloaded from bikeroutetoaster. It appeared reasonably well marked when I happened to notice the signs.

We avoided the centre of Lancaster. I only remember going through 3 sets of traffic lights (ignoring morecambe and scarborough).

 

[400bhp]

Sustrans sells a map of the route.

You might need lights unless you are incredibly fit.

Agreed

We started at 7:15am and finished at 6:40pm. We had lights but didn't to need to switch them on on this occasion. With the wind against us and/or at a later time of the year it might have been a different story.

 

[theloafer]

cycling plus has an artical about that route sep issue looks good..