Our trip across England C2C

WIP....

In 2008 we decided our family holiday should be a little more adventurous than normal. We did the Sea to Sea (C2C) cycle ride across the North of England. What follows is a short description of our experience.

Why?

One day I found myself browsing the book section at FW Evans. As most cyclist will tell you, the book section of most bike shops are an afterthought, to fill a space, usually the most sorry/feeble place in the whole store (if not the planet). I must have been bored, as I found myself picking up a dog-eared copy of the 2000 edition of the C2C Guide (remember, it was 2008). For some reason I couldn't put it down. It's the type of book that would normally send me to sleep, but for some reason it was different this time (or so I thought). Unusually for me, I bought the book and took it home. As was usual for me, I put it on the shelf and forgot about it - so much for good intentions. A few months later I was looking for my NCN handbook, when I stumbled upon the little C2C guide again. I picked it up and started to thumb through it, when it dawned on me. Wouldn't it be a good idea to somehow incorporate it into our family holiday? I sat and thought for a moment....two kids, both under the age of three. I looked around the house, the sheer carnage. Pictures of baby hippos climbing and hurling themselves from iconic northern sculpture flashed through my mind. I thought again, two kids, both under the age of three...I put the book down, and forgot about it.

A few months later we were invited to a wedding in Northumberland. I didn't connect the two at first. But eventually it clicked, perhaps we could combine the two, cycling holiday and somebody else's wedding? I mentioned it to my wife Janet, and she seemed up for it. After all, we'd done some smaller bike rides with the kids: Brighton, Windsor, New Forest (camping!)...this cycling lark wasn't a complete mystery to us or the kids - what could possibly go wrong? We both took a gulp...the rest, as they say, is history.

So in Oct 2008 we set off on our adventure: 4 panniers, 1 chariot, 2 kids, 2 adults, 2 bikes and a Wedding. This is how it unfolded.

The plan

Before we could set off, I lectured Janet on the need for a plan. I'm good at that sort of thing. The lecturing that is, not the actual planning. So here's a copy (more or less) of the itinerary which we Janet came up with.

Get a train to Whitehaven, from Beckenham.

Cycle Whitehaven to Keswick.

Cycle Keswick to Penrith

Cycle Penrith to Nenthead

Cycle Nenthead to Rowlands Gill

Cycle Rowlands Gill to Tynemouth for the completion of the C2C.

Cycle Tynemouth to Corbridge

Cycle to Matfen Hall for the Wedding.

To give you some idea, the C2C is usually attempted West to East to take advantage of the prevailing westerly winds. It's approx 130 miles (there are route options so it can vary - completed in 3-5 days. You may prefer to take longer - keep in mind that some nutters do the whole thing in a day!

The gear

4 Ortlieb rear panniers (todo photo), chariot for the kids (todo photo), two entry-level Specialized Sirrus bicycles (todo photos). We had everything except the chariot. Luckily we had some friends who could help us out. Thanks go to Sam, Lyndon, Oliver and Toby for lending us theirs (I hope they didn't miss it too much). I almost forgot, enough outfits for the kids to cloth them in a new outfit for each breakfast, lunch and dinner for the entire holiday. Enough nappies to cause a run on the local chemist. And barely enough clothes for Mum and Dad to beg the quiestion: were they actually intending to accompany the kids at all?

For navigation we used a combination of GPS, paper maps, and the C2C Guide.

Day 1 - Getting there

This was a day of very little cycling and an awful lot of train journeys. We took the train from New Beckenham to London Charing Cross which was enough to make us both consider turning round and going back home immediately. The extra short train stopped well back from where we were waiting so we had to dash backwards and forwards with kids, bikes and trailers to get on the train. We slung the first bike across the train door to stop the driver from pulling off without half our gear, only for a helpful lady (or lady in a hurry?) to move it in the train for us. Luckily the driver decided to wait for us after all. Made mental note to cycle rather than take train option wherever possible for the rest of the holiday.

We cycled from London Charing Cross to Euston which panicked Janet somewhat but it was mostly back roads and Janet cycled behind the trailer so it didn't feel so dicey. The cycle routes through London really are fabulous.

Then, to cut a long story short, we headed to Carlisle and then onto Whitehaven. The conductors were patient and helpful and all was smooth. But I wonder if it would have been so easy in the height of summer? It's a real pain that you can't book bikes onto the train from Carlisle to Whitehaven (Northern Rail) and we were just counting on using the kids to blag a place if it was crowded!

Can't really give an opinion on Whitehaven as it was pouring with rain when we got there so very, very dreary. We dashed from B&B to the nearest Indian restaurant which was very welcome after a LONG day.

Day 2 - First day's cycling (31 miles)

At least the rain had stopped by the morning and we set off on a beautiful day. A lovely morning's cycling then nice lunch in a very nice pub near Loweswater. After that you get the wonderful views of the Lakes - which is lucky because the cycling also gets a lot harder. The only major climb of the day is the Whinlatter Pass - first on roads and then off on a forest track. Janet started getting first day nerves: "if I can't manage today I'll die on day 3...". There's the possibility of a stop and a cuppa at the visitor centre in the woods, but we were already dying to start the down-hill and decided (against the advice of a mountain biker in the cycle shop there) to take the off-road route through the woods. This was really exhilerating and much better than sharing a road with cars but do check your brakes are working! Anyway after a few more miles of pleasant and easy cycling we were very happy to arrive in the lovely town of Keswick where we were just in time for a bit of shopping (Molly insisted on buying some pink fudge) and to have a well earned Latte and cake. The B&B (NAME??) was a little out of the centre - but only by about 10 minutes walk - and comes highly recommended. Very nice room, friendly people and reasonable price for a family (??)

Day 3 - Second day's cycling (24 miles)

To be honest this was a bit too short a day and we both felt we could have gone a bit further (especially as Penrith not VERY exciting) but we couldn't find a family room at an affordable price any further down the line. The only possible place in Langwathby wanted 80 pounds which Janet decided was a bit steep considering our (usually impossible) budget was 50 pounds... Took off-road alternative today?? Very nice and gave us a boost as we pretty easily conquered the extra hill we'd chosen to take on.

Day 4 - Third day's cycling

Uh-oh. So this was the big one. Janet was still winding herself up about how hard it was going to be and to make matters worse it was raining and blustery. Our worst weather so far. Still, the rain at least covered our pain up a bit from the laughing car drivers heading past us. But that comes later in our tale...

The day started ok but ran out of water pretty quickly. We weren't worried because we were coming up to the village of ?? so we thought we'd find a shop there. Oh dear, there wasn't one. But a very nice lady allowed us to refill our bottles in her kitchen ("oh it's fine - this happens all the time"). Very glad we did as after that it was pain, pain, pain until the top of Hartside. But got there feeling very smug (at least Janet did) as we didn't need to stop or walk. It's actually not THAT bad a climb. It just goes on and on and on and on.....

Problem with the weather was that the kid's trailer steamed completely up so they couldn't see out. They didn't moan (luckily) and just slept the whole day (unluckily) meaning they were bouncing off the walls and ready for a party at the end of our hardest day. We just wanted to drink beer and lie down but instead had to be head entertainers for two lively toddlers with LOTS of extra energy...

Reivers

TODO Upload gpx files