Coast to Coast (3 days, July 2003)

Day 1 Whitehaven to Penrith (53 miles, 7 hours)

The trip did not start very promising. The weather forecast for the weekend was pretty poor, after weeks of a good summer. We got up at 6.30 am on Friday to catch the train from Leeds to Whitehaven and it was wet, windy and cold. We left Marc's place late, too late to catch the train really and already I was wishing I had stayed in London. But, as always with Marc, we managed to make the train with about 10 seconds to spare, and things were beginning to look up. Five hours of unexciting train travelling later we arrived in Whitehaven, the weather had in the meantime improved, and after buying the Coast to Coast map at Woolworth and taken a snap at the C2C sign we were finally off, still worried though about the 53 miles ahead though.

As it happened it was just fine. The weather improved steadily and after a couple of hours it was sunny with some clouds, perfect for cycling. The first few miles out of Whitehaven were a bit dull, along a dismantled railway with lots of trees and not much views (and a few C2C signs turned 180 degrees by the local kids did not help) but as soon as the railway line ends and the mountains begin the scenery is breathtaking. And so we rode for hour after hour in the afternoon sun, past lakes and fells and lovely villages and remote cottages, stopping occasionally for a photo or a mars bar in a pub, until we arrived in Penrith at about 8.00 p.m. A quick shower was followed by some pizza in the local Italian, then a beer and a well deserved 9 hour sleep.

Day 2 Penrith to Rookhope (39 miles, 8 hours)

We left Penrith at about 10.00 am after a heart breakfast. The weather was OK, not raining yet but pretty cloudy and a few showers in the distance. Very nice but slightly scary views of the start of the Pennines in the distance and then after a traversing the mountains for a while the steep climb up to Hartside Pass begins. We chose to take the off road track, not a good decision in hindsight as it was very rough, and at parts very steep and we ended up pushing the bikes almost all the way up. It was good timing again though as the weather cleared as we reached the top and we had lunch in the sunshine at Hartside Café.

After the pass there was a pretty long decent, first along the main road, then off onto a side road into Garrigill. Beautiful countryside everywhere, it really made me wonder why I live in London. Garrigill itself also looks like a good place to spend a few days, no much time for us to stop though, yet I was glad to finally go through it after having missed out on it twice during Pennine Way trips due to bad weather.

On over two more climbs via Nenthead (not so nice) and Allenheads (very nice) and then the Pennines are almost finished and we rolled downhill for a few miles into Rookhope. We stayed at a place called the Old Vicarage here, nice house and friendly landlady, though she tried to sell us the dinner a little bit too much so we decided to go down to the local pup, the Rookhope Inn instead.

Well, I wont go into detail here, but we had a great night, and I would highly recommend the Rookhope as a stopover solely because of a Saturday night at the local. It is unlike any pub I have ever been to really and I doubt they exist in anything bigger than a medium sized village. It basically consists of the locals and the tourists (i.e. Marc and myself) getting quiet drunk over a pub quiz with some live music, followed by the (incredibly huge) landlord leading a terrible karaoke session where, thanks to some handouts, the whole pub joined in. It is hard to describe, I guess you had to be there.

Day 3 Rookhope to Tynemouth via Newcastle ( 52miles, including 10 back to Newcastle, 6 hours)

The next morning, after a monster breakfast that kind of cleared the hangover, we set off to Newcastle. Again we took the off-road alternative out of Rookhope, but this is definitely worth it as after the climb out of Rookhope there is a really good stretch along the top of a stunning valley. After that it is downhill all the way to Newcastle, nice but not quiet as scenic as the last two days.

The last bit, from Newcastle to Tynemouth, is a bit of a let down though as the path goes through council estate country with lots of broken glass and dogshit on the path and rough looking kids drinking beer and driving scooters on the cycle way. The end I guess is always a bit of a sad affair, it was nice to see quiet a few other cyclists sitting at the grassy bit outside the castle reflecting on the trip, but there was still the 10 miles back to Newcastle to not look forward to. We managed OK though I did get the only puncture on the trip driving through spot where someone had smashed about 10 beer bottles on the path. Next time I think I would not really bother doing the stretch to Tynemouth, but I guess we had to do it this time to say we had done the whole thing.

A quick pint at the station, then a monster 7 hours train journey back into London before I finally got home at midnight, tired but very please with the weekend, and I will be back to do he same next year all for sure…

Cost

I think I spend about £200, more than I thought, but was something like this:

• Return ticket London Leeds 36£ (APEX)
• Single ticket Leeds - Whitehaven 32£
• Single Ticket Newcastle - Leeds 9£ (one week advance)
• 2* B&B 40£
• Films 10£
• 2* Dinner and lots of beer 40£
• Crisps and chocolate 10£

Pack List

I managed to travel very light, just a small pack, which had:

• camera
• rain coat (never used)
• spare t-shirt and underwear
• toiletry stuff
• bike gear (toolkit, spare tube, repair kit (used once), pump (used a lot))
• wallet, phone etc.

All in all about 5 kilos worth including water

Final Thoughts

Despite initial worries a very, very good trip, highlights were the beautiful scenery and the night in the Rookhope Inn, and hopefully I will manage to do the trip once a year. In fact I was so inspired that I already have plans about longer trips in the UK…