INTRODUCTION

This guidebook explores the C2C cycle route between Whitehaven and Tynemouth and is designed to assist riders in planning a leisurely five-day west to east cycle tour. This time-frame should ensure that it is well within the reach of those new to cycling as well as families with children aged twelve and over.

A significant part of this route is off-road, using the track-beds of disused railway lines, making gradients relatively gentle and on these particular stretches there is no interaction with motor vehicles.You will find off-road sections through parts of Whitehaven, Workington, Keswick, on the Waskerley Way, through the Derwent Valley and on the approach to and through Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as well as out to the finish at Tynemouth. The 137-mile C2C cycle route was the first national cycle route in Britain, inaugurated in 1994. It has grown to be the most popular long-distance cycle ride in the country. This guidebook outlines a multi-day cycle tour where the average daily mileage is a very relaxed 27½ miles. We have designed the C2C in five stages, as listed below:

Stage 1: Whitehaven to Keswick: 32 miles (ascent 628 metres, descent 548 metres)

Stage 2: Keswick to Penrith: 23 miles (ascent 432 metres, descent 379 metres)

Stage 3: Penrith to Nenthead: 27 miles (ascent 1,015 metres, descent 718 metres)

Stage 4: Nenthead to Consett: 29 miles (ascent 637 metres, descent 875 metres)

Stage 5: Consett to Tynemouth: 26 miles (ascent 165 metres, descent 358 metres)

For those riders looking for a quicker cycle tour, the five stages can be condensed into three: Whitehaven to Keswick (32 miles), Keswick to Nenthead (50 miles) and Nenthead to Tynemouth (55 miles).

Fig. 03: Mum and son on the C2C. (Photo: Saddle Skedaddle Cycling Holidays)

HIGHLIGHTS

The C2C is a tremendous cycle route comprising a mixture of lanes and off-road cycle paths, short sharp hills, long steep hills, freewheeling descents, dales, moorland and urban riding. Through careful design, the C2C cyclist is only in contact with motorized traffic on quiet B roads and unclassified lanes and because the route is ridden by thousands of riders each year local motorists expect to see cyclists and usually drive with courtesy. The C2C provides numerous highlights from the first mile to the last and a relaxed multi-day journey means that you have the chance to enjoy all that the C2C has to offer.

The scenery, especially through the Lake District, is exceptional, and the short ride through Wythop Woods near Keswick is some of the most peaceful and beautiful forest cycling to be found anywhere in the country. The ride out of Keswick is a spectacular part of the route, using the track-bed of the former Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway; it is a traffic-free and gentle ascent towards Mungrisdale under the towering presence of Blencathra (Saddleback) Mountain (868m). Further along into the journey there is the lush Eden Valley, a gorgeous patchwork of fields and meadows before the brutal climb up to Hartside Café. From the isolated café, manned by a crew of raucous and friendly local women, you will be pushing onwards, cycling through the grandeur of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), where you may sight some rare birds such as the hen harrier or black grouse.

A descent to Rookhope and a gnarly ascent to Parkhead Café signify the start of the Waskerley Way, which is a rollicking freewheel towards Consett. As you bowl downhill with the wind on your cheeks, the only sound will be the rhythmic whirr of your wheels on gravel, with a reservoir to the right, the dun-coloured moorland framing the former steel town away in the distance. From Consett the terrain flattens and the approach to Newcastle-upon-Tyne is on another track-bed of a former railway line.

At Rowlands Gill the countryside relinquishes her grip, giving way to the suburbs, while the C2C clings to the bank of the River Derwent before it converges to meet the River Tyne. With a westerly wind the ride into Newcastle is swift and exciting: the numerous bridges over the river provide a feast of architectural engineering, while lunch at the BALTIC is always a memorable stop before the final miles to Tynemouth.

HOW IT WORKS

This book is divided into a number of short sections, featuring signs and mapping, fitness and nutrition, when to go and what gear to take, a comprehensive kit list, essential maintenance and a section on travel. This should be useful when planning your arrival at the start point and your departure after successfully completing the ride. Within the main section of the book each of the five stages are fully described, including a strip map highlighting the towns and villages that will be encountered during the day as well as an elevation chart indicating the ascent and descent. You will also find a number of vignettes that identify historical places of interest as well as species of plants, birds and mammals that you may encounter en route. At the rear of the book you will find a comprehensive list of accommodation to suit all budgets, including hotels, bed and breakfasts, campsites and youth hostels. There is a list of cycle repair shops, train operators, taxi companies operating from Tynemouth as well as tourist information offices and a list of other resources relating to bike repairs, fitness and nutrition.To make the text a little easier on the eye websites are identified by the final part of the domain name rather than the full web address.

Fig. 04: Taking a breather. Riders from the Ocean Youth Trust completing a sponsored ride on the C2C. (Photo: Ocean Youth Trust and Grace Metcalfe)

SIGNS AND MAPPING

One of the outstanding features of the C2C is that the route is extensively signed from start to finish. The signs are well designed, clear and numerous, and it is quite possible to cycle the entire 137 miles relying entirely on the National Cycle Network (NCN) and C2C signposts that you will see on the route.

Nevertheless, we strongly recommend that, in addition to this guidebook, riders carry appropriate hard copy maps at all times and, for those riders who enjoy detailed planning and navigating, mapping will be an important aspect of your tour preparations. We believe that the most suitable maps for cycle touring are the Ordnance Survey Landranger series 1:50 000, 2cm to 1km, 1¼ inches to 1 mile.This scale fits perfectly with the rhythm of long-distance cycling, at a steady pace of anything from six to twelve miles per hour. They include just enough detail but not too much. You will need seven Ordnance Survey Landranger maps to complete the C2C. An alternative is to use the excellent NCN Challenge Sea-to-Sea map published by Sustrans. Full details of the maps required are listed below. If you are on a budget you should be able to save money by borrowing the Ordnance Survey maps from your local library. Alternatively you may find second-hand copies on eBay for a pound or two.

Fig. 05: National Cycle Network signs for the C2C.

Maps Required

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 89: West Cumbria
(ISBN 0-319-22689-1)

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 90: Penrith & Keswick
(ISBN 978-0-319-23151-7)

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 91: Appleby-in-Westmorland
(ISBN 0-319-22691-3)

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 86: Haltwhistle
(ISBN 0-319-22086-9)

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 87: Hexham, Haltwhistle
(ISBN 0-319-22087-7)

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 92: Barnard Castle & Richmond
(ISBN 0-319-22692-1)

Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 88: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
(ISBN 978-0-319-22998-9)

NCN Challenge Sea to Sea (C2C) Cycle Route Map, Sustrans
(ISBN 978-1-901389-65-4)

Navigating with a physical map on your handlebars is great fun and very rewarding. For those riders who enjoy this aspect of touring we have included every significant turning and junction as a grid reference throughout the body of the book. These references are denoted by two letters followed by six digits, for example NY 971 453, NZ 002 431, etc. A full list of these grid references and a comprehensive list of villages and towns are listed at the rear of the book. It should be a simple matter to transfer the grid references from this book and plot the route onto the Ordnance Survey Landranger maps before beginning the ride. Additionally, grid references are used to mark the location of hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation, cycle repair shops and youth hostels; this information can be found at the back of the book. If you are unsure about how to plot a grid reference onto a Landranger map, Robert B. Matkin's book Map Reading (ISBN 978-1855680968), published by Dalesman 2008, is a very user-friendly introduction, and Ordnance Survey also produce a free map-reading guide entitled Map Reading: from the beginner to the advanced map reader (ISBN 978-0-319-08785-5).

With the revolution in information technology, many riders will choose to navigate the C2C using a Global Positioning System (GPS), smartphone or tablet rather than a traditional paper map. To do this you will need an open source mapping application.There are some excellent resources on the internet and we believe that two of the best are Google Maps (maps.google.com) and Open Cycle Map (opencyclemap.org). In addition, there is also an iPhone app (apple.com) for Google Maps, whilst Open Street Map (openstreetmap.org), Garmin Basecamp (garmin.com), Ordnance Survey OS Open Data...