C2C day 3 Allenheads to South Shields

A day of two halves

Our morning started with a lovely breakfast at 8am. Lots more chat with Phil the landlord and the lovely cook. We both really liked Allenheads Inn, friendly staff and a quirky 18th century building steeped in local history. The inn is off the water grid and is fed by water direct from the fells - you can taste the difference.

After a lot of faffing and finishing the blog from the previous day, we finally got on the road at 9:45. No time for a warm up as we were straight into the first climb. Tracy was not impressed.

Leaving the inn

The first climb - water store for Allenheads in the background 

Riding up in the fells we were struck by the local road features - flattened rabbits. Not sure why they were so numerous, but our morning ride followed a familiar pattern, dead rabbit, flat rabbit, tough climb, flat rabbit, rabbit skin, another climb. Rinse and repeat. Not sure if the leporine population is suffering from depression or if they lack any road-sense. I guess where the roads are so quiet, they haven't gotten used to traffic and stand there like a rabbit caught in the headl... Oh.

After a 4.5 mile run descent into Rookhope, we suddenly realised that we weren't supposed to be there. Apparently I had planned a side quest off the main C2C route on a quiet road - part of the National byways. We had to backtrack a mile into a strong headwind that we hadn't noticed when it was at our backs. Another climb up to the fells and despite some steep sections we still managed to avoid the lowest gear - no walking the bikes. We left Northumberland behind, entering county Durham. 

Summit of a challenging climb

Leaving Northumberland (famously not Scotland) and entering the Land of the "Prince Bishops". No I don't know either.

Tracy slaloming the climb - the strong wind making her zig much faster than her zag

On a positive note, my detour missed out Crawleyside bank - a notorious climb with 254m height gain. Tracy was happy. We also realised that we were heading to Roker beach by Sunderland, an alternative C2C finish, rather than direct to South Shields, adding about 7 miles. Tracy was not happy. 

Once more with feeling - approaching the last climb of the day

Even when surrounded by such natural beauty...

...some people are still dicks.

After the final of the 3 climbs of the day we arrived at Parkhead station - the beginning of a disused railway and a completely different second part of the day. There was a lovely coffee shop in the old station house - but it was closed. Lack of caffeine was to prove an issue today.

Parkhead station - wish it was open!

One of many sculptures on the railway 

The railway was a welcome change from climbing the fells

Looking East we could see that the land would become very flat. Pancake flat. In these parts you might even say rabbit flat.

Hownsgill Viaduct

Provides a fabulous view - apart from the anti suicide fence

Following Waskerley way, the old railway, provided easy riding, mostly a gentle descent that required minimal effort. Tracy decided that this was the type of riding that she wants all day.  We passed another railway-side cafe, again closed on Weds, it's a conspiracy!

Terris Novalis - site of the Consett steelworks

King cole sculpture 

We stopped for lunch in Consett. Ignoring two Greggs, we settled in at Maddison's cafe in Consett. Jacket potato for Tracy and a toastie for me. We both went with cold drinks rather than coffee - again missing out on our caffeine.

Welcome refueling in Consett

We continued on the old railway at 2:30, loving the downhill sections and increasingly becoming annoyed by any gentle incline. The route, crossing roads on bridges, avoided all traffic, instead we had to contend with dog walkers with canines on extendy leads.

Ironmaster sculpture 

Matador! Beamish shorthorns.

Not a flat rabbit 

As the day wore on, I could detect Tracy getting increasingly grumpy. It came to a head when she got lost after ignoring a C2C sign because "It didn't look right" Apparently it was my fault for going too far ahead. I did wonder if Tracy's closet caffeine addiction was affecting her mood. I felt it prudent not to voice my theory. 

We stopped at the Washington Wetlands Centre at 4:30, to make use of the coffee shop. The centre is committed to preservation of wetland birds. Cold drinks, coffee and Tracy deciding that she wanted an ice-cream instead of cake. We continued on route with Tracy feeling refreshed. She wondered aloud if maybe she needed coffee and that was the problem. Who'd have thought?

Technically and actually not a cake

Wetlands centre is all about the bird conservation. Except pigeons. Pigeons are bastards. They can bugger off.

Our route took us along the river Wear and through the regenerated shipyards. I wonder how much the character of Sunderland has changed since the last one closed in 1988. A brief photostop at the Starmap sculpture, the official end of C2C at Roker beach, before ironically riding north to South Shields.

Northern spire bridge - finished in 2018

Stadium of light - Apparently home of a football team according to Tracy

Sculptures on the shipyards

Ridden the C2C...

...Yep, done!

North up the coast. These extra miles were psychologically difficult 

We passed so many runners on the coastal route, must have been an event or club run or something. We finally arrived at our apartment at 7pm. The ground floor apartment was lovely and Tracy immediately became one with the sofa. She was too knackered to venture out to any of the numerous restaurants, so I took on the role of hunter-gatherer. An incredibly long 5 mins walk to Morrisons before returning with Chicken, Chocolate, Chorizo and Choleslaw. Day off the bikes tomorrow before the second half of our trip - a 3 day ride back to Whitehaven along Hadrian's Cycleway.

Total miles - 61

Elevation - 2973 feet (all in the first 18 miles)

Average speed - 9.3mph

Cake of the day - Minty Magnum 6/10. (Points deducted for not being a cake, but still very satisfying) 

Tracy whinge factor - 5/10. Caffeine deprivation induced grumpiness 

C2C day 2 Penrith to Allenheads

 A hill too far for Tracy!

Today was sponsored by Greggs the bakers - it was right next door to the Travelodge and we got breakfast there and grabbed a picnic lunch before heading back to our room to pack. Our lack of training for this trip meant that we ended up having another nap instead. We finally got on the road about 10am and headed through Penrith and out into the countryside. A few hills took it out of us on route and worryingly they barely registered on the climbing profile for the day on our os map app. Downhills were great though.

View back to Penrith from "not really a hill"

We paused for refreshments on the village green in Langwathby. We lingered a while, delaying the start of the inevitable climb to Hartside top. This was to be the longest climb of the day - in fact Strava informed us that it was our longest climb ever at 1600ft! We passed a short detour that would take us to Long Meg and her daughters - an ancient druid stone circle. On any other day we would obviously be dancing naked around the stones whilst chanting to the elder gods, but today we were on a mission and could not be distracted!

Probably what Tracy will look like after the hills

The climbing began in earnest at Renwick and the farmland made way for the untamed fells. We climbed slowly with frequent stops on the flatter parts to refuel. We finally reached the summit at 1:45, I would like to say we made it look easy, but actually we were both horrible sweaty messes (but no lowest gear!)

Never looks as steep as it feels

Giant penis under construction - the millennials answer to the Victorian folly

Brief stop on a flat(ter) bit

We had our lunch in the carpark at the summit, Tracy wrapped up in many layers as it was pretty cold up there - she looked like a homeless gnome. Apparently the cafe burned down in 2018 - could have done with a coffee. The ice-cream van at the top was not a suitable replacement and finally decided that was it for the day and it left at  2:00pm.

Cake of the day - sponsored by Greggs

Felt like more 

Spectacular views from Hartside top

We lingered far too long at the top chatting with a couple of mountain bikers who had come from Allenheads Inn - our accommodation for this evening. We then chatted with a couple of motorcyclists for a bit. We were definitely going at this point, particularly when an 8 year old came steaming up the off-road route, making it look so easy. We wanted to avoid the embarrassment! Turns out it was an electric bike and his dad arrived on the road route 5 mins later. They're doing the C2C over 4 days. Again stopped for a chat.

We finally started our descent about 2:30, suffering from major cool down, exacerbated by the speed of the downhill, hitting 34mph at some points.

We continued on to Garrigill, where a local dog walker told us where to get food at the barn, where the toilets were and how to get free WiFi at the village hall. She introduced us to George, her black Labrador. He rather rudely didn't share his owners name.

We stopped at the barn - an outdoor cafe for cheese and onion pies, made by Angela the owner and a welcome coffee. We got chatting with a walker who was hiking the Pennine way over 15 days. Again we stayed too long and I've realised that Tracy is just trying to delay the next climb - Flinty Fell, a brutal hill that hits 1 in 4 in some places. She even left her phone there to slow us down even more

The Barn - coffee stops are essential 

Flinty Fell was proper hard. We did end up walking briefly on the steepest section, but the rest of it we rode, but painfully slowly. A family from the Netherlands caught up with us and we spent the next hour or so leapfrogging each other. They are spending 2 weeks riding the way of the roses, the lake district and now C2C. They were also camping - sounds like a challenge too far to us.

Tracy loves the climbing 

Finally we reached the summit and enjoyed the rapid downhill to Nenthead. We were immediately rewarded with another climb and Tracy had run out of people to talk to in order to procrastinate. 

We endured an expletive filled 152m climb to the summit of black hill and the border of Northumberland - a county I don't think that I've visited before. Tracy has had enough of climbing. Luckily we have one more hill climb to do - Killhope law. I rode on ahead to protect my ears from Tracy's venting. 

Climbing - definitely Tracy's favourite thing

Pretty poor advertising campaign by the council - "Northumberland - next to Scotland"

A final and well earned downhill into Allenheads brought us to our accommodation for the night - Allenheads Inn. The building is well over 200 years old, about as different from a modern Travelodge as you can get, and all the better for it. A warm welcome from friendly staff, a couple of beers and a filling dinner before an early night - too tired to do the blog this evening, we plan to get up early to finish it.

Pretty comfortable 4 poster

We had our own little lounge

Total miles : 38 (but challenging!)

Elevation: 5008ft

Average speed: 8mph (for Dan), 7.3mph Tracy

cake of the day: Greggs millionaires shortbread 6/10 - points deducted for lack of cafe and coffee to accompany it 

Tracy whinge factor: 6/10 for being a sweary mary

C2C day 1 Whitehaven to Penrith

 A quick photo at the harbour with the customary rear wheel in the water before starting on our route shortly before 8am.

We had a fantastic first 10 miles gaining height steadily on the old railway line to Kirkland. 

Blue tram markers line the route

Sculptures abound on the old railway

Tracy "That's amazing Gary....Also stupid"

Not like our trip though. Our ride is totally sensible.

Girder lined viewpoints - a nod to the industrial past

Through an old station

Onwards on quiet roads through Lamplugh, where Tracy discovered that her front mudguard had broken. We did a temporary fix with some electrical tape and continued on with an annoying rubbing sound.

Bassett farm - liquorice all sorts waiting for harvest 

We continued through Loweswater and on to High Lorton where the most challenging climb awaited us - a 1 in 5 steepness climb, which, according to the C2C guide, being mostly traffic free "allows for a steady and consistent rhythm to develop". The only steady and consistent part of the climb was the drip of sweat from the end of my nose. Still we both managed it without getting off and walking. - no use of the lowest gear needed. Tracy realised that climbing with full panniers is much harder than going round the Isle of Wight without them. It is also harder if you haven't done any training!

Fantastic views

We continued on through Whinlatter pass, stopping for lunch of soup and coffee at the Ambio cafe in the visitors centre. We also got the cycle shop to remove Tracy's front mudguard before it wore away her tyre.

A fabulous and now quiet downhill to Derwent water and onto Keswick, which contained seemingly the entire Christian population of the UK attending the Keswick ministries convention. Far too busy for us, so we escaped via the Keswick-Threlkeld railway path.

Keswick station - now part of a hotel

A fabulous ride from Keswick 

Another river, another bridge

The tunnel was a highlight

A wonderful smooth riding surface

Another coffee stop at Threlkeld with the first cake of the day. I went with sticky ginger cake which reminded me of being a kid in the 1970s and Tracy went with a raspberry crumble cake.

Tracy's cake ratings 8/10 for the crumble, 6.5 for the ginger cake 

More quiet lanes followed and onto Greystoke, birthplace of Edgar Rice-Burrows character Tarzan.

A gate to protect the quiet lane. Luckily there were 6 of these. Very secure.

Blencathra - final resting place of King Arthur and his knights...

...or it could be this one. Doesn't matter, he didn't exist anyway.

Birthplace of Tarzan. He didn't exist either.

Berrier? I hardly know her! (for Alex)

I stopped to take this picture and turned a corner just in time to see Tracy arise from a ditch covered in stinging nettle rash and seed-burrs. Apparently it's my fault she fell off as she stopped because she wondered where I was. 

A yummy snack apparently 

She took a couple of ibuprofen and put some antiseptic on her injuries and we ate some peanuts. I'm not saying that she ate a seed burr for certain, but there was one in her glove before she necked some peanuts and it wasn't there afterwards. I wondered if it was poisonous - Tracy said that she didn't want to know. That was good, because if they were, I don't want it in my Google search history if she dies.

 We turned off the official route through Newbiggin, under the A66 to Stanton and our Travelodge. A quick shower and a bit of a chill out before meeting up with Louise and Steve. Lovely meal out and a catch up. You wouldn't think that university days were almost 30 years ago.

Daily data

Total miles : 54

Elevation:4454 ft

Av speed: 9 mph

Cake of the day: Raspberry crumble 8/10

Tracy whinge factor: 4/10 after throwing herself in a nettle bush (still not my fault)