Just got back from doing the c22, Whitehaven to Sunderland over the BH
weekend.
Awesome time! 8 of us aged 45-50 plus one lady did the 135 miles in 3 days.
Drove up from London to Whitehaven on Friday, set off on Friday morning
with bags being ferried between hotels by a Stanley based Taxi firm.
Day 1 Whitehaven to Penrith
Morning ride to Keswick mixed weather but mainly dry and cloudy - good
cycling weather. Nice gentle up hill for most of the morning then a
confidence boosting easily accomplished climb up Whinlatter. Uneventful
until
we got to Braithwaite where there is a detour away from the main route for
forestry reasons. The detour takes you down a very long and steep road
decent into the village - part way down our of our party suffered complete
brake failure (cable operated discs) and arrived at the sharp left had turn
along the stone cottage lined street at (guess) 40 mph, he chose a nice
looking cottage door and crashed into it. Fortunately (miraculously??) apart
from torn clothes and bumps/scrapes no major damage to rider or bike. No
real explanation of the failure other than possibly over cooking the pads by
braking (investigation revealed the at the last service the LBS had put
Raleigh pads in shimano discs brakes, we replaced with Shimano in Keswick
and
continued.)
The sensible 6 in the party then plodded on to Penrith via the main route.
The Mountain Men went over the old coach road - they did enjoy it but
described it as a ball breaker on the way up and a bike breaker on the way
down. Personally getting the pick of the rooms and first shower was a better
option! Superb Guest house in Penrith Acorn GH, right on the c2c route as
you come off the track onto the road into Penrith. £20pp and worth a lot
more! http://www.acorn-guesthouse.co.uk/index.htm. Bags were waiting -
result! Can't recommend the taxi firm
http://www.stanleytaxis.co.uk/index.htm too highly. All arrangements worked
like clockwork!
Day 2 Penrith to Allenheads
Ah well, the good weather could not last. Driving rain & cycling into a
headwind for the climb up Hartside. Score? Grumpy Old Gits and One Lady
Nine, Hartside Nil! We all cycled the whole way up (some with more drinks
stops than others!) and passed many far younger guys puffing wearily up
pushing their bikes. Got to the top wet, cold, knackered and hungry. Never
has
a cafe been more welcome. Bowl of soup and then out again. Bugger! where has
the world gone? Who packed it with cotton wool. Yep. Real pea souper fog.
Onward in close convoy.
Uneventful until the steep decent into Nanthead where I had an explosive
front wheel puncture at 30mph. Managed to stop safely. Puzzled to find the
damage was a 2cm rip on the inside of the tube. Gaffer tape over the
offending spoke hols and a new
tube got us on our way again.
Climb out of Nanthead had some of us pushing a few
of the steepest sections then on to Allenheads. Stayed at the Bunkhouse -
bunk beds @ £18pp incl breakfast. Great value. Got there mid afternoon and
enjoyed the wonderful sun!
Great pub in Allenheads - only one! - we had had to order our evening meals
months in advance when booking, so we were a tad nervous about likely
quality
as the menu was basic pub fare. No need to worry though. Great homemade
lasagne, and bread and Butter pudding just like my mum used to make - all
light and fluffy. With some trepidation - given the need to order in
advance - we asked about cheese and biscuits. "I'll see what I can find" was
the reply. We ordered 4 portions blind. A few minutes later appeared
handmade oat cakes and enough
cheese to feed an army - Award winning mature stilton and Organic cheddar
from Mull, plus a bottle of LBV port. Result!!
Day 3 Allenheads to Sunderland
Steep wake up call out of Allenheads in the rain then on to Rookhope for the
first mistake. We decided to avoid the off road route and took the
alternative road route, not realising that this committed us to the toughest
two hills of the whole weekend. Lord were they steep. Would have been better
to accept the one steep hill and mud of the off road bit. But we got there
in the end, then on to Park head to tea and cake then onward and downward
via magnificent gravely descents to Consett and on the Sunderland all in
blazing sunshine hence we are now all sporting Bikers Burn as we had all
packed our suntan lotion in our cases, as clearly we were no going to get
any sun at all. Mini bus with luggage waiting at 4pm to take us back to
Whitehaven then cars to Lancaster overnight then back here early this
morning.
Consensus was that the last day was actually the toughest of the lot given
the long distance and the two b*stard hills.
pk