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| Coast to Coast U3A Bike Ride - Whitehaven to Sunderland
This was a bike trip with my local U3A cycling group in which we were hoping to cycle coast to coast, from Whitehaven in the west to Sunderland in the east. The group, all regulars on our weekly local rides, comprised myself, Len Fergusson, Stan Harris, Rob Scott, Peter Tichener, David and Liz Horner, Stewart Wagstaffe, Aaron Whittaker, Geoff Brown, John Bunten and Paul Ashwell. The trip had been organised by John Bunten but he didn't want to have to do the navigation as well so I had agreed to do that. On the Monday I picked up Len and with the bikes in the back of the Golf we left Ware at 9.10. After driving up the A1 for a couple of hours we pulled in to a café for a cup of tea. There was no-one else in the place but just a couple of minutes after we'd sat down who should walk in but David and Liz. Amazing, eh. They'd left Ware at about the same time as us, taken the same route and felt like a drink at exactly the same time and here we all were.
As Len and I carried on up the A1 it began to rain quite hard. We stopped for lunch at Scotch Corner services then headed west on the A66. Our trip coincided with the Appleby Horse Fair, an annual knees-up for the Traveller community, and at one point we saw three horse-drawn caravans plodding along towards us, holding back a long line of traffic. This stretch of road was only a single carriageway in each direction and it seemed crazy to have horse-drawn traffic causing such a blockage on a main A-road. Nonetheless it was traffic coming the other way which was suffering the obstruction and we were able to keep rolling along and arrived at Whitehaven at 4.30. The others all arrived at pretty much the same time too. John had found a place where we could park the cars free, about a mile out of town. It was the garden of some Sustrans enthusiast who just asked for a charity contribution which of course we were happy to pay.
We unloaded the bikes and rode into town, to the Waverley Hotel where we were staying - a large place, ok but with a slightly seen-better-days air to it. There was only keg beer available there but we had a couple of pints and a meal in the hotel restaurant - quorn spaghetti Bolognese & garlic bread for me, followed by blackberry crumble and ice cream. After that we had a wander round Whitehaven and checked out where to start from. 10/6/14 Whitehaven to Threlkeld It was a slow start as we seemed to end up waiting around for Paul and Geoff till after 9.30. Still they finally turned up and we all went down to the sea front to dip our wheels in the sea and get the group photos done. We set off at 9.52 on National Cycle Route 71 and were soon on a traffic-free cycleway which rose at a nice easy gradient for 11 miles. So gradual it didn't seem like hard work at all. After only about a mile or so it started raining so we stopped under a bridge and put on our waterproof stuff. It rained quite hard at times and went on for most of the morning.
At about the 22 mile mark we started climbing up the Whinlatter Pass. This was preceded by a 'Route 71 Diversion' which we foolishly followed and which then went up a near vertical ascent. I gave up and pushed after a while and only Len managed to ride to the top - well done, Len! He also kept going up the next demanding bit and didn't push at all. All in all I pushed on 2 stretches and the others all pushed on 2 or more bits.
On the approaches to the Whinlatter Pass there was a right turn for Route 71 onto a rough-looking forestry track which I didn't fancy at all as I was on a road bike not a mountain bike. As I was the navigator, however, I was able to lead the wild bunch forward instead, taking the much nicer tarmac-ed B-road. Aaron, Stan and Paul, who were trailing behind a bit, did take the forest route when they reached the turn-off some minutes later and got a bit muddy doing so. The main group got to the top of the pass ok and we had a bit of lunch at the visitor centre café there - soup and a roll and a nice strawberry cake for me.
Back on the road we had an easy and fast downhill charge to Braithwaite followed by a very nice stretch to Keswick, made all the better by the fact that the rain had stopped and the sun was now shining. We stopped at Keswick for a look round as we had plenty of time and it was there that the missing trio eventually turned up. I think Stan was a bit annoyed at being left by the main bunch, abandoned as it were, but he got over it. After an ice-cream and a wander round we got ready to leave only for Stan to find he had a puncture - our first mechanical problem. He fixed it easily enough though and we rode on to Threlkeld along a disused railway line, nice and easy after the demanding Whinlatter ascent. Paul, an independent soul, diverted to go and see the stone circle nearby - it was a hilly diversion, he said later.
We reached Threlkeld and waited for Stuart and Rob who had disappeared. They turned up in a while, having been delayed by Rob's chain breaking. Very versatile he fixed it with someone's spare spring link and rivet remover.
We stayed at the Horse and Farrier pub which was a lot nicer than the previous night's Waverley Hotel. The meal was fairly average though - vegetable lasagne and garlic bread plus apple and gooseberry crumble and ice-cream. Couldn't taste any gooseberry. GPS Stats: 37.8 miles 33.1 mph max 7.4 mph ave (moving) 5347 ft ascent 1115 ft max elevation (Whinlatter Pass) 11/6/14 Threlkeld to Nenthead We got away from Threlkeld reasonably promptly at about 9.15 and the initial climb out of the village felt quite hard with cold muscles and a big breakfast lying heavily on the stomach. Still it was forecast to be dry and sunny which was all to the good - and indeed that's how the day turned out.
We got to Penrith and stopped for a while for Rob to get a new chain for his bike. The mechanic tested it and it kept jumping cogs so Rob ended up getting a new cassette as well, while the rest of us had tea and a cake at a café. There was a climb out of Penrith then some good downhill stretches, some of them quite fast - too fast as it turned out for Rob, who failed to take a sharp bend and came off his bike into a hedge, picking up some grazes and hurting his shoulder. Being Rob though he didn't make a fuss and was able to carry on ok. Today as yesterday Aaron brought up the rear, struggling a tad on the hills.
The group strung out and at one point the lagging group was so far behind they couldn't see us and took a wrong turn. At Renwick most of us were still together, however, and the big climb of the day began, the ascent of Hartside - 1200 ft of ascent over 4 miles. As it turned out this wasn't as bad as I'd thought as the distance covered made the gradient bearable. Len forged ahead and got to the top first with me trailing in second, then David and Liz - we four being the only ones to make it to the top without pushing.
Happily at the top of this 4-mile climb there's a fine cafe with great views back towards the way we had come so once we'd made it we were able to have tea and cake and more tea whilst waiting for the others to arrive. They rolled in one by one, Peter being the last, about an hour and ten minutes after me. He looked done in and Rob, although still smiling as usual, also looked pretty spent. I suppose we all did to some extent.
There were great views at the top though, and the cafe was kept busy with a steady trickle of other cyclists, bikers and motorists stopping off there. After leaving the café it was quite cold, due to the height probably, but we then had a fine and fast descent. We made it to Alston and around this time Stuart discovered that one of his cleats had fallen out. He pressed on undaunted and at last, hot, sweaty and smelly, we arrived at Nenthead where fortunately there was a bike shop still open (it was nearly 5.30) and Stuart was able to get recleated. The B&B, Cherry Tree Cottages, was a bit further along - uphill, of course - but we got there and got settled in, given tea by the slightly eccentric owner, Hellen (short, blonde, 60-70, stocky, with a Geordie accent).
We ate in the nearby Miners Arms where there were two beers: Blencathra (3.3 sg) and Golden Hen (4.1 sg). The Blencathra was awful and I left half of it - it wasn't off but felt watered and hardly tasted of anything. The Golden Hen was better but still a bit watery. The soup was only warm and the halloumi and sweet peppers, though nice tasting at first, was swimming in oil - far too much of it. The raspberry, vanilla and bourbon 'torte' for pudding was ok-ish. There were a lot of midges around at Nenthead but I didn't get bitten. GPS Stats - unfortunately I didn't start it going until we'd done 10 miles by the bike computer: 49.2 miles (including the 10 not recorded) 33.7 mph max 6.8 mph ave (moving) 4514 ft ascent 1935 ft max elevation (although Hartside café sign says 1903 ft) 12/6/14 Nenthead to Sunderland A fine, sunny day. Hellen, assisted in the kitchen by her friend, Hazel, laid on a fair breakfast and we were away by 9.00. Immediately on leaving Nenthead there was a steep climb up to the highest point on the national cycle network, Black Hill (609 metres). It was hard going but I successfully slogged my way to the top.
There was some downhill riding then followed by another even more demanding hill at the border between Cumbria and Northumberland. Once again I gasped my way to the top and was rewarded with some nice downhill stuff before a further hard climb out of Allenheads.
Next we rolled in to Stanhope, however, where after a fortifying cup of tea and a cake we had to tackle the last monster climb of the trip. What a nightmare that was! It was one hill too far for me anyway and I eventually got off and pushed but Len the Mountain King made it to the top as did David, Paul and, brilliantly, Liz. It was a colossal improvement on her old standard when she would get off for Bengeo hill. She'd bought a new bike for the trip and had been training in the gym but I was very impressed - well done her.
Anyway after that it was 35 miles all downhill to Sunderland, along a traffic-free cycleway. Very nice and at times we were doing a steady 22 mph - too much for Aaron who got left behind, despite it being downhill, and decided to finish at his own speed. The main group got to Sunderland at 16.20, dipped our wheels in the sea and had the group photo.
We then waited for Aaron and when he turned up we drove back to Whitehaven. Aaron was over half an hour behind and missed out on a group photo because the driver had been waiting since 14.00, was getting grumpy and wanted to go. Aaron dipped his wheels in the sea, loaded up and we set off at about 17.10.
The driver really hammered along as fast as he could go, despite the knackered old van vibrating horribly at speeds over 40 mph and despite the trailer with 12 bikes on it swinging wildly from side to side round the bends. It was risky driving but we got to Whitehaven safe and sound at about 20.10. Len and I booked ourselves in to the Waverley again for convenience - a couple of the others were staying there too. GPS Stats - unfortunately I messed the GPS up a bit but: 36.9 mph max 17.0 mph ave (moving) 2621 ft ascent 2024 ft max elevation 55 miles according to the bike computer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
