Coast to coast off road

AR-CoolC

Retrobike Rider
As with the title, anyone done it?

On a bored Sunday evening last night I was idley perusing the internet and googled coast to coast where of course loads of hits came back.

Routes seem to be Workington - Sunderland, or Workington - Whitby.

What others are there? has anyone plotted one? how long does it take? what did you use as support etc.

Just an interesting thought for something to do next summer maybe at the minute.

Hit me!
 
I've done 2 up here, Fort william to Inverness via the Great Glen (80miles) (2 day with B&B) and Ardgay to Ullapool (40miles) stayed at youth hostle then returned the following day - which was far better.

Both were good but the Great Glen Ride was the better cycling experience even though it was on fireroad type surfaces. We cycled one way and used a transfer service to get us back to the cars in Ft William.

We carried all our gear on both runs, wasn't too bad. I used a single Altura Dry line Pannier and it worked very well. Although the only water test came from falling in a deep puddle as opposed to the normal rain test.

There is a 4/5 day offroad coast to coast up here that takes you from Fort William to Montrose - it's on my to do list.
 
I've done the Sustrans C2C in the middle of winter 2004 and an off road version from Whitehaven to Scarborough a couple of summer's ago in 2009.

The winter version took 3 days with a support vehicle carrying our overnight gear and spares. We stayed at B&Bs for that one.
The summer ride was longer and took 4 days unsupported again staying at B&Bs/YHA. We carried very little, restricting ourselves to a small rucksack (15 litres) and a saddle bag (2.5 litres) each.

Loads of route options once you get a map out. I can't recommend multi day rides and tours highly enough. Love 'em.
 
BITD did St Bees head to Whitehaven following the classic Wainright route as much as we could, did it with paniers and a tent.
 
That's just up the coast. I presume you meant to type Whitby. :D

I did St Bees to Robins Hoods Bay back in the mid 90's, with two mates, one of whom I had never cycled with before and he turned out to be problematically slow. We used the route shown in MBUK back then. We planned to go up Scafell Pike too, but were beaten back by foul weather. We did it in April, which being all soft southerners we thought it would be lovely and sunny...cue me shouldering the bike and fighting through waste deep snow on the climb from Kirkby Stephen to Tan Hill.

I remember getting a round in, in an inn in Kirkby Stephen
"That'll be £3.06 please."
"How much???"
"Aye, sorry, we've 'ad to put us prices up"
"No, I was expecting at least £6"

No support, just a carrier mountable rucksack each, stopping in Youth Hostels and my In Laws B&B

Route was St Bees to Buttermere, Buttermere to Town End (near Ambleside/windermere), over via Shap to Kirkby Stephen then to Grinton Lodge, Richmond, Ingleby Arncliffe, moors over to Whitby/Robin Hoods (that bit was mainly road as time was running out, shame to waste the moortops)
 
Tim Woodcock's St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay is the classic English one. 210 miles, so not exactly the most direct route -- it goes out of its way to include interesting stuff :) The guide splits it into seven days, which is probably enough for most people -- some days are quite stout...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coast-coast-Mou ... =pd_cp_b_1

The Sustrans route is 140 miles and somewhat more benign in terms of trails.
 
Thanks for the links and info so far peeps. It certainly gives me more to look through.

I've also wondered about a shorter (2 day?) route from say north to south Devon, or something like that to get me ready for the biggy.

As I say it's no more than an idle thought at the moment, but I like targets to keep me motivated :LOL:
 
drystonepaul":1rshpw3v said:
an off road version from Whitehaven to Scarborough a couple of summer's ago in 2009.
.

Any chance you still have details of the route you took? This one would be really convenient for me!
 
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