Although not an official site, the C2C Guide has been vetted by Sustrans and is designed to be used in conjunction with the official C2C route map. The site was built to act as a resource centre for the C2C (alias ctoc, sea to sea, coast to coast, etc) cycle route in the North of England, primarily to help and advise newcomers to the route. It will hopefully also remind the many ‘veterans’ of the route exactly what it is about the C2C that makes it so enjoyable.

It is now 2010 and the C2C Guide has been up and running since November 2000. Last year we had more than a million page hits. The C2C Guide was built by Dik Stoddart – and has changed and grown somewhat since the first basic pages were uploaded to the net. The site will continue to be improved by adding any relevant new information and route updates etc. as well as any journals, photos or ideas other C2Cers and cyclists offer. I hope you will find it useful when planning your C2C trip or even just find it mildly interesting to browse through. If not, then let me know what you do and don’t like and how you think the site can be improved. I receive an awful lot of feedback from visitors to the site (most of it favorable, thankfully) and am very happy, if a touch surprised, with the number of visitors and complimentary feedback the site has received. To date the site has been featured in the 3 best selling MTB magazines as well as Cycling Plus magazine, The Sunday Times, Ultra Fit magazine as well as well as local radio interviews. Articles, photos and all information are always welcomed, as are suggestions for improvements to the site.

Because of the mainly static nature of the route, a lot of the information contained within The C2C Guide will not require updating very often. This might, at first glance, make the site appear untouched but I do update, add, amend or totally rip out sections of the site on a regular basis. Certain pages will be kept as up to date as possible and updated as and when required whilst other pages will not require any changes for months on end. I will of course keep you all in touch with route updates and alterations as much as I can – unfortunately I cannot ride the route every month so I am dependant on Sustrans and other sources to inform me of the changes – and any other relevant information but as soon as I find something out I will upload it to the site.

Please feel free to recommend interesting diversions or alternative route information (for instance last year I decided to include Kirkoswald in the Coast to Coast book).

Mark’s Bit

I’d like to welcome the founder of Sustrans, John Grimshaw, to the site and to the 2009 book. John and I are jointly writing the Hadrian’s Cycleway section. JG is a real pioneer of cycle routes and a man who has dedicated his life to making people think differently about transport issues. A Cambridge educated engineer, the National Cycle Network was John’s baby and since its earliest days (more than 30 years ago) it has grown into something Britain can be truly proud of.

But back to the C2C: I try and cycle the route twice a year and generally spend a few weeks early in the New Year updating the site, visiting the accommodation providers, pubs and restaurants (a terrible job, as they say, but someone’s got to do it) and making sure that the information is as up to date as possible.

I cannot possibly lay claim to being another Chris Hoy. In fact I am more like the Fat Man on a Bicycle, who did so much for amateur touring back in the late 70s. I, too, understand every pedal stroke of some of those climbs and empathise entirely with those pannier-laden folk who doggedly grind out those tougher sections.

Like Dik, who set this site up, I had a Raleigh Chopper (again, back in the 70s). But it soon gave way to a Holdsworth ‘racer’ which took me to and from school for seven years and nobly served its increasingly rotund master until last year when the rusting frame groaned its last.

My Scott mountain bike has yet to be put through its full paces but 2009 could yet see that happen as I intend to work on the fitness. Cycling is the perfect antidote to the sedentary life I have led for much of my adult life (newspapers in London but more recently travel and food writing).

I live in Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, so am not that far from much of the route. I get regular news updates from Sustrans man David Gray, who with JG built the route. But please feel free to get in touch and update me. Or simply send me accounts of your journey and pictures which I will happily post on our Rogues Gallery section.

Have a great ride.

Mark Porter