140 miles – 224 k – 3 days
 Whitehaven.
Crap town but great people !! Very friendly and helpful, I’m impressed.
Fish & chips with Chris & Jo at the harbour. Feel kind of abandoned
when they drive off, Whitehaven is a bit of a dump, Fee’s not feeling too good
and I guess we’re nervous about the trip and want to be on our way…
We dip our wheels into the Irish Sea, have a laugh when we nearly
can’t make
it back up the incline because the bikes are heavy, then off to the first B&B.
I’m relieved we don’t have to share with anyone else as Fee said it sometimes
happens!
We decide to walk back into town, first bit of exercise for Fiona
after what we call the Hong Kong virus (in fact a terrible terrible
cold !). We buy food
in a little shop and walk back to the room to dunk Hob Nobs in tea and watch
football in bed. We learn that the Rangers, our hockey team, have asked Maddy
to play : Helen and Paul are at a wedding and we’re doing the C2C. Oops.
Great weather, we can’t wait to get started after breakfast. Easy
riding up above Loweswater lake, great views, the first Fell pony
of our trip gives Fee
a kiss and tries to eat the paniers ! Up Whinlatter pass and Fiona gets a fever
rush on the first big hill. I could fill up my bottle with the water dripping
from her face and find it a bit worrying. We decide to stay on the road all
the way to Keswick. I start thinking about lunch.
Keswick is a great looking town, with loads of climbing and outdoor
shops, we have lunch at the Lakeland Pedlar, veggie cafe and bike
shop we found on
the C2C website. Fee looks a lot better and says she’s not fighting fit but
will be fine. I think she’s doing great and wonder how fast we’d be going if
she wasn’t still recovering from the Hong Kong plague !
After lunch we carry on towards Penrith, beautiful countryside (I
say beautiful a hell of a lot !) and great farm smells along the
way. It’s a long day with
a lot of distance and by the time we get there I’m only thinking of Deep Heat
and Hob Nobs in tea!
I love the B&B ! We collapse on the beds for a bit and get a lovely picture
text from Jo and a call from Chris, except I can’t really talk to him because
my brain’s dead. He says he’s chuffed with us though and that brings some energy
back!
We have a shower and head to the pub for a couple of beers and a basket of
chips. Back to the room and it takes me 5 seconds to fall asleep after the
Deep Heat session.
 Big
Hills Day !! This is my favourite day because I love hills which I am told
makes me a sad individual. Fee’s nickname is now Little Mountain Goat. We are
on Granny gear for most of the day.
We climb out of Penrith, great warm-up straight after the best breakfast of
the trip (for me). Fee says she used to be able to have a full breakfast, plus
cereals, plus toast and jam, and I think she is a pig but then do exactly that
! An hour into our ride and I am ready for food again.
We go off road near Renwick, beautiful but steep and Fee can’t keep her front
wheel down because of the paniers. We don’t want to have to push so decide
we won’t do the off road bit going up Hartside but will stay on the road. We
reach Hartside summit, big view, windy, loads of bikers, we stop for 2 cups
of tea and flapjacks. I have now decided that Flapjacks and Hob Nobs are the
greatest food in the world and will not waste money on Isostar bars anymore.
Our beloved captain Sue is sending us a text because we are missing
the hockey game against the Rottweilers. Maddy’s playing, our beloved coach Andy says
he doesn’t care if we don’t come back because Mads can easily replace us both!
Going down Hartside we break the speed record established in Shepshed!!
Overall speed record for this trip will be 41 mph/65.6k, we can’t go too fast because
we have weight on the bikes and don’t want to crash before Sunderland. At 1
o’clock we have a big thought for the Rangers who have just started the game
!!!
Outstanding views and beautiful landscapes along the climbs of Garrigill,
Nenthead and Black Hill which is the highest point of the C2C. From
up there we try
to text Sue and Mads for the Rangers’ game result but we can’t get a signal.
I am having the time of my life on granny gear, meditate on the hills,
decide I want to become a mountain-biking shepherd, and ask funny
things, like is
the beautiful rock fence that’s been going on for miles man-made ? Fee makes
me laugh and I can’t breathe and she reaches the top of the hill first !!
Spooky B&B in Allenheads, the Old School House, which is really an old
school, huge, with plenty of doors and no locks on any of them. We have a great
evening in the only pub in town, huge dinner, we play pool and darts with Phil
the barman and the Scottish psychopath. I tell Phil we’re going to say he’s
really crap at pool on the C2C web site.
We nearly walk out of Allenheads and then into a field after the
pub because it is so dark ! Want to ring Chris because after a few
drinks the B&B is
very very spooky and we’re convinced we’ll get murdered. Fee spends the night
with the first aid kit scissors under her pillow and she goes to the loo without
telling me (because I am blind as a bat and would be no help at all in case
of an attack she says.) I am not impressed but glad to wake up in one piece
the next morning.
 We
meet Chris outside of Allenheads and it is great to see him and
tell him about our spooky night ! He takes a couple of pics and
then we’re on our way, and I feel a bit sad because we’re leaving
the mountains and isolated roads and heading for the coast and
industrial areas…
Major road outside of Stanhope
that seems to be going up forever. I say I wonder what there
is behind that hill, Fee’s
leading and soon announces that behind that hill is another $#*@&%$
hill !
Finally we reach the Waskerly way and start going
down on a fast track. We stop about halfway and have Hob Nobs and
comment on the cloud of pollution we can see ahead of us that signals
the coast and industrial towns and the end of the trip: I want
to turn around and go back to the mountains !
Near Stanley we get a bit
lost but hook up with local bikers and they ride with us for
quite a bit. We’re very grateful
because we don’t really want to get lost so close to Sunderland.
We’re 20 miles to the finish. The last 20 I find quite annoying,
because it is Sunday and a lot of people are riding or walking
the path and the NCN fences are a bit of a pain, we have to stop
and get off the bikes every time and can’t get into a nice rhythm… Through
Beamish on the path we see the metal cows and horses that are part
of the NCN artwork.
We can see the sea !! I start
thinking about the finish and get a flat 3 miles from the harbour.
My first and only
**** of the entire trip, and I nearly throw the bike in the ditch
! Soon we’re riding past the stadium and into the Marina and down
to the beach and Chris is there to welcome us with hugs and champagne.
We have the best support team ever!!
We dip our wheels in the North Sea and have a big
Team Kiwi hug! I am dead proud of us. Surprise surprise we are
starving. We get home and have Chinese, the Rangers have drawn
1-1, I go to bed and dream about flapjacks and big hills !
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