THE ROBBIT or THERE AND BACK AGAIN
(JOHN & BRIAN CAME TO)

The Intro:
Well you may remember us from last year, John & Robert’s c2c in a day, don’t worry we won’t turn into the Shelton Bikers, this is our last effort…. Or is it?

So this years trip was……………. c2c Whitehaven to Tynemouth then back to Whitehaven via the Reivers all over 4 days! Our new member was Brian our driver of last year, see he had got the bug! We booked all accommodation via recommendations from this site (for c2c) & others for the return. Night 1 was in Garrigill, night 2 Stamfordham, night 3 Hethersgill then home. This was approx 75 miles per day, no problem………..

How to be blasé (or stupid):
Well as expert cyclists we did not need to train, 75 miles a day for 4 days would be easy, but we forced Brian to get nearer to our god like status by going out when ever possible, we cruised along with him on Sundays explaining how fit we were & how he was coming along nicely. Last year we had trained religiously, this year could best be described as lapsed religious training, this was a huge mistake, don’t do it, you do need to have put in some effort or it ceases to be enjoyable!

Sherpas one and all:
The only problem with this plan was luggage! Last year we had a completely stored & mainly useless backup van, this year we would need to carry what we needed, no problem! We approached this task in different ways, Brian chose rear panniers & a change of clothes for every occasion! Slightly disconcerting to see him changing for dinner on the road side, but each to their own! I chose the “no one knows me so I’ll wear everything for 4 days” method, carried what was needed in a handle bar bag on my trusty (oh no it isn’t!) racer. John took the middle ground & put tri bars on his racer & appeared with a huge container strapped to them, it took several hours to prize out of him that it was a vanity case! We carried way too much weight on our handle bars/persons which rattled our bikes to pieces on some of the rough tracks, panniers are the only way! But train with them to get used to the extra weight, another huge mistake we made.

The trip

Day 1
Well 8.00am Friday we hit the road, fully laden bikes are tough to steer, more so when it’s on the handle bars, once you decided to take a corner, you took it! Our first stop was Garrigill, 75 miles, exactly ¼ of the journey! No problem! Actually we did OK, a few rest stops, 11sies at Whinlatter, on to Penrith for high tea, Brian with china teapot (that is not a joke) made us all giggle. The day continued overcast & cool, ideal cycling weather, the views as ever were superb. We all confirmed Whinlatter is far harder than Hartside which Brian made with a few stops & some distracting chat from us!
No problems all day, but if you read us last year you would know that wouldn’t continue! 400 yards from the night stop John “St Francis” Kirkbride attracted a passing dog, it bounded across to meet its hero who rode serenely by but….. between owner, dog & stupid 50 yard lead I had nowhere to go, so again like last year I crashed into the dyke. Picked myself up undamaged, was licked to death by the dog, the owner informed me that a party of cyclists were in town so we should hit the pub quick, in the event we saw no one until the next morning, we continued to our night stop at Garrigill Post Office, very highly recommended, great breakfast.

Day 2: The beginning of the end
Late start, 9am, due to excessive breakfast, made 5 yards before Brian’s first puncture, changed tyre, pump broke in half, second tyre, valve explodes, third tyre, wrong size, a bit of fiddling got it to fit & we were off 1 ½ hours late. By now it was teeming down, we walked up Garrigill hill, this is the worst hill in our opinion, (followed by the hill out of Stanhope, why do the route maps not warn you), down the other side at 1 mph in the downpour, met the group who were in town (presumably hiding) they were on day 3 heading for Consett & seemed a happy, if very damp, bunch.

Without a major detour there were no bike shops selling spares until Consett & we were already zooming through equipment, nightly puncture repairs became the norm! Freezing cold, soaking wet but happy (ish) we continue and made the highest point for a photo, onwards we peddled, John, who has now done this route 3 times decided to go the wrong way & had to trudge up another hill to rejoin us!

After a lot of moaning & groaning we made Parkhead station & the best broth ever, we borrowed most of their equipment for running repairs on our quickly disintegrating bikes!
400 yards on John has a puncture, fixed it, 800 yards on John has a puncture, fixed it! We were beginning to get demoralised by now but at least the sun came out. Phoned the B&B in Stamfordham to say we may be a bit late, possibly 7 O’clock, it turned out to be 9.30!

Rowlands Gill & the Derwent walk were very pretty but the trip to Tynemouth was very dull, gangs of marauding youths made our trip nerve wracking & the miles dragged on & on, another disaster saw Brian fall off over a pavement edge & smash his watch, please take care in this area, broken glass & general hazards are everywhere. Finally we hit the sign for the Reivers route, as this is a c2c site I’ll stop the detail here, but as ever the c2c was great! We had done all bar 3 miles in a day and ¾ s, considering the lack of work, not too bad!

The End: Day 2 evening, Day 3 & Day 4
Well ……………. How to be tactful? ………….No that’s not like me, tell it as it is.
The Reivers route was awful, mountain bikes only! Please ensure everyone realise's that. We did it on racers & suffered. The signposts are hard to follow in many places, several have disappeared, the tracks are dull & endless at the start, lots of marauding youth to worry you, lovely if you like cycling on mine workings and slag heaps.

Keilder is very pretty but the “Good Quality Forestry Track” is far from it, and I ride forestry tracks regularly! As before mountain bikes only! Also try to avoid a day when motor bikes are likely to scream by at 100mph on any road you happen to be on approaching Keilder & you seem to be on most, the route meanders aimlessly for hours, minor roads are available in many places but for some reason the route veers off on similar roads for miles! It had now decided to be unbearably hot, we were hot, burnt, weary & thoroughly brassed off.

The route past Carlisle was endless, we missed our turning in Carlisle, but being local headed home OK, found the route again & eventually abandoned it in favour of a more direct & equally safe route, we rejoined at Bassenthwaite & headed thankfully home.

Debriefing
To try to be positive, the views were great, the accommodation at Stamfordham (Church House) & Heathersgill (New Pallyards) were fantastic & a lot of work had obviously gone into mapping out the route.

To return to my Hobbit analogy, if the c2c was the trip to Rivendell, a few problems, hills & lack of food, Black Riders in Tyneside, but OK & a happy ending, then the Reivers was the Journey through Mordor! Ash, Fumes, Evil Orks at every turn, lost and relying on luck to proceed, the forces of darkness all around us! Home was the only thought keeping us going & while Frodo lost his finger, our bikes are still being rebuilt, various vibration injuries will probably plague them and us for ever.

The Conclusion
The c2c is a superb route, we should have gone there & back on that! The Reivers is only for mountain bikes & needs to be straightened considerably, this could be done without harming the route itself! We may try the Hadrian’s Way instead in the future!

We weren’t quite fit enough, our fault, the weather didn’t help, cold, wet, blowing a gale, then next day, boiling hot, but we are in Northern England so its to be expected, the main problem was a route that appeared to lack direction, it went down tracks because they were there, not because it was the most sensible route!

And next?
Well John has retired! I think he will return in a few weeks, but not for another epic, the Reivers did for him! Brian is talking of continuing at least as a keep fit method. Me, well I planned to do the Lands End – John O’Groats next year but this experience has left me seriously doubting its feasibility! Give it time! See you next year!