Steve, Dan, Bryn and Rory’s C2C Challenge
Words and Photos by Steve Underhill

Following our previous years adventure on the Celtic Trail (West) we decided to have a bash at this. One of our number, Roger, having become so broken in Wales, refused my invitation to take part! Thanks Bryn for joining us this year.

WEAPONS
Bryn: GT Zascar mountain bike. Its light, expensive, lots of good XTR bits, bit 'lean forward' and uncompromising in the saddle department (my view) for the long trip, but rider is really cycle hardened. No problems except for the rider fell off executing slow turns waiting for the others at the top of a hill (ha ha!). He chose to bring this bike instead of an old Raleigh.

Dan: SCOTT hybrid bike, brand new for this trip after he suffered on a borrowed Apollo last year. 24 speed, 700 wheels/tyres, sprung saddle post and comfy forks. It refused to go into the low front cog after day one, so he pushed a bit. It got a puncture in the last mile of the trip.

Steve: Clapped out Raleigh mountain bike circa 1990. Rebuilt many times. Huge 23” frame towers over everything. Heavy as hell. Fitted with huge gel comfort saddle and Post Modern cushty post, 21 speeds and Hutchinson puncture proof slicks. Bottom Bracket failed at end of second day giving huge amount of lateral play. Left the Stumpjumper at home in favour of comfort.

Rory: Old, but little used, Raleigh mountain bike. Handlebars changed. Heavy, and only 18 gears and no triggers to shift em. Knobbly tyres. The left a good tri bike behind for a stronger, less damageable bike, He pushed a lot too after becoming ill.

Monday 22nd Sept 2003 - Day One
7am: Meet up and depart. Plough up the M6 in lashing rain. Rory claims to be ill (nothing new and we ignore him). Faithful VW Passat loaded to the gills with kit and bikes. Dan’s Sister, Sarah has been enlisted as support driver and will follow us along the route in the car. This avoids having to carry kit on the bike and means more enjoyment of the ride as well as spares backup and a mobile larder.

1.30pm: Whitehaven. Rain has stopped. Unload car. Let battle commence.

1.31pm: Lost already in Whitehaven town.

1.50pm: Lost again on huge housing estate on the outskirts of Whitehaven directed by helpful local onto the route.

1.55pm: Locate old railway line. Follow to Rowrah. Rory stops to urinate for the first of about 500 times on the trip.

2.40pm: On road to Whinlatter. Navigation straightforward. Have fun running through standing water and spraying the bloke on the bike behind.

3.40pm: Whinlatter pass. My chain comes off and GT Zascar man streaks off into the distance reaches the top and cycles back down to see where the rest of us could have got to sporting a big (psychological advantage) grin.

4.05pm: Into the forest. Deep mud around the tree felling going on around the C2C track. Have to lift/drag bikes across logs left across the path. There is a nasty low anti vehicle barrier just before the track meets the road again. If you were speeding, downhill in low light conditions. Ouch!

4.10pm: Downhill, past visitor centre, to Braithwaite and into Keswick. Stop at Booth’s Supermarket to buy food.

5pm: Derwent Water Youth Hostel. End of day one. 34 Miles cycled that day. Eat masses of food before exploring the fantastic waterfall that runs down the back of the hostel grounds.

Day Two
Up at 7.30am: Huge Breakfast. It’s really cold outside but dry and fine.

8.20am: Set off into Keswick and rejoin C2C route and find the railway line round the back of the leisure centre. Cycle out of Keswick towards Penrith. Take turns open and closing the many gates that block the track. Average speed falling below 10mph. Its warming up now and the feeling is returning to my hands. We decide not to visit Castlerigg stones as we are falling behind time.

10.05am: Head off the track that runs along the A66 and towards Mungrisdale Village. We are confronted by a heard of cows on the narrow lane being driven along by a farmer in a Land Rover. On meeting the bikes the cows stop and refuse to proceed. The Farmer has a real sense of humour failure and shouts and bawls at us despite the fact we are entitled to be where we are and are doing nothing more than cycling along. Eventually he looses it big time and it becomes impossible for us not to wind him up a little. All the people we have met so far have been friendly and helpful, but this bloke is a loon. Eventually the cow’s pass by and a good exchange of views take place with Farmer Palmer (VIZ Comic). I respect the fact the locals live here and try earn a living out of the place, but some folks are just plain rude.

10.25am: Mungrisdale Village. The temperature has warmed now. Shed some clothing. Average, in the saddle, speed building up again now to over 11mph

12.15pm: Safeway’s café in Penrith. Huge lunch of Fish and Chips, Mars bars, bananas and lucozaid. Drink two pots of hot, sweet tea as well. Bottom bracket on my bike has noticeable amount of play in it. I start to worry a bit. It makes peddling uphill difficult. I leave the front block on the centre ring for the rest of the trip so I have a seven speed bike now.

1.20pm: Steep climb out of Penrith town, regret eating those extra chips. Downhill to Langwathby. Then on to Renwick. These photos taken at Little Salkeld.

2.20pm: Take detour to Long Meg Stone Circle. Take some photo’s and enjoy the warm autumn sun for a bit.

2.50pm: Begin ascent of Hartside Pass. Rory begins to struggle and fall behind. Climb up the pass and the temperature falls rapidly.

3.35pm: Reach the café at the top. Drink huge amount of tea and eat a large slab of chocolate flapjack

4pm: Great downhill run to Alston, Speed to over 40mph. I am passed by motorbikes doing three times that speed.

4.25pm: Sat outside Alston Youth Hostel waiting for it to open. Go into town and buy food. 47 Miles cycled that day. It’s a lot colder in Alston but still no rain yet.

6pm to 10.30pm: We attempt to tighten the bearings on the bracket on my bike. It’s seized solid. It will have to do as it is. Have powernap and then a huge feed. Take in some beer at a local pub and sleep very well. Loads of other c2c’ers at the hostel. Rory complains of feeling most unwell in the morning and talks of quitting. The rest of us feel OK.

Day Three
9am: leave Alston and rejoin C2C route. The map gives little clue of what lies ahead. We have two plans for today. If all goes well we will go for the finish at Sunderland. If not we will stop at Edmundbyers. Rory Struggles from the start. Bryn is turning circles in the road between Alston and Garrigill waiting for him when he looses control and disappears into a ditch. Huge laughter. I clock 43mph going downhill into Garrigill. This will be the highest of the trip.

10am – 11am: Huge unrelenting climb out of Garrigill up Dowgang Hush. Its not even marked as a hill on the Sustrans map! Low gear for miles. We are really working hard. Glad I saved something in reserve from the previous days. If it’s all like this then we are not going to finish today. We have to wait ages for Rory to catch up. He and Dan are off the bikes and pushing now. Having reached the top, a high speed descent into Nenthead, is followed by another punishing climb. I look to explore the possible off road route to the top of Black Hill but it is really rough and steep. I return to the road and we climb out of Nenthead towards Allenheads (This is the highest point on the route and where Cumbria passes into Northumbria) The countryside is wilderness all around. The run down into Allenheads is good fun and we make up time.

11.30am: Stop for tea break at Allenheads post office, now renamed broken man post office, as Rory slumps on floor and again talks of quitting. I am really enjoying it. My legs are still strong and the bottom bracket on the bike has not got any worse.

11.45am: Climb out of Allenheads to the Durham Border. I decide to play with action shots on the camera!

12.15pm. The 100 mile mark. Between Stanhope and Rookhope for us as we detoured to Derwent and Alston off of the mapped route.

1.15pm: Rookhope. Have huge fish and chip meal with bread and two big pots of tea. Leave café feeling stuffed. Cycle out of town and am immediately faced with massive climb up towards Edmundbyers and the Waskerly Way. This was the low point of the trip. Rory was moaning and Dan was saying nothing. I started to pedal. I was forced to risk the bracket by changing down. I had stomach cramp from all the food I had just eaten. I had to stop half way up for a pee and a drink. Bryn was already almost at the top. The others were close to the bottom and were pushing. I was determined not to push for the whole trip. I got a pace and a rhythm. I managed to get a signal on my micro FM radio and just concentrated to listening to Steve Wright and ignoring the pain and fatigue. We had a long wait at the top for Dan and Rory. I started to get cold and shiver.

3pm: On to the Waskerly Way. How things change! We have a big tailwind which propels us down the cinder track at over 25mph for mile after mile. As we descend it gets warmer too.

3.35pm: Hownsgill Viaduct outside Consett. Route splits to Newcastle/Sunderland. Cycle through a park before entering the old Consett/Sunderland Rail path. This becomes gradually more boring and tedious as the miles increase. The first section around Stanley is on the top of an embankment and the view is not half bad but this soon gives way to a cutting that just seems to go on and on forever. It is made worse by the constant need to dismount to pass through anti vehicle barriers. No Photo’s here as there’s nothing worth snapping! Rory struggling again.

5pm: Meet up with Sarah and the car just before the A1M. Eat remaining Mars Bars and take a drink. 10 Miles left. Soon after restarting we leave the godforsaken railway line behind and sight the river Wear at Washington. We cycle through a public park and the surroundings become nicer.

The last miles follow the path along the Wear past the Stadium of Light and on towards Sunderland Marina and then suddenly its all over. We turn a corner and find ourselves at Roker Pier. Its 5.50pm and the clock has recorded 140.39 miles since Whitehaven. Dan and Rory arrive about 10 minutes later. Dan’s back tyre is flat (Puncture).

Things that went right for us

We had good weather with no rain and moderate winds.

We pre booked our accommodation using youth hostels to keep the cost down and so you can cook your own massive evening meals and breakfasts. It’s amazing how much food you eat on this trip.

A camelback is useful. I drank the content of mine twice each day (2 x 1 and 1/2 litres). I carried ‘Boots’ brand isotonic powder, dry, in the frame bottle to add to the water.

I had a bad weather plan using the car to pick us up if the rains came. It would deposit us back at the same point when the rain stopped. We did 67 miles on day three in nine hours with stops. If you are in a group and are all pretty fit with no kit, this is OK on a good weather day. I can’t suggest a reason to plan to do any more, unless you do the whole thing in one hit as some others on the submission site have done.

I had a backup plan to stop at Edmundbyers YHA and make a four day trip out of it of the going was too hard, or we fell behind due to bad weather.

The car carried all our overnight kit and most spares. Cycling in the pouring rain or with a heavy load on the bike or one’s back is less enjoyable. It is cheaper to take a car than pay four train fares.

We did it all on road. The off road sections I looked at were all extremely rough and usually steep. A good strong mountain bike with good strong wheels and good gears would, in my view, be essential for anyone wishing to venture off road.

Things that went wrong

Not much really.

Rory was ill with some sort of virus that affected his stamina. A shame, because although he finished, he suffered a lot.

I should have taken time and spent some dough fixing my bike up better for the trip. I have had to replace the old BSA type Raleigh Bottom Bracket with a Shimano cartridge. It took an airgun to get the remains of the old one out. If I knew they only cost £12 and are easy to fit I would have done it ages ago. The back wheel bearings were also junk and I have since brought a new Mavic wheel and Shimano quick release hub.

The Sustrans maps are good as they are printed on waterproof paper. Shame that the wicked climb out of Garrigill was not marked or referred to! I will view an OS map beforehand next time.

700 wheels and tyres are OK but Dan got a puncture at the end. I would recommend slime in the tubes or tyre tape to prevent punctures. We carried spare tubes, patches, a spanner and a pump with us.

It was cold at times, despite the great summer of 2003. It was really cold the morning we left Derwent Water and cold at the top of the passes. If we went again I would go 2 or so weeks earlier.

Crud catchers would help if it rains. On last years Celtic trail it did rain all one afternoon and the front wheel throws up spray off the road that is blinding