Cycling the c2c

My journey to Whitehaven on 21 June 2023 nearly ended in Carlisle when my last train got cancelled as I was going through the Lake District. The next alternative was way too late to consider and I was even thinking of cycling to Whitehaven. Fortunately the original train was rescheduled back at a later time and I managed to get to my B&B at around 21:30. While I was waiting for the train I took a quick spin around Carlisle to keep warm. As I cycled from Whitehaven train station to the B&B I got the first taste of what was to come tomorrow weather-wise. Nothing good that was.

I stayed the night at the Corner House B&B which was fantastic. It is run by a family and there are even bike specific facilities. At breakfast I met a couple from London who was also about to cycle the C2C. Strangely enough, they were excited about the prospect of spending the next two days being wet. We had a quick chat on various cycling-related topics and then I left the B&B at around 8:30 which was later than I planned. I cycled back to town in order to meet the official cycling C2C route start. The Whitehaven marina was empty as it was raining and thus I began my journey in complete solitude at 9 am. It was around 14 degrees C that day, which meant that as long as i kept going I was reasonably warm. I was wearing a summer jersey on top of a base layer, cargo bibs and a rain jacket. I also had a pair of oversocks and a windbreaker. I didn't take anything warm. As soon as I departed I began regretting not taking any gloves. Later in the day I regretted not taking a lot more.

After about 15 minutes I caught up with a couple of cyclists and stuck behind them as we passed hundreds of runners on a narrow pathway - apparently some local running event was taking place. Once they were out of the way I was able to relax a bit and began appreciating the surroundings.

To be honest I felt a bit stressed out. I kept thinking that I was just about to pack whatever I did back in February over the course of 7 days in just one. Ok, to be fair the cycling variant is 30% shorter than the walking one, but still. Add to that the late start, the not so good weather outlook and the somewhat inappropriate outfit. It just occurred to me that I might have to bite the bullet and pull out at some point. The only mental comfort was that I had a clear plan, which was going to follow:

By the time I reached the first proper climb (Whinlatter Pass at 300m) things were looking up. I got used to the drizzle more or less. I was wet but warm, I had plenty of food and water and I was making reasonable progress according to my plan. Things could have been a lot worse. The descent from Whinlatter Pass was fun and I reached Keswick (40k) in no time. There I had my first proper brake at a tearoom and as I was riding through town the corner of my eye caught a sight of a cycling shop. I hit the breaks, dismounted and went in hoping to find some warm gloves. Once inside I was informed that it was actually the middle of the summer season and I was a bit too early or a bit too late with my request. I figured that having fingerless gloves would still be better than nothing and bought a pair.

I reached Penrith (75k) at around 1pm and stopped for a break at a Costa Coffee. My progress was a bit slow but I wasn't particularly worried as there was still about 8 hours of daylight remaining. The climb up Hartside Pass was OK and in retrospective it wasn't the hardest one. Going down from Hartside summit was probably the highlight of the day. In must have been about 10k of really fast but almost relaxed riding, absorbing the incredible views and feeling the morale meter jumping back to the top.

All the villages that I went through that day seemed almost dead. I actually had trouble finding something to eat during the 100-140k stretch except a pub in Allenheads, where I met a group of bikepackers doing the C2C.

I reached Stanhope (140k) at around 5:30pm and found a nice-looking food truck next to a pub. While I was going through a pile of excellent haloumi fries I had time to think. I had the final 250m climb before landing on the 50k home stretch. The weather seemed ok, the bike was in good condition and my own state was still far from disastrous. It was at this point that I booked the Holiday Inn in Sunderland for the night. I left Stanhope full of confidence at 6pm. My good spirits evaporated very quickly as I began the last climb. I suddenly felt how tired I was. I ate too much cheese. It wasn't particularly hard, but it definitely was the peak of my struggle that day.

And then I was on my way to Sunderland. I decided not to follow the Waskerley Way and stick to tarmac for as long as possible, but at some point I found myself on a gravel track which I then had to follow for quite some time. My memory is a bit hazy from that point onwards (the last 40k). It started raining hard and it wouldn't stop until the afternoon of the next day. It was all or nothing at that point. I couldn't afford any more breaks as I would probably just freeze to death. My only option was to keep going. I remember that at some point I slipped and fell in the mud, mostly out of tiredness, but it didn't really feel like a big deal at the time.

The last 10k or so felt endless and really frustrating as it was getting dark, I was constantly getting lost, running into construction sites and road closures - all the while my goal was right before my eyes. Eventually I found my way to the south bank of river Wear and rolled into the Holiday Inn at 9:30pm. I quickly checked in, had a celebratory pint and a huge pizza at the lobby bar and finally collapsed on the bed.