# Mine and the boyfriends C2C attempt!



## Misusawa (27 Jul 2013)

The starting point to this story will have to be on Sunday evening... I could start the story earlier but that would be excessive and boring.&nbsp; So the story starts with Myself (Amy) and Camaro packing up our stuff for our epic sea to sea adventure.&nbsp; Between us we packed enough clothes for four days, camping gear, extra shoes, camp stove, cycle repair junk, make up (one has to look presentable) and lots and lots of random junk we thought might be useful...&nbsp; All in all i had an extra 17kg packed onto my bicycle and Camaro had 19kg packed onto his! Once we had packed up, we double checked it and made sure our bikes were ready to roll.

Roll on Monday morning!&nbsp; we woke up early at 6am ish and had breakfast and showers before the big departure.&nbsp; Then we took out bicycles out to the yard where we packed them up with ridiculous amounts of stuff.&nbsp; The first part of the trip was a leisurely ride up to McDonalds, our pick up point by a friend of Camaro&#39;s.&nbsp; Offloading all of our stuff, we just managed to squeeze it all and our two bicycles into the caravette that was our transport over to Whitehaven on the Irish sea.&nbsp; It took us until lunch time to get there, by half twelve we were back set up with bikes loaded with stuff and ready for the first photo&#39;s of the trip.

We reversed our Bicycles down the boat launch so that we had our back wheels in the Irish Sea,
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Now, that is the start point of the 140 mile long C2C route from the west coast to the east coast!!
Look at that clear blue sky as well, it was pushing up to 23C and we had mountains to cycle over O_o

First things first though!&nbsp;&nbsp; Lunch!
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There was no way on earth i was going to cycle thirty odd miles though landscape without that many towns in it unless i had lunch first!&nbsp; Spanish omelette with a side salad and a heap of Camaro&#39;s chips &lt;3 And you can see the bottle of factor 50 sun tan lotion i thoughtfully brought to stop my skin from severely burning!


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Four miles out of Whitehaven we came across this post full of names, It had Amy at the top!!&nbsp;&nbsp; so being an Amy i got a picture with it!!

So, we pressed on into the oppressive heat!&nbsp; the track led uphill for eight or so miles in total!&nbsp; then we came to this magnificent view!
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Camaro had thought i had stopped to take a picture of the milepost, it wasn&#39;t until he turned round that he saw we were coming up to the mountains!

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And me as well, trying not to look overwarm!

So we slogged up to the end of the trail, then hit some roads through some more hills until we reached a pretty village at the crest of a hill, another photo opportunity 

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Camaro found this cute little church alongside a pretty little farm laneway, I on the other hand found

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This archway on the other side of the road, hidden away.

After this point we had a good few miles of quick downhills bringing us to a valley that contained Loweswater.

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Now we were properly in the lakes and would have 40 miles of mountains to cycle across.&nbsp; The views we were seeing on the roadside were getting ever more spectacular here.

Another couple of miles around the corner, there was this magnificent view of Crummock Water
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And the mountains surrounding it.&nbsp; we stopped here to chat to the only other cyclists we saw on this first day who were insane enough to be doing the C2C route.&nbsp; We spotted them again about another five miles down the route, Like ourselves, they were struggling up Winlatter pass. At 1230 feet and a two mile climb, it was a long and tough grind.&nbsp; We pushed up a bit of it, but managed to cycle about two thirds of the hill.&nbsp; There was a forested trail at the top, the route took us through&nbsp; that.&nbsp; We decided to leave it though and head straight downhill on the main road after a while as we didn&#39;t have the correct setup for some of the trails it was on.

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This is Me and Camaro stood by the view of Bassentwaite lake halfway down the east side of Whinlatter pass.&nbsp; It was a long steep and fast descent that we both thoroughly enjoyed, it almost made the climb worthwhile!&nbsp; After that it was just a few short miles to Keswick.&nbsp; Of course, being Amy i picked a camping site that was a mile and a half our from the town, What i hadn&#39;t realised though was that it was also 600 feet higher up!&nbsp; Needless to say Camaro wasn&#39;t the most impressed man in the world when he saw the big steep hill we would have to get up to our finishing spot!.

Naturally i recorded the trip on Strava, so i can share the route with everyone!

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Once we arrived, we set up camp close to a fence at the bottom of the tent field, placed our bicycles in the barn for safe keeping and walked back into Keswick in search of food, booze and water! Keswick itself was heaving, with it being the middle of the high tourism season, it was like being in Newcastle city centre on a saturday night O_o&nbsp; we managed to find an open shop to buy wine and food and water for the next days cycling and a pizza shop for some food.&nbsp; We found an out of the way courtyard with some public seats in to eat in.&nbsp; It was fun lying outside the tent sharing a bottle of wine too, it was oppressive, one of those nights where it just seems to get warmer and more humid as it goes by.

We slept well and woke up on tuesday moring relatively early at six am ish!

I went to get a shower before the camp site woke up and it started getting bust with people looking to use them, then we sat and had some breakfast cooked on a camping stove before we started to pack up our stuff.&nbsp; We put it all back into ouur bags and placed them inside the tent before we went for a walk round and to photograph the view from the site...

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The amazing view was only enhanced by the gathering gloom as a thunderstorm was making its way over the mountains. After taking this, we only just managed to bget back to the tent before it arrived and started chucking it down.&nbsp; Some of the thunder was spectacularly loud!

Once it finished, we went to reclaim our bicycles...&nbsp; Mine had developed a flay tyre, no doubt from a slow puncture, it had been squishy the day before.&nbsp; I got the wheel off but i couldn&#39;t get the tyre off the wheel &not;_&not;
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We tried for a good long while before giving up and having to walk it the mile and a half back down the hill to town..

We took it into&nbsp; small cycle shop and had the young lad in there replace the innertube and equalise the pressure in my wheels.&nbsp; While we were waiting for that, we wandered off for lunch.
So, just after lunch time we were finally under way on our second day, setting out with no idea where we would be staying the night...

We only made it round the corner to the next stopping point...&nbsp; Keswick&#39;s old train station.
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After a few minutes of photography though, we were back en-route we managed several miles of pretty uphillness and a short boardwalk before we re-emerged onto the roadside.&nbsp; It was a long slog round the mountain

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The back roads we take are very hilly! Going further up the hill we came to a sign advertising a cycle cafe in 500 yards!&nbsp; Over another two hills and five miles down the road we finally found it!&nbsp;&nbsp; then cycled past!&nbsp; We did however discover this cute castle...

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We decided that that would be an awsome place to live... Anyway we made the last few miles to Penrith and asked about campsites along the route.&nbsp; We got information about a litle place at Ousby, 4 miles out of our way but it looked the best and easiest to get to.&nbsp; After loading up on provisions and money at the nearby supermarket we headed off cheerfully from the town centre and then were confronted with Fell Bank.&nbsp; A street that was just improbably steep and of course the cycle route went right up the face of it.&nbsp; The view from the road at the brow was magnificent.&nbsp; Then there was another hill followed by a long decent!

After we passed through the village of Langwathsby some hour later, it was spotting with rain, It was very humid and we didn&#39;t mind it.&nbsp; But after we got to the top of the second hill we saw a thunderstorm bearing down on us... We arrived at roughly 7pm at the camping site.&nbsp; We almost took a wrong turn in the rain and missed it.&nbsp; We immediately got to the back of the field and set up our tent almost as far from the road as was possible, Within ten minutes of arrival, we had the tent up, all of our bags off the bikes and chucked in and our bikes locked to a handy tree.&nbsp; We ran into the Fox inn (Ousby) out of the thunderstorm and to a lovely ggreeting by Tim, the manager of the bar.&nbsp; As we came in out of the storm and told him who we were and that we had set up already, he offered us a towel to dry ourselves on, made us coffee and generally was very nice towards us.&nbsp; We stayed in the bar about an hour until the storm began to subside enough to retreat back to our tent.

Here was the strava recording for day 2!

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It was a difficult nights sleep.&nbsp; The storm had spooked the sheep and the cows, they were mooing and baaaing away alternately all night.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny although our tent was still a little damp, our sleeping bags were wet from the storm and our clothings had gotton wet through the pannier bags.&nbsp; The padding and waterproof cover for my DA-pro camera bag kapt my camera and batteries and stuff dry!

We packed up and then too pictures of where we had stayed!

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The fox inn, Great pub, Excellent landlord, very friendly and welcoming!

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The campng site oppositte!&nbsp; Quiet except the animals in neghbouring fields, A lovely stopover.

So we left at about 9am, cycling first 7 miles parralel to the line of the ridge on the pennines we wanted to cross at Hartside pass before we took on the ascent.

We got to our lowest point at 645 feet, just outside of renwick, we found this warning sign!

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So naturally we took that as the start point of what was to be a hellish climb..&nbsp;&nbsp; we knew it was steep and never expected for a moment that we could ride up it, but even though we stopped three or four times on the way up, we cycled right up to the summit 1270 feet and 4 miles away!&nbsp;&nbsp; in just about an hour as well.&nbsp; we were so impressed with ourselves!&nbsp; This was the single biggest climb, but not the highest point!

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We made cracking time downhill from here into the next valley and reached the very bottom of the hill five miles further within fifteen minutes.&nbsp;&nbsp; It just didn&#39;t seem to last long enough  After that, it was an uphill slog most of the way to Gargill, with a surprise decsent just before the village.&nbsp; It was after this village we came to the single steepest hill of the entire C2C route.&nbsp; So steep that we ended up having to push up over half a mile of near vertical hillside, and even then we struggled cycling up the slightly less steep part to the top with frequent breaks.&nbsp; After the summit we came to a descent that had a few warning signs on it, asking people to check their brakes and thinking about walking down as there had been some cycling brake failures up there.&nbsp; Believe me, its not a hill that you want your breaks to fail on...&nbsp;&nbsp; It was so steep that i went down it with my back break on full and still accellerated.

In the village of Nenthead we stopped at the community shop for a pie and a can of relentless (for glucose) before we tackled the next huge hill out of the village leading us up to the next ridgeline which was the actual highest point in the entire trip.&nbsp; 1991 feet and unlike hartside, there was no cafe at the top or a board proclaiming the height, instead it was the cumbria / northumberland border!

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This is where for the first time since day 1 we met some other people as mental as us who were doing the C2C&nbsp; Although the first pair were doing theirs in a day (yeah right) with a support vehicle...&nbsp;&nbsp; and no weight carried... he second pair were taking three days... we let them go in front of us down the hill then followed a few minutes later.

The next hill started after a sharp bend that would have been very easy to miss on the hill if one was going too fast, but the hill after wasn&#39;t so long and hard and led over to a fairly steep downhill to just outside of Allenheads.

We cycled into the village nestled in the top of the valley looking in wonder at the buildings and rural setting here and eventually stopped at a cafe in the village that was open.&nbsp; We ordered a full english breakfast as we were starved.&nbsp; After a late afternoon breakfast we tackled our last killer hill of the day!

Over the ridgetop into county durham and weardale.

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After this point we had a long trip down the hill into weardale past some old abandoned mine workings which we photographed. Then off into Rookhope.&nbsp; We spotted a sign there for The Barington bunkhouse, they had a small green space that we could stick up a tent for the night.&nbsp; We had a drink in the puub next door while we waited for the owner to get back&nbsp; from walking her dog.

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Me with all our crap after we unpacked bikes!

We paid for a tent pitch in the garden and breakfasts then locked up our bikes and put our sleeping bags on a line to dry before we went exploring the village!&nbsp; It was just beautiful with lots of old buildings and a few abandoned ones. We had a pub dinner before retreating to the tent and sleeping...

Day three&#39;s ride is recorded here!

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Day four awoke at 4am with a rock in my side. me and Camaro swapped sides, I was a ghappy girl, i got a couple of hours with no rock!&nbsp; Then the rooster started squalking at 5:30ish and the rain came along.&nbsp; At half six, i gave up and went to put my clothes and make up on, we retreated to the bunkhouse kitchen and started on our very leisurely breakfast 



Yoghurt, orange juice, eggs, toast with jam and oney, fresh bread, cereal and lots of coffee.&nbsp; We chatted with the other people staying when they woke up.

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Thats me in the kitchen!

Once the others woke up, we filtered through into the main bunkhouse room and joined them for a canversation over breakfast.&nbsp; At half eight they all left, we stayed back a while chatting to Valerie the owner and just looking about.&nbsp; The inside is lovely!

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Well laid out and feels fairly spacious in there!

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Heated by an old coal fire stove.

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And the cutest of decorations around the place.

But eventually it became time to leave, we packed up, had our photo&#39;s taken again

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Said a lovely goodbye to Valerie and left on our last day&#39;s cycle, the journey to the north sea and then home!

Up on the hill above Rookhope, it was beautiful...&nbsp; We got this stunning panorama! 

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Then cycled down through Stanhope and up a massive hill on the other side.&nbsp;&nbsp; The road works on the hill didn&#39;t help, but at a 17% gradient we had to push up the bulk of the second half mile.&nbsp; We ambled up the rest of the hill at a shallower incline before getting to the top and declaring that we were on our home ground despite bieng still 30 miles away!

Now up and over the last obsticle in our way, we were free to fair pelt down the hills to the coast!&nbsp; ten miles went by fast and soon we were at Hownsgill viaduct, close to Consett!

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A very high up bridge with a safety fence!

Soon after this we were passing Consett town centre where the construction people were milking a new intersection and still had the asme road blocked off as they did six weeks ago...&nbsp;&nbsp; and they were all sitting smoking rather than working...

We passed that and made way down the Derwent valley towards the cricket club at Swallwell where the cycleway we were on ended at a place that there was no easy way to get a bicycle through the fence &not;_&not;&nbsp; They had set it to make it hard to get a motorbike on the track, but had left cyclists with luggage at a disadvantage.

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Half an hour later, we were relaxing a bit up on the Quayside at newcastle!&nbsp; (well this is the gateshed side)

Another half hour later we went very close to our home and cycled on past and miles further to tynemouth where we harrassed a woman sat on a bench close to the ending sign to make a photo of us!

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But we weren&#39;t happy with this and went to the rowing club where we cycled right to the sea! 

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And thus completed our C2C trip in just four days!!! 

Oh and here is the last day&#39;s Stava data!

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We took overnight stays at :

Castlerigg hall Caravan and camping site.&nbsp;&nbsp; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Castlerigg-Hall-caravan-and-camping-park/438651066223683?fref=ts

Cumbria campsites - The fox inn, Ousby&nbsp; https://www.facebook.com/CumbriaCampsites?fref=ts

Barrington Bunkhouse, Rookhope&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barrington-Bunkhouse/150456008353439?fref=ts

They were all very firendly and welcoming places to stay that i would highly reccomend, Each is very different and they are all a unique experience.

I would like to give a special thanks to Tim, Manager at the Fox in Ousby and Valerie, owner of the barrington bunkhouse.&nbsp; You two helped make it a very special experience for us indeed!! 

All of the photo&#39;s except for the ones with both of us in were taken by myself and Camaro, the others were taken by people we asked with our cameras.


We had a great time and enjoyed it and reccomend this route to anyone who has a moderate fitness level.


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## Misusawa (27 Jul 2013)

Oh of course now i can see that none of my images have shown up... 

This can be viewed better at http://misusawa.livejournal.com/2574.html on livejournal ^^;


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## Pat "5mph" (27 Jul 2013)

Read it on your blog, much better for my old eyes


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## Saluki (27 Jul 2013)

Ditto on the blog thing. I tried to comment but it didn't give me a 'wordpress' id option.
Looks like you had a fab time. Well done.


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## Misusawa (27 Jul 2013)

Pat "5mph" said:


> Read it on your blog, much better for my old eyes


 
^^ yes, its formatted for there rather than here, but i posted it up right across the internet without reformatting LOL



Saluki said:


> Ditto on the blog thing. I tried to comment but it didn't give me a 'wordpress' id option.
> Looks like you had a fab time. Well done.


 
Ohno LOL It doesn't give many login options on livejournal i think.

We had a fab time... we are planning castles and coasts next XD 

As a cycle partner the boyfriend is quite good!


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## Sara_H (27 Jul 2013)

Misusawa said:


> Oh of course now i can see that none of my images have shown up...
> 
> This can be viewed better at http://misusawa.livejournal.com/2574.html on livejournal ^^;


 
Brilliant, thank you for posting - we were going to do C2C this year, but we aren't going to be able to - so I'll live vicariously through you!


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## albion (28 Jul 2013)

Well, I last did that viaduct then they had started on the safety fence.
Sad really, and it look bloody awful.

Good write up and has aided my plans for a a route.
thanks.


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## Misusawa (28 Jul 2013)

albion said:


> Well, I last did that viaduct then they had started on the safety fence.
> Sad really, and it look bloody awful.
> 
> Good write up and has aided my plans for a a route.
> thanks.


 
I must admit, i find it has a serene beauty it its brutality.


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