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Right, seems like 4 days should be enough.
What about places to stay. Thinking about carrying limited gear, so 4 overnight stops required with beer/cider, food and bike friendly accommodation.
Any advice?
Which coast to coast?
Which route ?
Wainwright I suppose. St Bees to Robin Hood Bay
Are there alternatives?
Did Whitehaven to Sunderland back in Nov in two days. Stopped in the Premier Inn (whitehaven) the night before -c2c friendly (you can take bikes in the rooms) and a pub on site.
The yha in Alston is excellent. Great breakfast. C2c friendly with secure bike storage/drying room etc. Couple of pubs 2 mins away.
Can't help re other 2 nights I'm afraid.
Thanks Squin
We did coast to coast with tents and slept behind a pub after getting royally sh*tfaced with the patron. He got our beer money we got a place to sleep. Can't remember where , a nice pub right in the middle of the coast to coast , where the houses had a lower floor where they could take in animals and survive and avoid the Scottish raids. If that helps?
Edit: Haltwhistle ,The black bull!
Off road or tarmac?
Off road as much as possible
Loads of info around on the c2c
http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/
I did the way of the roses last year over 3 days 170 miles
Making note of the Black Bull...
We did a 300km off road c2c, St bees to robin hoods bay a few years back, slightly longer than usual due to connecting good single track/cafes/pubs. Give me a nudge tomorrow and I'll dig out the gpx file if you like.
Will do Honeybadgerx
Did Woodcocks/Wainwrights St Bees-RHB many years ago so not sure what has changed. 4 days as follows with transport support. St Bees-Boot, Boot-Shap, Shap - Osmotherly(ouch), Osmotherley-RHB. 4 days is doable but we made error of not balancing the mileage out each day, Should had done more first day instead of silly mileage/terrain on day 3!
Edit: Haltwhistle ,The black bull!
Haltwhistle would be on the Hadrian's cycleway. Nice enough route, but more of a road route. You definitely won;t pass it on the way to Robin Hoods Bay.
The regular C2C route from St Bees/Whitehaven to Sunderland/Tynemouth has a bit more grandeur I think. A few more off-road sections. But still definitely not an off-road route if you're looking for proper mountain biking. Worth doing though. Normally done over 2 or 3 days.
Don't know a lot about the Robin Hoods Bay route myself. So comment on that.
Grasmere YHA first night long day 12 hrs
Dales mtb Centre in Reeth 2nd day
Finish in Robin Hoods Bay
Jobs a good un
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/albums/72157624943948623
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4126/5042189659_75ece07369_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4126/5042189659_75ece07369_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/8Fyxjt ]bogtrotting coast to coast![/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/ ]Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr
Yes read the hadrians cycleway route . Fantastic trip
Boblo and I did the Woodcock route bike-packing.
It was pretty epic even in near perfect conditions.
We camped all but one night where we stayed in a hostel.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/BikepackingfromStBeestoWhitby
A different take on the Woodcock route - http://bikemagic.com/features/rich-rothwells-coast-to-coast-ride.html#wGLPtlUJJfjL8Z8O.97 but apparently it's been done in under 24hrs!
Some years ago my wife and a friend did a C2C, Ravenglass to Whitby that appeared in MBR. Took them four days with stops in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cray (the pub there is shut ATM or might have just reopened) and Osmotherley.
Honeybadgerx, gpx please
Can second the Dales MTB Centre near Reeth. Friendly, cheap, clean and a shortish walk from several pubs.
Doing the Way of the Roses later this year for charidee. 3 days planned with most of the people cycling novices.
Did Woodcock route last summer with some chums.
Did it in 5 days:
Eskdale YHA (recommended)
Shap Hostel - New Ing Lodge (highly recommended!)
Reeth, Black Bull Hotel (avoid at all costs)
Chop Gate, Maltkiln House B&B (highly recommended!)
The one thing I'd do differently is take a GPS, as well as maps, it just makes navigation quicker. All those 2 minutes stopping to check the map add up over the day.
Don't rush it, there are some amazing views and places to stop along the way.
Andy, sorry just had chance to send it across! Let me know if the gpx file works ok, I had a bit of a falling out with Garmin Basecamp.
Our trip was a 'holiday' with my better half, so we took five days, rather than making it an out and out challenge as such. Our route also does quite a big indirect 'U' shape through the north yorks moors to pick up some good riding/pubs, so you could cut it short there.
Accommodation wise, we stayed in the Britannia Inn in Elterwater the first night, Bollam Cottage B&B in Kirkby Stephen (super bike friendly), Northfield House B&B near Northallerton (random, but friendly and cheap), and finally Sevenford House B&B in Rosedale. Some of these were a bit on the 'posher' side, but as I say, it was a holiday for us, there's plenty of other options.