Girls on Cogs

Day 3:  Tuesday 23^rd March 2010,   Parkhead Station to Tynemouth

Miles completed: 40

Elevation profile:  All downhill!

Weather forecast:  The best so far

Having completed all the remaining climbs before Parkhead, we had a gentle 40 miles ahead of us to the coast, all downhills or flats.  Lovelely!  It was Annie’s birthday today, so we tied some balloons to her bike before setting out over the moors towards Consett, passing steel sculptures dotted along the way in parks, housing estates and on the roadside.  We took Hadrian’s way along the Tyne through Newcastle, all impressed with the route through Newcastle centre, the buildings and bridges lining the route.   We followed the path beside the Tyne, past some nice harbours, some industrial bits and on to  Tynemouth – our final destination.  We had our photo at the signpost, and then headed to Quayside for some beautiful fish and chips.

We had all made it – even enjoyed it (despite some misgivings before the trip),  and beaten the weather!

Happy Birthday Annie  – the coast to coast achieved for your 50^th birthday!

Day 2:  Monday 22^nd March 2010,   Gamblesby to Parkhead Station

Miles completed: 32

Elevation profile:  Best not looked at too closely!

Highest points: Hartside (1903 feet before breakfast!), Nenthead, Allenheads, Rookhope, Parkhead

Weather forecast:  Awful – but improved over previous 2 days from  ‘heavy rain all day’, to showers during the day’ to ‘a band of rain around lunchtime’

The consensus was that as long as it was dry in the morning – we’d give day 2 a go!  Having completed a few extra miles on the first day, we were aiming to tackle all the hills in day 2, in around 30 miles and avoid too much rain if we were lucky.

We had a grey, but dry start from Gamblesby, launching straight into a long, steep ascent up Hartside, but on the promise of a big cooked breakfast at the Hartside café on top!  Having rewarded our climb with eggs, bacon, sausage and much coffee, we felt more able to face the rest of the hard climbs ahead. It was very blustery so no great speeds achieved on the descents, but at least there were some tail-wind gusts giving us the odd push up the climbs.  It was getting very cold though with blustery showers so we planned to stop in Allenheads for some hot refreshments.  Very disappointingly, nothing was open – the visitor centre had a sheltered bench in a porchway, but we were too early for the easter opening.  Sadly, it was a short stop for water, dried mango and flapjacks only.  Boooooo!

Rookhope was a few miles further down the very drizzly road, but as we came into the Village there were lights on at the Rookhope Inn!  Hurrah!   We had pots of hot tea and coffee, a beautiful hot beef baguette and a little warm by the woodfire.  From here, our options to reach the B&B at Parkhead station were around 7 miles along the busy and steep road, or about 5 miles up the rough track across the moor.  We took the moor option – we had to push our bikes up the rocky path and around some quite deep patches of snow, but it was a beautiful route across the moors and the sun was shining.

We spent the night at the renovated and only recently un-snowbounded Parkhead Station, situated in a lovely, but remote spot on the moors.  The owners were very friendly and accommodating and it was a very pleasant evening.

Day 1:  Sunday 21^st March 2010,   Whitehaven to Gamblesby

Miles expected:  40

Miles completed: 63

Punctures: 2 (both H)

Broken frames: 1

Terror rating:  quite high!

C2C challengers:  Annie (the organiser), Debbie (my cousin), Quentin (Debbie’s husband), and of course myself.  For the first day we were also joined by Annie’s son Charlie and Annie’s friend Sue (the proper keen cyclist).

Day 1 saw a group of ethusiastic (well maybe 1 enthusiastic, 1 terrified and the others somewhere in between) individuals ready to embark on the C2C challenge.  Obviously we had all been training very hard for this 3-day cycle route totalling 135 miles – Debbie had done 20 miles in the past week, Quentin 10  miles, and I’d cycled to the pub and back on Friday.  Annie I think had also clocked up a few miles.  So all feeling confident and well prepared!

We arrived into sunny Whitehaven around 10.00am, dipped our tyres in the sea, took some obligatory photos and set off on the C2C bike path.  Almost immediately, Sue discovered her bike was broken – the back fork had rusted through completely – nightmare!! It was quickly taped up and we were back under way.  Then I had a puncture, so after a quick replacement inner tube, we broke a match (to complete the run of 3 things, superstitiously speaking)  and tried again.  We had completed 2.5 miles in around 30 minutes – excellent!!

We followed the path climbing up through Cleator Moor, Kirkland, Lamplugh, Loweswater and High Lorton (great views along the way),  and past Derwent Water to Keswick for a lovely and soup and sandwich lunch at the Theatre Café.  After an hour or so, we were back on the path heading towards Annie’s place at Greystoke, where she runs Quirky workshops and a cycle café – What a brilliant place to have a hot drink and a flapjack!  We still had over an hour of light, so we pushed on towards Gamblesby, a mere 63 miles from the start.

So for 2010, a trip to Paris seems a good idea. Normally, this would be a London-Paris cycle trip, but since we live in Leicester, well we may as well start from Leicester instead…the extra 100 miles could be fun!!

Having rounded up 7 interested cyclists for the trip over Easter, we set about booking the ferry, some cheap accommodation and the Eurostar for return. Top tip: book early for Eurostar, those that left it til 2 months before the trip paid twice as much.

So all that’s left now is a bit of training, as we go in about 2 weeks time….we’ve had a harsh start to 2010 weather wise, some very boozy weekends, (obviously not Helen!) and not enough light for evening rides so who’ll manage to get some training in first?!!!