A new website has been launched for the ever popular Coast to Coast (C2C) cycling route across northern England. Experienced cycle authors Mike Carden and Richard Peace have created the Ultimate C2C Guide to offer up-to-date information on the C2C cycle route from Whitehaven/Workington to Tynemouth/Sunderland.
Mike lives in the central Lake District and close to the 147-mile C2C route as it passes through Cockermouth. In the months after Storm Desmond in December 2015, he witnessed the devastation as roads and railways were washed away and lives turned upside-down.
He also realised how badly the C2C cycle route had been affected and that many potential cyclists were not arriving to do to the route because they thought it would be closed after a major bridge on a traffic-free section of the route (leading out of Keswick) was destroyed.
By early 2016, the area had started to bounce back as businesses reopened and diversion transport links were put in place, including those along the C2C.
Mike decided he’d like to promote the C2C with renewed vigour and he got in touch with his friend Richard, author of The Ultimate C2C Guide Book to help him.
Tradition has it that you dip the rear wheel of your bike into the sea before setting off on the C2C.
Brand new C2C website
The new website features detailed news updates such as this one about the route out of Keswick via the wonderful Castlerigg stone circle and offers updated rides along the new route links. There are also updated posts about how Cockermouth (also affected by Storm Desmond) has reopened for business and cycling – and about the reopening of the Whinlatter to Braithwaite road and a new Lorton to Whinlatter route.
In the long-term, the site will also act as an updating resource for the many services en route, pointing out opportunities for sleeping, eating and drinking along the way and with many feature articles on different aspects of route riding and route planning.
For example, a recent post makes suggestions for strategically placed group accommodation. Many C2C riders are in large groups, often riding for charity.
I cycled the C2C with my friend Jo.
More about the C2C
Established in 1994, the C2C cycle route is still acclaimed as the UK’s most popular long distance cycle route. Passing through the heart of the Lake District and over the Northern Pennines, it is classed by the founders Sustrans as “challenging” but still features many high quality, tarmac traffic-free sections and is generally very well signed.
It has spawned many similar coast to coast bike routes across the north of England and also one in Scotland, the Scottish C2C, which I have written about.
Buy a C2C Guide.