Coast to Coast bike ride
We all had a pretty good sleep last night, apart from Claire who'd had one drink too many and kept waking up apparently. We had another good breakfast along with the other guest at the B&B who was a lone traveller from Ireland called Ann. Ann was not just a lone traveller, but was also a bit lonely, and was missing her dog who was staying with her daughter. Apparently she even shed a tear or two over the dog, although I was completely oblivious to this as I still had food on my plate.
We managed to escape the breakfast chat and were on the way for about 10am, but only after Claire had insisted on the resident dog (Olly) being let into the courtyard for a fuss. The Hill started within about half a mile of leaving, and was quite possibly the worst hill of the trip. The experience wasn't helped by a number of things. The defibrillator part way up, the man taking his daughter for a stroll who commented that we were nowhere near the top and the worst was yet to come, and the squaddie running uphill carrying what looked like his own weight in a rucksack without breaking sweat. Our still aching legs were also a big hindrance and I have to confess that we did have to push our bikes up the steep sections.
When we reached what we thought was the highest point we were quite distraught to see the road snaking away up even more hill into the distance. However, there was an unexpected surprise part way up the extra hill, when the blue C2C sign directed us right onto a well surfaced fine gravel flat track. This was the start of the Waskerley Way, and the end of our suffering as it was the start of the long predominantly downhill 35 miles or so to Sunderland.
It was lovely to be able to cycle along with minimal effort, with no cars to worry about, admiring the views. Claire had now discovered her top gear (unusable prior to Dave the legendary mechanic's assistance) and shot off into the distance. Matt and I had a more leisurely ride and a chat so Claire had to keep waiting for us to catch up.
Most of today's route was off road on good cycle tracks. From Consett to Sunderland there was a disused railway line on and off for most of the way. Some of the signs must have been put up by the Coast to Coast apprentice as they seemed to be in the wrong order and sometimes not there at all, but we managed to find our way. We spotted one bloke who was dressed in a grey tracksuit and was messing around on his phone with his back to us. We were expecting him to flash at us as we passed him, but he didn't so he must have just been catching Pokemon. Shame really as we had time to spare and were ready to spring into action.
We stopped at a water bird centre about 9 miles from the finish and had something to eat before the final few miles to the coast. The last few miles were along the riverside and were a nice ending to the ride, although the final section along the seafront was about the most hazardous of the whole trip with children, dogs, and fishermen and their rods all over the place.
We finally rolled up to the official end point, a sculpture thing with a hole in to see the lighthouse through. A man nearby offered to take a group photo, and then we made our way across the beach to the waters edge and persuaded a lady to take another group photo of us all dipping our front wheels in the sea.
We turned up at the B&B, The Chaise, at about 3.30pm to find that our rooms were ready. The Chaise is not quite as homely as the other B&Bs, it's more of a typical seaside B&B. It's clean and has hot showers though which is all we really need. Claire and I are in a room for 4 and Matt is in a room for 5 so we have plenty of space.
We headed out at 4.30pm to the local bars (which took a bit of finding). The first one was packed out and OK, whilst the second one is practically deserted but much nicer so we have stayed for a second drink whilst deliberating whether to have Indian or Italian for dinner.
Overall, last night's B&B (The Red Lodge in Stanhope) was probably the overall best for general setting, accommodation, welcoming host, breakfast and site dog. The B&Bs in Whitehaven and Penrith were almost on a par (although getting rid of the seagulls in Whitehaven would make a big difference).
We can't fault Trailbrakes for their services. The accommodation has been much better than we expected, and our luggage has arrived long before us every day. Hopefully our taxi back to the west coast will be just as efficient tomorrow morning.
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