Decided I want to try and achieve something worthwhile on a bike rather than just becoming a complete and utter trail God.

Thinking next year I would like a stab at the C2C on the best route for mountain bikes.

Any route tips / experiences / photos very welcome.

I’m not wanting to do an event so will be self supported.

The classic Whitehave to Tynemouth or Sunderland is a nice ride but not really mountain biking. I’ve done it a couple of time on a cross bike. You could probably make it more technical if you wanted by picking your route through the lakes etc.

I believe the classic route for mountain bikes is Whitehave to Whitby. I’ve always been put off because of the logistical faff. Neither the start or finish are particularly easy to get to. They are not hard as such but it would add a day at each end for most people if you rely on public transport.

In true STW fashion I’ll ignore the question and give my own suggestion. HAve you considered the Sandstone way? It is logistically much easier. Park in Newcastle, Train to Berwick, Ride to Hexham then train or ride back to Newcastle. The route is good and there is some proper mountain biking in there. I mistakenly thought it was like the C2C and attempted it in a day on the CX bike (inc. riding hexham to Newcastle). It turned into a bit of an epic adventure arriving back in the dark even though we ducked out of a couple of offroad sections to speed up progress. Really nice route too.

there’s a book by Tim Woodcock as a guide for doing the C2C on mountain bikes. Someone gave it to me…..I’m from st bees (the start of the walking route)….but have done neither the walk or ride! The guide looks good though from what I know of the Lakes part of it.

Book is still available on Amazon.

I’ve done the Tim Woodcock a couple of times. It’s a must do route travelling through 3 parks and watching the scenery change.

I did a GPS of it – there is one bit of the walking route that is bog-hell and I removed that the second time.

Let me know if you want it.

Cheers all, some goods info.

Was looking at the Tim Woodcock route and that bog part was putting me off so something with a diversion would be most welcome rone.

Thanks