Hi,

A group of us have decided to do a Coast to Coast off road trip next year. I realise there are several websites dedicated to this but I’d like to hear your experiences, suggestions & advice, things like..

How many days riding? We’re short of time but is 3 days riding going to make it too hard to be enjoyable?

Supported or not? We’re thinking of staying in B&Bs and carrying minimal gear in panniers. Is this practical?

How to get back to the start? Recommend a bus service please!

… And any other ideas you have.

Thanks.

Are you doing the Woodcocks Route?

Tahks Chew – hadn’t even heard of the Woodcocks route. Now I know about that I’ll search the net for more info.

Looks quite a tough route!

We did Woodcocks route over 6 days, making it relatively leisurely. Doing it in 4 days would be pretty tough IMO, though depends how fit you are. It’s a great route, much more fun than the shorter options like the Sustrans, etc.

We opted to use a baggage company to transfer bags from YH/B&Bs every day which I’d really recommend as you’ll enjoy the riding far more than with panniers. We also found a company that will transfer your vehicle from St Bees to Robin Hoods bay so it’s waiting for you when you finish. A lot easier than the alternatives of getting the train / bus back to St Bees at the end.

It’s one of the best weeks I’ve ever spent on a bike..

We opted to use a baggage company to transfer bags

What sort of money are you looking at for that sort of service?

OH and I were idly considering doing something similar next summer, and we were wondering about this.

did the C2C last year, was an “experience”
would probably do it again.

expect to take longer than anticipated, even more so if the weather is anything other than ideal.
expect to push a lot through the lakes. we went up black sail pass, it was a case of push, carry and drag the bike up
expect to be knackered toward the end of the week
have two people who know how to navigate!
everyone should be of similar fitness and technical ability. i’d been off the bike for a few months, so was a bit rusty on the technical stuff, whereas i climbed the hills no problem.
carry spares! food, water, clothes, tools etc
have a back-up plan for weather, injuries.

ask grahamH for our maps….

You wont do Woodcocks route in 3 days and enjoy it, unless your uber fit or dont mind doing 12+ hour days.

We did it this year in 4.5 days, and that was about 8ish hours out on the bike. Reasonable pace without racing across.

The weather was key. Dry trails made the going fast and easy, so i’d recomend going June/July time so you dont get caught in the rain or have a nightmare drying to ride through the bogs.

Also dont underestimate riding day back to back, for you or the bike. 230 miles which may be a couple of months riding condenced into a few days for some.

We travelled light and carried all of our gear. Bit heavier, but felt like more of an adventure self supporting, rather than using a van. This the van charges £7-8 per bag drop, and you are limited to where you stop overnight.

Getting to the start is easy, as there’s a train to St Bees, but comming back from Robin Hoods isnt. Either you’ll need to be picked up, or cycle another 20 miles to either Scarborough or Whitby.

Highly recomend it though, the best bike adventure i’ve had yet.

What sort of money are you looking at for that sort of service?

Can’t remember the exact figure, but I seem to remember we used 2 big bags between 6 of us. Think it was about £70 in total for the week.. We had no issue about them taking the bags to any accomodation we chose.

Moving the car cost a bit more, I think about £150. Worth every penny though.

Dug the links out of my email.

We used these guys for the car transfer (looks like it’s gone up £25) and this lot for the baggage.

Drop me an email if you want any more info. I think I’ve got the Woodcock route on pdf somewhere too.

Hi Ben

Would be great to see that route PDF if you can find it?

Also, can you remember the names / places of the accommodation you used, and whether you would recommend it?

4.5 Day route;

Day 1: Train to St Bees – Eskdale YHA (quite nice, recommended)
Day 2: Eskdale to Troutbeck YHA (recently renovated, highly recommeded)
Day 3: Troutbeck to Kirkby Stephen YHA (bit of a dump, avoid if you can)
Day 4: Kirkby Stephen to Dales MTB Centre (Stuart has the best cakes in Swaledale)
Day 5: Reeth to Robin Hoods Bay

All of the places are within a mile of the Woodcocks route, and have good food either on site or within a 5 min walk.

Route from here
http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/products/5462-coast-to-coast-mountain-bike-route-pack
Although its a bit vaugue at times.

Also if your terrible at reading maps you can tag along with Stuart
http://www.dalesmountainbiking.co.uk/coast-to-coast/

Tried to do it in three days but only got as far as Glaisdale 25 miles short @ 9pm @ night.
You are only as fast as your slowest rider. 😕
Pics here which should give you a good idea of the ride(Woodcocks)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nzrich/sets/72157624943948623/
Aviod carrying to much kit but have plenty of spares spread the load ideal bike would be a hardtail trust me 😉
We parked in York then got the train to St Bees via Durham£34 (4 hrs) ish
and on the way back train from Scarborough to York £12 (45 mins)
Enjoy!

Are we nearly there yet! by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Walna scar Rd by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Rich

Done Woodcock over five days (the route Chew describes), but we had a WAGs in support mode (not necessarily the cheapest option!); not easy, but not killing ourselves either. Also did a northern C2C over 4 days, doing Whitehaven-Sunderland; easier to get back from and shorter, but last day=old railway line, so not fully off-road. First day was Black Sail Pass/Wasdale/Sty Head/Langdale, overnight Ambleside YHA, then Troutbeck/High Street, overnight Penrith, third day Cross Fell/Garrigill/Coldberry, overnight Stanhope, last day (numbty ridin’) Waskerley Way to Roker Pier. We did that route because of time constraints, though – we’d finished the last day (50 miles of easy riding) by early afternoon, so could get back home asap.

Just do Ullapool to Bonar bridge, Nice days ride

So, the first days ride from St Bees to Ambleside looks like an absolute swine. Wanna prey for good weather for a start!
Carrying the bike uphill is a given, but I’ve read that most of the downhill is also a carrying job? Is this the case? Seems a shame to exert all that energy for limited downhill fun.