Thinking about doing one of these, the tim woodcock one is 200 miles and 24K ft of climbs the pedal north is 240 miles and 30K ft of climbs, I rekon 4 days for the shorter or 5/6 for the longer. has anyone done one or both, and any tips or recommendations on route deviations for a better ride. what im trying to minimise in the moorland bog slogs, was going to try unsupported and use yha but would take a bivvy as well.

We did the Tim Woodcock route this summer, we being me (a mountain biker) and 5 others, 1 of which actually does anything similar.

We took 5 days and, in all honesty, it was too short. I think if I had been on my own, or with a few guys as fit/experienced, we could have just about done without 12 hour days in the saddle, but the reality was we had very long days, only just making it on a couple of nights.

If you’re going to do it, I’d recommend taking your time a bit, particularly through the lakes as the scenery is incredible and the going is hard. There are a couple of road days in the middle where you can make up substantial time though.

We broke the days up:

St Bee’s – Eskdale (good)
Eskdale – Shap (waaaaaaay too long)
Shap – Grinton Lodge/Reeth (don’t stay in the Black Bull)
Grinton – Chop Gate (easy morning, tough afternoon)
Chop Gate – Robin Hood’s Bay (took direct route as potential mutiny was afoot)

Being stuck on a moor at 22:30 with 2 mechanicals, a bonkee and no distinguishable path was not fun.

We carried everything ourselves, though the others packed a bit heavy and sent stuff home from Shap.

I’d can’t recommend the New Ing Lodge in Shap enough, btw. Wonderful food and really great hosts with nice dogs.

It was fun, and I’d do it again, but with some more experienced riders.

I did the pedal north c2c this summer – to be honest I found it pretty un-rewarding; nasty climbs up loose slate, followed by straight down a gully, or fire-road descents.

I stayed at Dales mountain-bike centre and the owner Stuart said that a lot of people who stayed and were doing the pedal north c2c said they regretted it, which I thought was pretty telling.

+ Dales mountain bike centre really worth a stay – top place and Stuart is a top bloke.

We did the Tim woodcock one in April over 3 days the 1st day in the lakes was way two much st bees-Kirkby Stephen there’s lots of walking bits that day a long one 8.30-10.30,the next day was fine Kirkby Stephen to the edge of the moors 65 miles that was 10.30-5 with a stop in Richmond for a hour,the last day across the moors was crazy head wind so that made it hard but not a bad day,I want to do it again but with a better route across the lakes with less walking.

Many moons ago did it over 6 days, sleeping at: Eskdale, Windermere, Keld, Osmotherly and Glaisdale. Reasonable schedule and beer every night.

I did the pedal North in April. I found the start was great over walna scar over to kendal.

We carried all our kit and bivvi’d at night. We found the route always went through a town as the original riders were sleeping in B&Bs etc. This meant that we did extra bits that we didn’t need to.

We changed bits as we went along. We did the roman Road bit in the middle and stayed just above Aysgarth falls.

The middle section around scotch corner was dull, we just stayed on the road rather than going over grassy bridleways.

We enjoyed Dalby forest fully kitted out, we got some strange looks.

We actually ended in rhb. We went down the old train track from Ravenscar.

The route is designed to be done over 6 days staying in B&Bs. Doing it over 5 days carrying all our kit was hard going and we were all in fairly good shape.

many thanks for this, interesting what was said about the pedal north route, and maybe i shouldn’t underestimate the time taken to do it, especially as the days get shorter. Thanks

done the woodcock route a few times, in 3 1/2 days each time bivvying with all our gear. first time solo & navigating off a dodgy printed map and second time with a few mates following a gps route (thank god!). it’s hard going, but if you enjoy a challenge very rewarding. quite a bit of hike-a-bike in the lakes but made up by cracking views and hairy descents 🙂 dales is easy mileage, and NY moors make a really nice blast over to robin hoods bay

usually camp in boot campsite (pub next door), mosedale cottage bothy (route goes right past it just before drop to shap), and osmotherley campsite for the chippy. there’s a bunk house in st bees (lakeland camping barns i think) which is cheap and good if you arrive the evening before you plan to ride

i get the train to st bees and back from whitby which makes it pretty easy to DIY it without a support crew, but if you weren’t too interested in carrying gear you could try the rat race c2c version too although it’s pretty pricey imo/not my cup of tea

i’d be keen to take lights this time of year too – i wouldn’t want to be stuck out on the moors in the dark

Yes, don’t underestimate the extra time needed to navigate if using a map.

VERY good point! If I were to do it again I’d definitely want a decent GPS, it would just make life so much easier.

I love maps, but carrying 6-7 OS maps and constantly swapping was a ballache.

Thanks for those pointers gazc, yes I’ll definatley be using the garmin, plan to solo ride so every little bit helps.

I photocopied my maps. Highlighted the route and laminated them. Stuck the map I was using to my dry bag on my handle bars.

I took me a while to prepare but helped me get my head around the route before hand and was easier than messing with large maps in the rain.