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| Tue, 07 Sep 2010 Karl, Rae and Matt (all Sale Brass members) charity ride in aid BLISS (the charity for premature babies). C2C is the official name for the part of the National Cycle network that goes from Whitehaven to Sunderland - it had other names during the 5 days in which we travelled it ! Starting in the traditional way of dipping our back wheels in the sea at Whitehaven we set off on a rainy Friday morning, destination Roker Pier, Sunderland. A nice easy start, conserve energy I told myself as Matt shot off into the distance. Much as I love the Lake District and the scenery, Whinlatter Pass gave us the first serious test and yes I was off the bike and walking on the first day but what a great downhill through the forest to our first overnight stay near Keswick. Day 2 proved to be relatively easy, the sun shone, fantastic scenery beneath the slopes of Skiddaw and Blencathra, and Penrith arrived without too much pain. We always knew that Day 3 would be tough but I didn't factor in gale force winds and driving rain, still at the start of the climb to Hartside I told Matt and Rae if they wanted to go faster then just wait in the cafe at the top - which is exactly what Matt did, then had to wait 1/2 hour for Rae and I to catch up. Rae managed to cycle nearly all the way to the top before she too joined me in walking - the first time during the ride that she had to walk. A fast downhill but the weather was making things tricky but then guess what - another massive hill to climb ( they really didn't look this big on the map ! ) Another big climb out of Garrigill was the last of the day which we all ended up walking the majority of and then about 5 minutes to come down the other side into Nenthead for our overnight stop - the smell from my disc brakes will stay with me for a long while. Day 4 saw us immediately climbing to the highest point on the route - Black Hill which although was not the end of the climbing it was the worst over in my mind. With the weather turning against us we climbed the difficult off road trail out of Rookhope - again most of it on foot! and then a wild few miles of off road trail across Stanhope Moor brought us to the start of the Waskerley Way and the long drop down into Consett for our final night. Day 5 a rather unwise curry the previous night slowed us down slightly and the wind ( nothing to do with the curry ) slowed us down even further. However we reached Sunderland by early afternoon and with the end in sight we suffered our first accident - Rae's rear mech fouled into the rear wheel and off she went, fortunately she was not hurt too badly and Matt and I managed to get her bike back in working order. 3 miles later we rode down the side of the River Wear and around the Harbour to the sea looking for the finish, only to find out we had just passed it at the RNLI station in the harbour. Bikes used - Marin Alpine Trail ( Karl ), Trek 6000 ( Matt ), Trek 3700 ( Rae ) Amount raised £1100 Link to photos http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/36.karl |
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