Coast to Coast:: Whitehaven to Tynemouth

[Hummers]

I say! 

It has been suggested that our yearly trip takes us from sleepy Whitehaven in the west to the eastern reaches of England in the form of Tynemouth, just outside of Newcastle.

We are looking to take 3 days for the excursion and I wondered if anyone on YACF had done this ride and was willing to share with me some information regarding where to stay, what to do and more importantly, what beer is available in the northern reaches.

Thanks in advance.

H

[Polar Bear]

The Allenheads Inn was a fabulous place to stop when I did the ride a few years back.   Lots of real ales, nice creaky place with character.   

[Wowbagger]

We did this: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7486.msg182370#msg182370 which bears a resemblance to your planned ride, particularly the early bit. We took 4 days and were terribly slow. The weather was by a very long way the worst of any multi-day tour I've ever undertaken.

[robgul]

This place at the start of the Waskerly Way is great to stay    www.parkheadstation.co.uk

Rob

[Hummers]

Thanks chaps 

Keep the suggestions and worthy pub stops coming 

"Waskerly Way" 

H

P.S. Baggers - the flight of wooden steps with the euphemistic NCN arrow will be a well kept secret between you and I but I suspect not completely unexpected by my saddle-weary veterans of various Sustrans routes. 

[Oaky]

A few miles south of the route, but the Black Bull at Frosterley is a good pub with very well-regarded food (although I've not eaten there).  The Black Lion in Wolsingham (no website, but they do have a faceache page and a possibly defunct blogspot page does an interesting and ever-changing range of real ales).  You could back-track to Stanhope and rejoin via Crawleyside Bank  

[andrewc]

I did this many years ago, but I camped so have no useful info regarding accomodation.  A good ride though, and the Waskerley way was fun, I remember it being downhill nearly all the way 

Combine it with the Reivers Route back to Whitehaven (prettier IMHO)  and you have a good weeks touring.

[spokenword]

We did this about 4 years ago and took 3 days.
Stopped the first night at a bunkbarn in the grounds of Greystokes Castle (but didn't bump into Tarzan) at Stafford House? Second night at a cottage we hired for just 1 night at Nenthead.

I thought a 2 day schedule would have been better. Getting back for the car was a real faff by train

[Hummers]

We did this about 4 years ago and took 3 days.
Stopped the first night at a bunkbarn in the grounds of Greystokes Castle (but didn't bump into Tarzan) at Stafford House? Second night at a cottage we hired for just 1 night at Nenthead.

I thought a 2 day schedule would have been better. Getting back for the car was a real faff by train

Hmmmm... in my mind, 3 days means we take in the scenery. I was also thinking about a train to the start and a train home again from the finish (if that is doable).

H

[spokenword]

We did this about 4 years ago and took 3 days.
Stopped the first night at a bunkbarn in the grounds of Greystokes Castle (but didn't bump into Tarzan) at Stafford House? Second night at a cottage we hired for just 1 night at Nenthead.

I thought a 2 day schedule would have been better. Getting back for the car was a real faff by train

Hmmmm... in my mind, 3 days means we take in the scenery. I was also thinking about a train to the start and a train home again from the finish (if that is doable).

H

I've just dug out our notes and we clocked 155 miles in total. We seemed to stay at Rookhope on the second night, not Nenthead, and most of the last 45 miles is dowhill or flat, which was nearly all our final days millage.
The problem we had with using the train was that there were 3 of us and only 2 bike spaces on some of the trains which were not even bookable, but that may have changed by now. As we had prebooked the accommodation and had limited leave from work it just seemed better to drive.
Good cafe at Winlatter Forest Centre and Hartside which happen to be at the top of two of the major climbs going west - east.
Riding along the Tyne in Newcastle is a pain on Sundays as there is a market on the cyclepath.

[Hummers]

Good info as I suspect we will be ending the ride on Sunday.

Regarding trains, you raised a good point about them taking bikes 

H

[Wowbagger]

You should have no problem with more than 2 bikes if you are travelling from Euston to Lancaster or Carlisle and back again from Newcastle to King's Cross.

Come to think of it, we started at St. Bees and there were three of us with bikes and no problems getting them on. It's the same train that serves Whitehaven.

[mcshroom]

The northern trains are nominally 2 bikes only, but they are very relaxed about fitting more on if they can. Also at the moment there's a trial 'Sellafield Special' service running from Carlisle to Whitehaven that is a loco hauled service with space for 10 bikes (Only a six week trial at present, but word from my colleagues  is that it's packed so it will probably continue). There's only one run of that train though and it's very early in the morning (leaves Carlisle at 06:15). It may be an option if you want to overnight in Carlisle on the way up as it would drop you in Whitehaven at 7:30am.

I can't help much with accomodation I'm afraid. On the pub front for the night before in Whitehaven there's a Spoons very close to the station, and my favourite real ale pub is the Vagabond on the harbour front.

Also be aware that there's no trains to Tynemouth. The line is a metro line which takes no bikes. You have to ride back to Newcastle which is a fair distance.

[Hummers]

There are likely to be two/three of us travelling up and back from Pompey by train (it's a bit too far to ride up and back) so hopefully the train will be OK.

Will check it out.

Thanks for the heads up regarding Tynemouth.

H

[Socks]

It would be worth looking at the C2C finish in Sunderland, rather than the alternative finish at Tynemouth.  The railway station is only about a mile from the finish at Roker and Central trains run a direct service to London.

I haven't taken my bike on this but as it's a mainline service I assume it should be feasible, then a connection to Pompey ?

Dave

[Wowbagger]

Is that Grand Central? They run old 125s with big guards' vans.

[mcshroom]

It is

[lantern rouge]

Can't help with accomodation in Whitehaven pre start but for night No2, the Inn at Allendale is a belter. On more than one occasion I have left the bar 'tired and emotional' after 2am only to be back for breccy at 7.30am. Good beer and food, pleasant landlory/lady.

Rookhope Inn a little further up the road. Well up and then down. Good guest beers, food not bad. Land lord is a miserable git but his son Alex is a canny lad and seems to spend more time behind the bar than the old man.

Don't know about the previous comment about it being mostly down hill after Rookhope. First you have to climb Crawleyside bank.

Park Head cafe at the top of Crawleyside/ end of Waskerley way is a good little cafe. They do b+b. It is at the start of the old mineral railway which runs down hill pretty well to the coast.
If your riding 'on road' the Waskerley way may be a bit challenging for fully loaded tourer/skinny tyres.

For the first night stop there is a cycle specific b+b just before Penrith. I'll do some digging and try to find the name.

The route is well signed and easy enough to follow.

On the last day there are views in the distance of The Lambton monument. Greek temple style building atop a hill and the Angel of the North.

Fish and chips at Roker is an acceptable end to the ride.

Three days is an easy ride over this route. We have taken groups of novice riders on the off road route approx 140 miles and had plenty of pub/cafe stops and finished each day no later than 8pm.

As for weather, it's Northern England. Nuff said.(Although I have had to apply sun tan lotion in previous years. Go for the waterproof version. )

[lantern rouge]

Spot deliberate mistake.

We rode the W'haven to Sunderland route. Not tynemouth.

Riding the route along side the lower reaches of the Tyne on a Sunday can be a slog. Walkers, prams, dogs, kids all conspire to slow the pace to a crawl.

We did that route several times on the Hadrians, the lower Tyne bit I found a bit tedious. It has been re signed and had some good improvements made in the last two years though.

Lookout for the Old watch house at Tynemouth.

[jogler]

Hmmmm... in my mind, 3 days means we take in the scenery. I was also thinking about a train to the start and a train home again from the finish (if that is doable).

H

this is exactly what I'm hoping to do with my grand daughter

ETA I plan to finish in Sunderland & ride to Newcastle to catch a train to Derby.

[Hummers]

Spot deliberate mistake.

We rode the W'haven to Sunderland route. Not tynemouth.

Riding the route along side the lower reaches of the Tyne on a Sunday can be a slog. Walkers, prams, dogs, kids all conspire to slow the pace to a crawl.

We did that route several times on the Hadrians, the lower Tyne bit I found a bit tedious. It has been re signed and had some good improvements made in the last two years though.

Lookout for the Old watch house at Tynemouth.

There appear to be many ale houses mentioned and the route is almost pub-pub.

Grand work sir, grand work!

Cheers.

H

[redshift]

Tivoli guest House, Queen St, Whitehaven.  Run by Andy and Mo.  Andy really knows how to cook, and knows his beer.  Bike storage in the garage, and centrally located in the town. 

http://www.tivoliguesthouse.co.uk/

Edit:
Lunch stop in Keswick at the Lakeland Pedlar/Keswick mountain bikes (same building)

We went Whitby -> Whitehaven, rather than any of the standard routes, but included Tan Hill, Keswick and Reeth in 3 days.

[mcshroom]

Tivoli is definitely pretty central.

I've not actually cycled the C2C further than Keswick yet (that may change in March) so I'll try and cover bits on my 'patch':

Route wise, there's likely to be glass on the floor coming through the Mirehouse estate, especially under the rail bridge, but other than that it's a reasonably good surface. There's a rough, muddy section at Rowrah, but this can be avoided by turning onto the main road there and taking the next right past Kirkland school. After that it's on-road just about all the way to Keswick if you want it to be. If you are using an old gpx/map then you may get to a point in Loweswater valley where the sign points straight on, but the gps/map says left. Either way works, they re-routed the track for a while as the bridge got washed away but there's a shiny new bridge to replace it.

Watch the killer potholes between Lamplugh and the top of the decent to Loweswater, and the decent of Whinlatter can get a bit slippery in the wet as the road is covered by trees.

I'd recommend stopping at the ice cream van in the viewing area just after the top of Whinlatter pass. If nothing else there's a good view from the layby over Bassenthwaite Lake.

In case you need to fix anything there's two bike shops on the C2C route out of Whitehaven. Haven cycles and Braemar bikes. I've dealt with both, but the latter has a much better range of stuff, and I think the staff there are friendlier.

After that there's another LBS called Ainfield's which is also decent in Cleator Moor about 7 miles out of Whitehaven (you have to leave the cycle path to get to it but it's less than a mile from the path, and then the next ones are in Keswick

Oh, and watch the ramp next to the C2C sign on Whitehaven harbour as it's steeper than you'd think. This is what happened to my mate when he tried to dip his wheel in: -

[mcshroom]

I'd suggest starting in St. Bees, which is about 4  miles south of Whitehaven, and still on the train line tho the service isn't as frequent. St. Bees has a far nicer beach / sea front (tho the harbour at Whitehaven is a lot then it was a few years ago). The Queen's and The Manor in St. Bees are both decent pubs, and opposite each other. There's plenty of B&Bs in the village as it's the start of the Coast to Coast walk, or possibly stay in one of the pubs. AVOID the Seacotes Hotel.

To pick up the C2C route from St. Bees you'd do something like this:  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5285523

St Bees is pretty, and another decent pub is the Oddfellows Arms further up the main street.

[simonp]

I have done this twice.

Once, in 2003, in December, and again in 2004 as part of a longer trip. The December trip was over 3 days. Day 1 was Whitehaven => Penrith, where I stayed in a B&B. Day 2 was Penrith => Allenheads, where I stayed at the inn.  I had originally planned to stay at Nenthead, but everything was shut as it was December, so I called ahead to Allenheads and the inn had a room.

That was definitely a good place to stay. As for it being ‘creaky’… Well, I was lying on the bed thinking about going to dinner when there was a loud crash outside the room. Having been told there were builders there I thought nothing of it, but it transpired that the ceiling immediately outside the room had collapsed due to a leaking roof. Then I lay on my bed looking at the cracks in the ceiling above me. 

The food was great. The final day, the weather actually turned nice and I had a lovely final day into Newcastle. When you get to the start of the Waskerley way, there is a cafe. When I did it, it was still being renovated and the cafe was a caravan outside the house. 3 bikes were sat outside so I went in and had soup and a roll, apple pie and custard, and a cup of coffee for the sum of £3.50. The other cyclists were firemen from Stanley out on a day ride.

Once I got to Tynemouth I cycled back to Newcastle for a hotel. There was far too much food there.

The 2004 trip was 8 days doing a loop from Newcastle to the Borders, Carlisle and then the C2C route. I took 5 days over it that time but despite the extra load of camping (about 25kg of luggage) I got up all the hills. The climbs that stick in my mind as tough were the one out of Garrigill and the climb out of Stanhope. I visited the same cafe, which is now a proper cafe, hopefully still going.

The 5 days on that were Workington -> Keswick via Whitehaven (iirc - I think I camped outside Workington for £2.50), Keswick -> Campsite on the A66 near Penrith, then on to Nenthead where I stayed in the bunkhouse, then on to a campsite near Consett, then final day Consett->Newcastle where I stopped and caught the train back south.