Julian Hart, Andrew Sprague & Mark Sprague

My friends and I decided that this year we would cycle the C2C cycle route, from the West to the East coast of England, in two days, to raise money for Acorns children’s Hospice in Walsall. This is where my daughter, Emily goes for respite periods and they are of great help to her and her family. The weekend of 18th/19th June was the agreed date, and so we set about getting some extra cycling under our belts during the preceding weeks. This was achieved by cycling more to work and back, midweek trips of about 20 miles, and Sunday morning rides of up to 40 miles involving hills. By the time of the 18th June, I have to admit, though I enjoy cycling, I was getting a bit bored with the training and just wanted to get on with the challenge. Soon enough at 8.00 a.m. on Saturday 18th June 2005 we found ourselves on the quayside in Whitehaven in Englands “Lake District”. The quayside was unexpectedly slippery, and we had trouble pulling away up the slope, in fact, two of us did not bother for fear of getting a soaking in the murky waters of the harbour. Soon enough though, we were on our way. Luckily, a friend of ours had offered us the use of him and his van as a support crew for the weekend. This made things much easier as the trains proved to be almost impossible to use and it also meant that we did not have to carry all our gear with us




The Start

We were all really excited, and eager to go and soon we were out of the town and into the countryside. After a bit of route finding to get away from Whitehaven we were heading for Winlatter forest. At about the 26 mile point we stopped at the café in Winlatter forest for a break and some refreshments. Winlatter forest was great, with superb tracks and downhill sections. Feeling refreshed, we were soon on our way, through the mountains of the Lake district, towards Penrith, where we were planning to stop for lunch. At about the 50 mile mark we arrived in Penrith. After meeting our driver, who had selected a pub where we could have our lunch, we sat down to eat.

After lunch, we set off for the final leg of the day, on to, and over Hartside (one of the hardest climbs on the route) and down into Garrigill village, where we had booked a b&b. Hartside arrived at about 70 miles, and by this point I was feeling tired. Mark and Andy, both stronger cyclists than myself, were some way ahead (though not that far) and this put an added mental pressure on me that I kept on trying to forget about. The trouble with Hartside was that there is café at the top, visible for about 6 or 7 miles on the approach road. All the time I was looking at it, hoping that somehow, it would be much closer then when I last looked, it wasn’t. The climb was tiring-very-but eventually the café loomed ahead, with Mark, Andy, and Stuart watching my every move. After one final push I arrived at the top, absolutely knackered, and had a lie down on the café wall. I rested for about 10 minutes and then we were off towards our resting place for the night, Garrigill. On arriving at the village green, just in front of the ‘George and Dragon’ inn, our accommodation for the night, our driver, Stuart, had a pint of ice cold cider waiting for each of us. This was a very welcome sight, and we soon polished these off and had another. Later, after a good meal and some more beers we retired for the night to get ready for the next day.

The Half-Way Point

Early the next day we re-filled our water bottles, got ready, and set off for the Pennines and the East coast. Almost immediately we hit a series of long steep hills. These were really tough, and it took us all a while to get into it. The hill out of Stanhope was unexpectedly tough, and long, and it was a relief when we turned off onto what was possibly, our favourite section of the route, the ‘Waskerley Way’. This was a traffic free, off road cycle track which turned out to be a great bit of cycling with fantastic views. After stopping in Consett for some lunch and drinks, we were soon on the last leg of the journey towards Sunderland. From here on in it was all off road cycle track, which was great. Soon enough Sunderland’s ‘Stadium of Light’ football stadium came into view. We were nearly there! During the final leg around the stadium and surrounding waterways, it began to rain, heavily, for about 5 minutes. Then the sun came out again. Just in time for our arrival at Roker pier and the beach. We had made it!! With no fanfare there to greet us… we settled for an ice cream each and a couple of pints in the pub, before getting in the van and heading for home, all feeling that we had had a fantastic weekend.
After collecting all the money some weeks later, we had raised just over £1500.00 to go to ‘Acorns Children’s Hospice’ in Walsall, U.K. All in all, not a bad effort.

The End

Julian Hart, October 2005