Cycling Tours in united-kingdom
Coast to Coast Cycling
Wainwright’s “Coast to Coast” walk has long been a classic, and it was perhaps inevitable that cyclists would also look at interesting ways of crossing beautiful, scenic northern England. The original cycling route was thus developed by ‘Sustrans’ – a charitable organization aiming at the development of sustainable transport networks in the U.K. They took minor roads and rideable ‘off road’ bridleways that could be used to thread together small towns and country areas across Cumbria, the Pennines, through the River Wear watershed and onto the
more urban parts of the North East. The route so created is called the “C2C,” literally “Sea to Sea,” to differentiate it from the “Coast to Coast” walk which covers an altogether different route and embraces different scenery. The original ‘C2C’ stretches from the lighthouse at Whitehaven on the Irish Sea to the lighthouse at Sunderland on the shores of the North Sea. At Sherpa we have tried to compliment the original route, with what is arguably a better start; crossing the Lake District from South to North on what is another cycle route: “The Cumbrian Cycle Way Route” from the small Lakeland town of Ulverston. Both rides intersect in Keswick and you then roll along the “C2C” towards Sunderland. This hybrid route is 144 miles long. It is a great way to see northern England and how the landscape changes sometimes abruptly, sometimes more gently as you cycle along. There is so much to see, the Lakes and fells, the bleak Pennines, beautiful dales and towns and villages of all sizes. Along the way you should find plenty of time to visit teashops, pubs and interesting sites and little museums such as the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Ulverston and Dove cottage in Grasmere. The Keswick pencil museum, the Neolithic Castlerigg Stone Circle, the Rookhope lead mine, and the excellent open air museum at Beamish near Durham.
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