Coast to Coast (Part 1)

DAY ONE
Saturday 10th June
St Bees Head, Cumbria

Well, here I am on tour #2. The lads (and girl) have arrived at the starting gate, are under orders and are raring to go.

Actually Ben S is fast asleep. He’s no doubt in recovery from the sad loss of his BRAND NEW sunglasses during our swim in the sea. Yes folks, the weather is boiling hot. It’s about 80F and the sun really is burning, so much so that we did have a proper swim in the sea.

The B&B we are at (Stonehouse Farm) is lovely and the temptation is most definitely to stop here for a week and make the whole trip up in posts to the North Leeds thread on BikeMagic.

No chance. We have seven days of off road mayhem ahead of us – err, how fab is that?!
We arrived here at St Bees almost exactly to the minute that Christian’s Tom Tom had forecast we would when we left Leeds. Spooky, Or clever.

There’s been some sort of football match today. England apparently are playing in the finals of some tournament, and this was their first game. They won 1-0 against the mighty Paraguay. We watched it at one of the three local pubs within about 50 yards of the B&B. We are, ts has to be said, a tad spoilt for choice.

After the footy we changed into swimming gear, walked the mile or so down to the beach and had a swim in the lovely Irish Sea. The sea, OK, was quite cold but it honestly was fine once you were in.

It was at this juncture that the aforementioned sunglasses loss occurred when Ben dived under a wave whilst still wearing them.

Jo didn’t quite “swim” and to be honest was heard to girlie scream quite a bit whilst avoiding getting properly wet. More an advanced paddle I would call it, but she is a girl.

We returned from swimming (and a round of ice creams at a conveniently positioned beach-side ice cream van) to get the G&Ts in on the veranda. This amounted to a half bottle of G from the local shop; 2 bottles of T; plus a lemon and a lime. Actually, two limes as Christian stole a second one the pikey twat.

So now it’s showers all round and then I think we are off to the pub for more food. So far today we’ve polished off (in the car) Jo’s fine selection of fruit (pineapple and apples) and a large packet of crisps. Then there was serious sandwiches for lunch at the pub and then the round of ice creams.

We are all HUNGRY now, again. Ben S and John are in room 1 here. Chris, Ben F and myself are in room 2, while Jo is upstairs in room 4.

DAY TWO
Sunday. Pennyhill Farm B&B Eskdale, Lakes

The day started from St Bees with the compulsory “dip” in the sea. Except we didn’t quite dip as the tide was out – we just rode onto the pebbles and then got our picture taken on the prom by some “old ladies” (as John called them – they were likely in their 50s) who were doing half of the walking coast to coast.

The Serious Six then started out on their trek with great gusto and enthusiasm for the mighty task ahead and were all knackered after the first (road) climb out of St Bees.

Stonehouse Farm did a marvellous breakfast it has to be said. There is an ongoing debate as to whether it scores a 7 or 8 out of 10. We need some more full English offerings down us so we can compare, and then maybe recalibrate the scoring system. [In the end no breakfasts were deemed better than this one. And it ended up rating an 8. Or was it a 7?]

The Ride: 34 miles or so was the task set today (23 off road). At least half of that total distance was done on the easy trails of the Sustrans C2C route from the coast, and then on the long fire trail down the lakeside and into the end of the valley.

The weather was warm, humid and mainly cloudy all day but when the sun did come out it was roasting hot.

[Mention should be made here of the lake-side bench under the trees lunch sandwich stop, which was wonderful for about 5 minutes until clouds of midges found us and got a serious biting thing going on. We quickly moved off and sat just out of the trees, amusing ourselves by throwing stones into the lake. Just then a disabled guy on an electric scooter and his partner rolled slowly passed us on the lakeside track. They too spotted the inviting looking bench in the trees and the bloke totally went for the off road option, banging his in no way off road equipped scooter over roots and stuff to get to the bench. Perhaps, yes, we should have intervened at this point and warned them about the marauding insect life, but no – his off roading antics were too fascinating to interrupt. Unfortunately for him his escape from the subsequent midge mauling was impeded by the fact that he couldn’t walk unaided and his heavy scooter was now grounded. His missus was no use as he was a big bloke so Ben S and I went to his rescue, dragging this guy and the equally weighty scooter out back onto the path. I dread to think what kind of state those two would have been in if we’d not intervened as they were pretty much stuck there. Bloody disabled day trippers eh?]

Fortunately we were not baked in the sun on the monster carry up Black Sail Pass. It was extremely hard work but to be honest the severe gradient at least meant it didn’t last too long.

Once at the top we waited while Jo walked for miles to find a suitable toilet spot which was out of the view of the walkers coming down from Kirk Fell. Then we were able to set off on the steep descent into Mosedale. This was mainly a further carry/push at the top as the surface was either a very steep rocky path or loose chossy shale, and rather risky to ride, this only being the first day of the tour. Ben F however rode it until he came off over the bars, and we thought he’d miraculously managed to get away without body or bike damage. The bottom half of the descent however was great – rideable, technical, fast and excellent fun all the way down into the valley.

As we rolled into the Wasdale Head Inn the sun was shining so we were able to sink pints of shandy etc sunning ourselves just outside the toilets. Nice. A sheep dog type dog added to the beer garden fun with it’s endless stick chasing enthusiasm. By this time we’d covered the best part of 30 miles including a big (1000ft) carry and we were knackered. However, onwards and upwards and we reluctantly rolled out into Wasdale past the camp site (and completely dry river bed) and up onto the tops again towards Burnmoor Tarn. Another [600ft] big pull and this time in the sunshine and it was hot. Once at the top we knew we had a load of descent to look forward to, right down to our destination: Eskdale. However, just before we got to the tarn, Ben F pulled up with a major technical – his rear mech hanger snapped off. This was likely a result of the Black Sail off he had. No amount of technical expertise from Ben S could salvage the situation properly so that was pretty much the end of Ben F’s riding for the day (and for tomorrow as he’ll have to bike shop it to get it fixed).

There was more to come as just past the tarn Christian had an off which resulted in him seriously twisting his ankle to the point where he could not put any weight on it. Serious stuff by the looks of things

We limped on (down a brilliant descent for those who could manage it )and eventually stopped at a pub at Boot where we were able to simutaneously ice Chris’s damaged foot and have a beer. We then pushed Chris on his bike the couple of miles up the road to the B&B here. The lady owner kindly drove Chris back to the pub so we could get some food (the pub in Boot I should add, as the one right near the B&B was insisting we eat “now” as they were busy) and also drove him back. John and I cycled both ways.

Decent food at the pub although there was some debate as to whether Ben S’s steak was in any way rare as he’d ordered it.

A beautiful clear evening – gorgeous weather really. Forecast is for some rain tomorrow though. Ben F and Chris are going to try and get a lift from the Packhorse baggage man to Ambleside (with their bikes). Chris needs to rest his foot and Ben needs to get his bike fixed.

So, that’s day one over and we have a 33% casualty rate so far!

[Cute lambs at the B&B by the way. It was a working farm and our bikes were locked up in the sheep shed.]

DAY THREE
Monday. High Close Youth Hostel, just outside Windermere.

The Ride:
Farm. Bridleway to Boot (for a shop stop) and a wade in the river. Hardknott Pass start. Harter Fell climb/carry. (Clouds lift after slightly drizzly start). Woods, boggy. Forestry descent (past crazy tree chopping monster machine); added bridleway fun; descended through Wallowbarrow; beautiful cheeky footpath option (bridge and river – Jo’s dad’s painting). Road at Seathwaite. Walna Scar Road ascent (bastard. “c” word). Met girlie walkers and dog. Descent of a lifetime into Coniston. Lunch (curly chips). Sunny. Tilberthwaite road climb out of valley and never ending descent into Little Langdale. Elterwater. Crossed Great Langdale and climbed road to (eventually) Loughrigg Terrace: stunning view & shit. More foul words. Amazing descent to Ambleside: everyone getting giddy. Jo giggling (this was possibly earlier). Climbed (via several wrong turns) to Jenkin Crag. Beautiful views of Windermere in the sun. Lots more ups and downs and finally arrived at Hostel at 6:45pm.

What a fucking fabulous day, frankly.

Christian was then picked up from hostel by his mate who’d driven out to get him, so now we are five.
Ben F had a bit of a nightmare in the shop with his bike: real arsey staff.
John has serious bum chafing issues: he needs arse lard and lycra.
Pubs ALL stopped food at 8:30: just before we arrived at them.
Nice taxi driver man eventually got us to a pub in Windermere where they played drum and bass but did excellent meals.
The boys are now playing giant Connect 4 here in the hostel lounge.
A strange woman is interrupting our conversations. Jo has to sleep with her. Oh dear.
Now we are posting on BikeMagic.
BIKE, EAT, SLEEP. C to C 2006.

Ben F:
Back to first thing… (Ben & Christian)
My day began with witnessing Christian once more crawl over the hall to the toilet. Then, having got ready the ritual breakfast grading began.
Once this was over it was time to watch the helmets pass the window as Christian and I settled down to watch “Homes Under the Hammer”. (Ahem, enough said.)
But then, our saviour Simon the Packhorse driver arrived and our 4 hour guided tour of The Lakes began. We toured much, including the infamous midgey patch at … [?]
My trip ended with a drop off at Biketrax in Ambleside. Having obtained the necessary replacement parts off a rather unhelpful bunch of later coined cock weasels (by Ben S aka Tin Tin) and Christian who continued to the YHA.
I journeyed (walking) riding my now single speed for 2 hours before meeting Christian at the hostel. Finally the rest of the guys rolled up at around 7, and I’m sure their day has been well documented.

Ben S (Tin Tin!) :
Some of the best riding I’ve ever had the pleasure of ascending and descending. Awesome views, big country! Today’s trip well described. Longest day to come tomorrow though. Walna Scar ascent will be ridden in 1 next year!

(We are now in the kitchen.)
BREAKFAST RATING (Penny Hill Farm):
V.Good sausage, poor bacon; v.poor fried bread. No beans. Good eggs.
General consensus = 6. Possibly 5.5. (Much arguments about sausages. Much arguments about eggs. Much argument about mushrooms.)

Oh, yes. Got tuna sarny with curly chips for lunch in Coniston but it was expensive. There was egg and chips consumed as well. Everything is expensive – it’s an expensive trip!

This hostel, although a bit piss poor in facilities, is in a fabulous spot overlooking Windermere.

BREAKFAST RATING (Windermere):
NOTE: Full English only visited by Jo and Ben.
Poor. Jo’s verdict: scrapes a 3. Ben’s verdict: 4. Ben got Porridge. Though, which has perhaps skewed his verdict. Ben F & John had “cracking” continental option with a croissant. Softies.