Day 5 and Summary

Day 5 Osmotherly to Robin Hood's Bay 97k:
  The last day and the biggest day. Although there was a lot of distance to cover, the moors gave fast, friendly and fun bridleways which crunched the miles up.
  With an uneventful day I soon found myself meeting up with Lucy on the moors and starting the final climb to over look the sea and Robin Hood's Bay. The descent down the fast Cinder track in the fading light gave a great end to a long day and great cross country tour.

Summary:
  Having had a few days to think about the trip, I certainly do another mtb C2C however, I would probably take the pedalnorth route, more to compare than dismiss the route previous route. I would also consider the time of year for the tour, as the trails were far to boggy in places for enjoyable riding and considering last year the route was probably ski tourable it was fairly early. All in all a worth while life tick and thoughts are already drifting to the next challenge...

Boggy tracks by the Cleveland bank 

Robin Hood's Bay

Looking back across the moors 

Day 4 C2C

Day 4 Grinton Lodge to Osmotherly 41k:
  I knew this section was going to be the dullest, with the unavoidable crossing of the Vale of York but the day had some hidden surprises.
  The first surprise was the friendly bridleways before Richmond, which had a very Sunday morning family ride feel about them. Lucy joined me until Richmond where we enjoyed the warm weather with lunch and coffee in the market square. From here on in it was a cadence watch, more suited to road biking than mountain. The miles rolled by with flat field after flat field and the seemingly endless snaking back roads until just below the rise of the North York Moors the route joins the very busy A684. This worrying surprise got worst as the path ran out to give 5k of hilly A road to Osmotherly, this needless to say is something I would highly recommend against as does the pedalnorth route.
  Finishing early in Osmotherly I had the distinct feeling I should have carried on a bit further to help shorten the last day, but I was happy to stop there and travel the short distance home for the night instead of the £50 for the YHA.

Last of the hills before Richmond

Looking back from the Cleveland Way 

Day 3 C2C

Day 3 Shape to Grinton Lodge 70k:

  My lack of  studying the guide book, gave me the impression that 'the dales day' would be a fairly small day and in the morning the true distance dawn on me. 

  The clouds had rolled in over night and stayed for the day giving an overcast, dull and uninspiring day. Despite the cloud I was very much looking forward to the infamous Tan Hill pub (highest pub in England), which would gave a great half way stop and would be the start of the down hill on the Pennie Way. 

  The day went by fairly quickly with fast bridleways broken up by wet and boggy tracks, with the optional route over the River Belah being a particular section I would avoid next time. 

  Stopping in the spectacular Grinton Lodge YHA gave another warm night, which I would highly recommended and visit again.

Day 3

Rolling Yorkshire dales hills

Uninspiring weather

Day 2 C2C

Day 2 Coniston to Shap 52k:

  Having spent a warm night in Coniston yha I set out for Windermere via the ferry, off route from Tim's route which went north via Langdale and Ambleside. This route is part of the Pedalnorth C2C and gave a fast bogless ride to the ferry and coffee. After Windermere the climbing and fun begins with the classic Garburn Pass, which was fairly lose and no where near as fun as the descent down into Long Sleddale. Unfortunately the boggyness wasn't over and after the climb back onto the fells, wet and muddy tracks lead down Mosedale to Shap and the fantastic new ing lodge. A nicely shorter day than the first with many options and I would definitely recommend the route to Windermere and would also consider missing out Mosedale for the continuation to Gatescarth pass.

Looking back at the Coniston fells

Navman showing distance before the power died

Fantastic skies over boggy tracks

Day 1 of 'The Wheelwrights' mountain biking coast to coast

Intro:

 The next adventure came round two days after our return from scotland, with the classic mountain bike coast to coast route written by Tim Woodcock. For the ease of logistics, we hatched the plan for Lucy to be in the car joining me when she fancied and it meant she got a day at Whinlatter trail centre!  Research showed that people have completed it in all kinds of times, from 28hrs to 7 days and our plan was for five days based round staying in hostels. 

Day 1: St Bees to Coniston 61k

 The  first day started early with a five o'clock start and a three hour drive to the start at St Bees. The cycle network leads quickly to the start of the spectacular Ennerdale valley, which gives a pleasant cycle through pine forests up to the Black sail yha. From here on in its up and down, with Black sail pass, Eskdale Fell, Harter Fell and Walna Scar road. Lucky the weather was great and I made steady progress until looking up at the 500 metre climb of Walna Scar which disappeared into the clouds late in the day. After reading blogs describing the lakes as a 'handbag section' I was a little anxious on what to expect, but all in all it wasn't too bad with only the Eskdale and Harter Fells slow going because of the boggyness. 

St Bees excitement

View into Ennerdale

On top of Black sail pass

View back into Wasdale

Looking back at the Scarfells