September 1 - 3, 2006

The English Sea to Sea Ride

Day 1

Keswick

Suitably refreshed and under lifting skies, the coast from the top of Whinlatter down to Keswick was a joy, with a superb view up Bassenthwaite Lake. The official route runs off road at this point, but following the advice of the Discovery guys we stayed on the B5292. The off road section would be wet and we were riding hybrid bikes rather than full-blown mountain bikes.

 

However, this meant that most of my group missed the turn in Braithwaite village (as it’s not C2C signed from the B5292) that takes you into Keswick along quiet back lanes, and ended up having to ride a couple of miles along the busy A66. I’d dropped back to take a few pictures of Bassenthwaite and fortunately picked up the quiet route.

The C2C route heads out of Keswick on the old railway line. Masochists may prefer to take the route via the Castlerigg stone circle and the old coach road – they must have had some very powerful horses to pull a coach up that one back in the day…

 

This section is one of the most attractive of the whole route. Following the river Greta through a wooded valley, the cycle path criss-crosses the river on a series of old railway bridges offering lovely views of the valley. As with most railway paths the gradient is gentle, which allows you to get into a rhythm, at least between the numerous gates along the path.

I caught up with Mike, Andy, Dave and Neil in Keswick. We’d missed the earlier groups, who had eaten in Keswick and pressed on ahead. We stocked up on chocolate, and collected another passport stamp.

 

Neil mentioned that Michael Brown had called to say that his bike had also been sidelined with a broken chain, and he was waiting a few miles ahead for the Discovery team to come and perform the necessary repair. Two guys called Mike, two broken chains … co-incidence or what?? I was glad I’m called Jim….

 

Bassenthwaite Lake

The path joins and follows the busy A66 for a mile or so, thankfully on the pavement rather than in amongst the cars and lorries on the main carriageway. It’s not long before you pull off the A66 at Scales, just by the White Horse pub.

Refreshments

River Greta

The sun was out, there’s a great view from the tables outside the White Horse, well, what’s a poor boy to do? A pint of Monkey Wrench stout please, landlord. Very welcome indeed.