Coast to Coast 5-7th August 2012

Sunday morning, Whitehaven, Cumbria, Irish Sea.

First view of the Lakes

My Planet X Kaffenback.

C2C was pretty well marked between Whithaven and Tynemouth. 

A cup of tea near Blencathra.

"Do you mind if I take a photo?" "Go ahead, we were in the Sunday Times yesterday!"

Lots of bridges and some lovely views on this ride.

We had just about every weather condition over the 3 days.

Approaching Consett in County Durham, disused mine workings. Not a soul in sight - quite eerie.

Just rolling into Consett after a long day's riding. Beautiful sunny evening and the gravel crackling under our tyres like frying bacon.

Another cyclist.

Last day. Consett to Tynemouth Via Newcastle. Flat and mainly easy off road riding.

Another reminder of a bygone industrial age.

Under the Tyne bridge and on to Tynemouth.

The North Sea. At our destination on the east coast.

Train back to Whitehaven where we'd left the car.

Cows in the road

Road congestion in Sheffield really is getting worse.

But this was a welcome 5 minute rest for me to get my breath back. Lynn had spent the summer cycling in France and was faster than me going up hills, on the flat and descending.

A lovely 40 mile ride around the (very hilly) edge of Sheffield, and a reminder that I need to improve my fitness after a lazy couple of months with the bike gathering dust in the garage.

Sherwood Forest

The GT got its first proper ride as a mountain bike today when I met up with Chris and his scout group for a ride around the red route at Sherwood Forest. I also got to try out my new Thule roofbars on my little Hyundai i10.

There were some fairly technical sections and the old GT was brilliant, with me managing to keep up with Chris on his titanium mountain bike!

Chris's son, Harry. A born risk taker like his dad!

What a pleasant way to finish a bike ride!

Manchester to Blackpool Ride

Tandem safely loaded on Mart's car for a ridiculously early start to Manchester to start our 64 mile ride to Blackpool. Sunday morning as well. Good grief. Two pork pies and a pack of sausages hidden in the pannier where Mart can't find them.

The start was at some sort of football pitch that I'd never heard of before and people were talking with strange and worrying accents.

It looked like we wouldn't be cycling alone.

On the road.

We went for an early breakaway to claim the yellow jersey!

My Astana top is the closest I'll get to Le Tour!

Finish line in sight on Blackpool sea front.

Blue sea, blue sky and a completely brilliant bike ride. 64 miles in 3 hours 45.

Beer tent, food and live music.