After a solid 9 hours sleep we departed for the final day of riding from Rookhope. The official route is often closed during shooting season and an on-road alternative must be taken. Fortunately for us, there is no shooting on a Sunday and so after a hard 1 mile climb up a rocky track (with tired legs and cold muscles) we emerged onto beautiful moorland with just the occasional grouse cackle to break the silence and the morning’s mist swirling in the valley below.

Deserted moorland track above Rookhope

The four miles of moorland path ended at Parkhead Station from where we blasted downhill along the Waskerley Way path and it wasn’t long before we arrived at the old smelt wagon at Lydgett’s Junction in Consett and started along paths well known to us from our training rides. The Derwent Valley path has some great downhills through forest and over viaducts before emerging on the south side of the River Tyne.

Zooming along the Derwent Valley

We’d arranged to meet family in Tynemouth for celebratory fish and chips so by the time we reached Newcastle, lunch was overdue and despite our best efforts at refueling with biscuits and jelly babies (pro-tip, thanks Jo!) we were getting tired and the last few miles were a bit of a struggle. We had a real sense of achievement as we crested the cliff near Tynemouth Priory before descending to the beach for the obligatory photo with the back wheel in the sea.

If the word of Day 2 was headwind, then the word of today was hillclimb – anyone we’ve spoken to that has either done the C2C or knows the route mentions the 4mile climb up Hartside.

The start from Penrith was a series of small but challenging uphills of varying gradients which nicely warmed the legs, but our heads were full of thoughts of the Hartside climb to come, and a little under 2 hours in we’d started.. 40 odd minutes later we were sitting at the infamous Hartside Cafe wondering what all the fuss was about! I’m not saying Hartside wasn’t tough, but we agreed that Whinlatter Pass the previous day was tougher.

Made it!

After a hot chocolate and slice of cake at the cafe, we set off towards Rookhope. The smooth declining road on the other side of the climb restored our average speed and with spectacular scenery was infinitely more enjoyable than the way up.

But what goes down must come up.

Obviously we’d looked at the profile of the day’s ride, but all eyes were on Hartside with just a cursory mention of the subsequent peaks.. and with our guards lowered the route delivered punishing steep hill after punishing steep hill. We’re talking easiest gear and out of the saddle steep. Like a grownup version of the roller coaster start out of Brampton on day 2, we climbed and then dropped through spectacular scenery.

Stopping to take a picture after a crest and after we’d just crossed into Northumberland, I heard a babbling brook on one side and a curious popping noise coming from my back wheel. I looked down to find the seal of my rear tyre valve blowing bubbles! Over 200 miles and we have our first puncture..

Andrew’s impromptu bike workshop on the side of the road. As we’d brought spare inner tubes we just swapped it out rather than finding and patching the hole

Thankfully we ended the day on a nice 5mile downhill stretch past abandoned mines and mills into Rookhope, where we’ll be staying for the night in a cartoon-decorated caravan!

Our cartoon caravan home in Rookhope!

At the C2C start sculpture in Whitehaven harbour

Phew, that was a tough day. The first section of the C2C out of Whitehaven is a really nice surfaced railway path rising slowly up into the Lake District, this is followed by undulating country roads past Ennerdale Water, around Loweswater, and across the top of Crummock Water. So far, so good, and great views as well.

View across Loweswater from the C2C path

Next was the day’s first serious climb up to Whinlatter Pass. The first part was steep but on road and then forest trail and we reached the top with just a couple of rest stops and no walking so were feeling pretty good about it, then it was a fun descent through the forest towards Keswick. After Keswick we deviated slightly from the standard path up another steep climb to Castlerigg Stone Circle.

The standing stones at Castlerigg Stone Circle have been in place for 4,500 years. They are situated on a natural plateau surrounded on all sides by mountains

Andrew had twisted my arm to continue on the alternative route, from this point it’s called the Old Coach Road section. On our map it is marked as suitable for “experienced mountain bikers only” but he insisted it would be fine. At first it was, but the path soon got too steep and covered in loose rock and gravel for us to ride up (Andrew fell over three times before he relented – he’s fine) and we had to walk most of the way to the top. Once it had levelled out we could ride OK and the views were superb, but it really slowed us down and tired us out.

The rutted gravelly path of the Old Coach Road section, and the amazing views

It seemed like an awfully long way down to Penrith but we made it and hopefully not too worse for wear. A shorter distance tomorrow but lots of hills.