Coast to Coast with the Mayor

By Mike Coleran

My good friend Gordon, the Mayor of Garstang, asked me some time ago if I would do a coast to coast ride with him to help raise money for his ‘Mayoral’ charity, Cancer Help (Croston House). He had hardly done any cycling before but was determined to push himself a bit and get fit enough for the challenge – he even replaced his rusty old bike for a brand new Gary Fisher hybrid. Training was to start in earnest after Christmas but, as we all know, the January ice ruled out any progress at the start of the year. When we did start to get a few miles in I was conscious of Gordon’s lack of experience, and had to take into account that he was no spring chicken for this sort of thing – 65 years old in training, 66 by the time of the ride. The miles built up however and his fitness came on in leaps and bounds. I have to admit I still, secretly, had my worries as to how he would cope with the hills and the strains of a multi-day cycling trip.

Gordon’s son-in-law Matt also joined us for the ride and Gordon’s wife Lynn, and my wife Joanna would be our support team, carrying our bags from place to place, and meeting up with us along the route to give support and find suitable refreshment stops.

I chose the Hadrian’s Cycleway Coast to Coast route because, although it is the longest of the recognised routes, the hills are not quite as vicious as the others. So, on Friday 16th April 2010, after the 70 odd mile drive from Garstang, we arrived in sunshine at the Roman Bathhouse at Ravenglass, ready to start the Hadrian’s Cycleway. Our destination was Arbeia Roman Fort at South Shields, 174 miles away on the North Sea coast. This was to be a Coast to Coast ride, but first there was a 54 mile ride north to Silloth with the Irish Sea on our left throughout.

Ready for off at Ravenglass

We crossed the estuary of the River Esk at Ravenglass at 10am with beautiful views of the Lake District mountains to the east. Straight ahead of us was another but not so pretty sight of the Sellafield nuclear plant – a place we had to pass on our journey north. We had a chilly headwind to contend with as we rode along the sandy track that passes behind Sellafield – beautiful coastal views one side – industrial sprawl the other. This was soon behind us though as we headed inland through Egremont and on up to our lunch stop at Whitehaven. Only 22 miles done so far but everything was warming up nicely. The girls were there to meet us and had found a good cafe right on the waterfront where we refuelled with coffee and sandwiches.

Re-mounting our bikes we could see a big headland in front of us, the way we were heading! Just what we needed straight after lunch! It was a very pleasant surprise to find that the route skirted around the bottom of this and led us onto a flat coastal track that headed due north. More good luck, the wind had turned and was now blowing on our backs, making the next 32 miles to our overnight stop at Silloth a real pleasure. We swept into Silloth down the wide cobbled streets to be greeted by the town’s Mayor and Mayoress. After pleasantries and gift swapping (Garstang to Silloth / Silloth to Garstang), the Mayor led us to the port where Captain David King welcomed us aboard HMS Biter for tea and biscuits and a tour round his vessel. It wasn’t the biggest ship in the Royal Navy....OK it was the smallest (an Archer Class P2000 for those who know about these things). A good meal and an early night at the Nith View B&B , followed by a substantial breakfast and we were off on our second day.

Saturday started off quite cold with a fresh westerly blowing. Good news again as most of today’s route was eastwards so the wind would be in our favour – apart from one section about ten miles out where we had to turn into the wind for a couple of miles. With Scotland in clear view to our left across the Solway Firth we sped along through Burgh by Sands and into Carlisle. Down the appropriately named Mayor’s Drive and we were riding alongside the River Eden, skirting the city. Unfortunately we skirted too much of the city and ended up travelling in the wrong direction! Ah well, an extra mile or so won’t kill us! Back on track we soon had the city behind us and on quiet lanes to Newby East where the good ladies were waiting for us with a picnic lunch. We were soon on our way again to Brampton where we were greeted by representatives of Brampton Fairtrade who kindly gave us tea and biscuits, bananas, and energy bars – a good boost to get us over the next bit.

After Brampton is where the hills start to kick in and would be a good test of Gordon’s fitness. Matt was particularly good on the downhills, having been a MTB downhill racer, but the uphills provided a good challenge for him.....and his sore knees! The stiff climb after Lanercost Priory was soon behind us and we were soon riding alongside Hadrian’s Wall for the first time. Joanna and Lynn were up there for a photo call as we tottered in our cycling shoes along the top of the wall. Onward towards Haltwhistle and our second B&B, Hall Meadows– but not before what was to be the hardest climb of the route, the long, steep ascent out of Greenhead to Birdoswald. After that a good, fast descent down ‘Painsdale’ (They should have called the last climb that!) and we were in the streets of Haltwhistle with refreshments waiting from their Fairtrade Team. My protégé Gordon had felt the strain a bit today but had done very well and was determined to press on the following day.

A great meal and a couple of pints in the Black Bull were followed by a deep sleep and ‘Full English’, then off on the road to the next target – Vindolanda Roman Fort, and then the highest point on the route. After quite a bit of climbing out of Bardon Mill, the long, straight road down to Vindolanda was a treat to the legs but, as always, you have to pay for such pleasures and there followed a steep, gravelly climb back up the other side to join the road again. The following section to the highest point was easier than anticipated, being a long but gradual climb instead of the many shorter but steeper hills we had become accustomed to. What followed was the longest descent of the trip – a marvellous three or four mile effortless glide down to the valley bottom and our next destination, Hexham. After coffee by the Abbey we were met by the Mayor of Hexham and their Fairtrade people for the usual photo call after which they wished us a safe onward journey to Newcastle and beyond.

By the time we reached Wylam and the old railway track that passes George Stephenson’s birthplace (photo stop), the wind had changed to a cold easterly and light rain had begun to dampen us. This was to stay with us all the way to Newcastle where we arrived under the famous Tyne Bridge at 2-30pm. Now we had to go off route and through the city centre in search of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Civic Centre where we had an important appointment. The first important people we had to meet were our wives, followed by my son Matthew and his girlfriend Rosie who live in the city. We were then greeted by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle and his wife who took us into his ‘Parlour’ for tea and biscuits. I bet it’s not often three wet and bedraggled cyclists grace those hallowed halls! It was a very special moment on our trip though, and the Lord Mayor proved to be a very down to earth man who made us feel very welcome. He also gave us some not so good news that the route we wanted to follow to the Shields Ferry was badly disrupted due to massive construction work. So, bidding us farewell and bon voyage he sent us on our merry way to find our way across the river to Arbeia.

Meeting the Lord Mayor of Newcastle (that's not a Mayoral chain around my neck, it's a whistle (just ask).

We decided that the best bet was to forget the ferry crossing and go through the pedestrian/cyclists tunnel to Jarrow then find our way to South Shields from there. The rain had increased by now and we were all feeling the cold as we rode through run-down industrial and residential areas alongside the river. Eventually we found the tunnel from hell! Normally you take a lift down with your bikes but, surprise surprise, the lift was out of order! So the alternative was to take the pedestrian’s escalator down – yes, you guessed it – out of order!! So, shouldering the bikes we tottered down all 306 steps of the longest wooden escalator in the world! A short ride through the tunnel and we were at the other side and luckily the up escalator was working (it proved to be the world’s ‘slowest’ wooden escalator which felt like ten minutes to get to the top).

Through the wet streets of Jarrow and into South Shields wasn’t what I had intended for the finish of this great ride but we pressed on to find the Roman Fort. This wasn’t an easy task as someone had forgotten to put any signs up to what must be South Shield’s main tourist attraction. Eventually we found one sign which took us to the vicinity of the fort, but we had to search around to actually find it. Our wives, along with Gordon’s cousin and husband were there to give us a very warm welcome and congratulations before we hurriedly got the bikes aboard and drove off in the warmth of the car heading for home. It wasn’t the finish we had wanted but what the hell – we had done it!

Done it! Compo, Foggy, and Clegg.

As I mentioned at the beginning, the purpose of this ride was to raise money for the Mayoral charity, Croston House, Garstang, and in that respect we can say it was a great success – when all the money is in we will have collected around £1300 – a BIG thank you to all of you who have donated!!

As for the Mayor of Garstang. Well, Gordon won’t be Mayor for much longer, his term of office finishes soon, but I have a sneaky feeling he will be seen around Garstang on his bike quite a bit in the future, maybe even with Garstang Cycling Club? Despite the pain and the anguish of this ride, I really think he enjoyed it! He certainly did extraordinarily well – we eventually clocked up 182 miles at a very creditable average speed of 11mph. For a non-cyclist, I think that is marvellous – well done Mr Mayor!

For anybody thinking of doing this ride I can thoroughly recommend it. Very scenic throughout (apart from the last leg out of Newcastle), so may be better doing it in reverse. I can also reccomend the B&Bs that we stayed at - very friendly, comfortable, and great breakfasts - links below.

Hadrian's Cycleway website - http://www.cycle-routes.org/hadrianscycleway/

Nith View B&B, Silloth - http://nithview-guesthouse.co.uk/

Hall Meadows B&B, Haltwhistle - http://www.hallmeadows.co.uk/