24-27 May 2013
Last year I recruited my
son Fraser as a temporary member of the Sheffield Visually Impaired Walking
Group (SVIWG), mainly because he owned a people carrier which we needed to
ferry part of our team to Ben Nevis for our 2012 Challenge, raising funds for
SRSB and SVIWG.
This year Fraser proposed
that he and I, plus his pal Steve, do another challenge - Coast to Coast - once
again raising funds for SRSB/SVIWG. I immediately agreed! All expenses were to
be met by Fraser and myself and SRSB’s fundraising team were to organise a
competition to guess the time it would take us.
Friday 24 May
After school Fraser picked
up his daughter, Steve and me.
His people carrier had by
now been converted into a camper van and would provide our support vehicle and the
method for transporting Steve's mountain bike and our tandem.
Fraser's wife Lucy had booked us bed and
breakfast at The Old Ginn House Inn at Workington which is only a few miles
from Whitehaven, the start of the challenge.
Saturday 25 May
Whitehaven
We were interviewed by BBC
Radio Sheffield’s Georgey Spanswick via telephone on the harbour wall. Then a photo
session at official starting point, the bottom of the slipway, and the start
time was recorded.
About a mile out I noticed
that I had forgotten my rucksack so Steve returned to the slipway and retrieved
it. He had fallen into the trap - for rest of trip he had the rucksack!
This first day section was
delightful, mostly good tracks along disused railway routes, and beautiful
scenery described to me.
The weather was perfect -
sunny but not too hot and very little wind.
Some later miles of this section
became a little hairy i.e. steep hills with tracks constructed of poorly
compacted crushed stone. Skidding was experienced which caused me concern and
there were steep falls at the edge of this track when emergency braking was required.
When we arrived in Keswick
a pint of shandy was appreciated for its calming effect. And while sat outside
the pub, a kind Scot holidaymaker gave me a Scottish fiver donation.
Eventually we arrived at
our first night camp between Keswick and Penrith - The Mill Inn, situated 10
miles from Keswick, in the foot of Souther Fell, in the Blencathra range in the
Mungrisdale Valley. Here we enjoyed a good meal and fine ales.
The 17th century room
Steve and I shared was tight to say the least, but had more headroom than some
rooms downstairs which had only about 5ft 6 doorways and low beams. Not good
for our 6ft and 6ft 2 frames!
Sunday 26 May
With a good hearty
breakfast inside us, off we go again.
Easy going through Penrith,
then we encountered our first steep road ascent. Fraser, who was taking
antibiotics for bronchitis, decided we should dismount from our tandem and push
it to the brow, which seemed to get further away every time he declared it was
only about 50 metres away. Steve managed to ride all the way but we beat him to
the top.
Now we started to make up
time with the downhill speeds, the tandem was KING OF DOWNHILL FREE WHEELING, faster
than any of the others, reaching unbelievable speeds. Both of us bent over for
best streamlining: Fraser showing his racing pedigree; me not too happy.
Then back on tracks we
suffered a setback. Our track passed under some overhead National Grid
electricity cables and the route was blocked to allow cable replacement to take
place. As they hadn't started this work, we argued that we could be through in
only 5 minutes and would replace the barriers, but we were not allowed.
This diversion was not
clearly signed and took us a long way out of our route. Furthermore this was to
be our longest stage with the highest hills to date, a cafe at 1,900ft. Pilot
Fraser kept calling "DIG DEEP Pops!"
I kept thinking that it
was a good thing that I had done some extensive gym training, building up my
stamina and breathing, and must thank all my trainers at Hillsborough.
After this summit it was
another scary downhill, breaking through the sound barrier!
Unfortunately no mobile
phone signals were available and we lost contact with Lucy, who was now at our
next camp - Barrington Bunkhouse at Rookhope - and worried.
Eventually we turned up
and by good fortune called into the only pub in this hamlet to enquire where
the Bunkhouse was… Everyone knew about us, the bunkhouse was almost next door
and Lucy had been showing her alarm.
Fraser went to find his
van which was alongside the bunkhouse. Steve and I didn't waste a moment and
were pleased with fine ale!
Fraser and his family
joined us and explained that our sleeping quarters was a small caravan which had
been taken over by chickens. The good news was they had chased the chickens
away and found a couple of fresh eggs for our breakfast!
We decided to have another
couple of drinks.
Whilst we slept reasonably
well until about 3am, we were then awakened by the cockerel which started his
loud cock-a-doodling almost non-stop forcing us up earlier than intended
feeling murderous about cockerels.
Monday 27 May
We breakfasted with Fraser
and Lucy at the Camper, then it was wagons roll on our final leg; probably our
easiest day.
Interesting off road sections
and after reaching the highest road climb in Northern Pennines we descended
gradually down a good track across moorland, making good progress towards
Newcastle.
We unfortunately became
victims of sabotage i.e. someone had tampered with the route signs and we were
sent on a wild goose chase. Eventually we rectified this, found Lucy and her
camper, and enjoyed the lunch she had prepared.
We made arrangements to
meet again at finish of Coast to Coast.
Tynemouth
Our route now took us
along the River Derwent, which eventually merges with the Tyne.
Riding alongside the
rivers and then crossing over a bridge to North Bank, we also had to cross over
a very busy road via a pedestrian ramp with 180 degree turns which Fraser skilfully
rode our tandem over.
Then alongside the Tyne
into the centre of Newcastle where we became entangled with crowds of young
people going to a musical concert called Evolution.
We were advised to take a
detour.
Eventually following the
coast road we finished up in Tynemouth. Just before reaching the end we were
greeted by a group from Norfolk we had met the previous evening who had
generously donated £15.
We rode down onto the
beach to dip our tyres into the east coast sea.
What a great team - thanks
Fraser and Steve!
We joined up with Lucy and
girls and after a celebration meal headed south through the Tyne Tunnel. The journey
being all motorways was quickly completed but made me think again about the
wonderful Northumberland coast for walking!
Total mileage from Whitehaven to Tynemouth - 155 miles (mostly painful)
Total time taken over the three days from starting each day to
arriving each night - 21hrs, 1mins 36 seconds
Any more donations will be
gratefully received at SRSB, 5 Mappin St. Sheffield S1 4DT marked Coast to
Coast.
To all who supported us, thanks
a million, it's for a very worthwhile cause.
Eric Andrews (the blind one)
28 May 2013
28 May 2013
