Bradford College

Coast 2 Coast

The Coast 2 Coast cycle route is one of Britain's longest and most challenging routes.  It involves rugged terrain, long climbs and is based on off-road tracks, disused railway lines, cycle paths and minor roads.

Bradford College staff, Ben Snowden and Tony Gill decided to rise to the challenge and complete an alternative to the more traditional and more famous Coast 2 Coast cycle route, by doing the Walney to Wear. Despite the many obstacles they encountered along the way, they completed the route in 3 days.  The Coast 2 Coast route is the brainchild of the famous writer and hill-walker Alfred Wainwright. The route, which runs across the North of England from Whitehaven or Workington on the Cumbrian coast to Sunderland or Tynemouth on the North Sea Coast, features some of England’s most breathtaking scenery.

Explaining how the idea for completing the famous Coast 2 Coast cycle came to fruition, Lecturer Tony remarked: “I used to do the Coast 2 Coast every year with some lads from Sunderland.  We’ve been cycling from Whitehaven to Sunderland for the last six years.  Last year they didn’t want to do it again, as they felt we’d done it too often. So I mentioned it to Ben Snowdon, who works in the Placement Office at the College, and said we should do it, but do the different route.  He was up for it.  I got a bike through the College ‘Ride to Work’ scheme and Ben got one too.  So we decided to go for it one weekend in summer… I think it was the 25th July.  It was the only weekend in summer when it didn’t rain.” Tony joked. 

Tony planned the route and booked the accommodation.  Tony explained:  “Ben came over to mine on the Thursday night.  We got up early on the Friday morning and got the train from Keighley right up to Walney Island. We were going to cycle from Friday to Sunday.” Only 20 miles into the first day of the cycle route, Tony had to contend with a puncture.  Tony was determined not to allow this to hold him back.  He managed to repair the puncture and cycle back on his way. Tony said:  “The route is 150 miles but we ended up doing 190 miles in three days.  We got lost once on the Friday and ended up going round and round in Kendal!” 

When asked how Tony felt when he realised they were lost, he replied:  “Kendal’s one way system is notorious… we ended up going around Kendal and going the wrong way.  We ended up taking a detour, but the detour took us right up to the top of a big hill.  It went up two or three miles, Ben was miles in front and made me suffer that day.   We were shattered!  You could see the thunder and lightning coming in behind us.  Then it got really cold and really dark. There were a couple of times when I thought we weren’t going to make it.  Ben was tired but I was dead on my feet.  The night before we set off I didn’t get much sleep either.  The little one kept me awake all night so I was tired when we set off.”

Tony continued:  “We went up these fells; we just kept going up and up and up. Then we saw the M6 and thought ‘thank goodness for that’.  We dropped down for about three miles to the M6 then we cut across the top of the M6 and went into Teebay.   We were stopping at the Old School there.  I’d never been so tired for a long, long time on a bike… I was so glad to get there.”

On the Saturday, Tony and Ben cycled to the highest pub in Britain, with the highest point at 1732 feet. Commenting on cycling up the valley, Tony said:  “It was hard though as it was five miles to get there uphill. We set off from the bottom of a valley and we went up as steep as you could possibly go.  It went up and up for ages.  Then we got up to the top of it and reached the Pub, Tan Hill. It was worth stopping up there as we had a nice pint.”  Tony joked.  “Plus we knew the next five miles back  would be cycling down hill.  It was great!”

Just when Tony and Ben thought they had encountered every conceivable problem, disaster stuck again.  Tony explained:  “The funniest thing is on the Saturday night we were supposed to be stopping at Hamsterley Forest.    I got the directions wrong… I thought we were stopping at Whitton le Wear.  So we ended up cycling down this big hill to Whitton le Wear. Ben was dead on his feet on the Saturday… he was really struggling.  Then we had to turn round and come back.  He wasn’t best pleased that we had to cycle two miles back up the hill to go back to Hamsterley to stop.”

Tony laughed and added:  “On the Sunday morning we went back down the way we’d been before.  We covered that route three times.  That was typical of the weekend we’d had, but we had a good laugh and the scenery on the route was wonderful. It was good to finish it.  I’ve done the Coast 2 Coast now for many years.  I’m not denying it was hard at times but there was a great sense of achievement at the end. It was something I enjoyed doing!”

Commenting on the sense of achievement felt on completing the route, Ben said:  “It was exhilarating… really good.  Tony planned it all and I basically tagged along.  I didn’t really know what to expect hill wise or the amount of miles we would do per day… but yeah we really enjoyed it.”

Ben continued:  “I felt like I wanted to do it again or another long distance bike ride after doing that one. That’s how much I enjoyed it.    It’s the first bike ride I’ve done that’s been over 150 miles long… I’d never done anything like it before.  I felt really proud… although my family and friends thought I was mad.”

The obstacles Tony and Ben encountered during the Coast 2 Coast route did not put them off planning another cycling adventure.  They plan to enter the Fred Whitton Challenge in January. Tony remarked:  “It’s 100 miles over all the peaks in the Lakes. We also plan to do Lands End to John O’Groats next summer and do something big for charity!”

Photographic gallery of the challenging route Tony and Ben encountered along their 190 mile cycle ride.