In the past five years mountain biking in the Lakes has grown
in popularity. Keswick, Windermere and Ambleside are among locations
offering easy bike hire opportunities.
Passing through the central Lake
District is the Coast to Coast (also known and signposted as the
CtoC or C2C) mountain biking route provides around 130 miles of
riding. Your start point can be either the lighthouse in Workington
or the harbour in Whitehaven (Here there is a tradition of dipping
your wheel in the Irish Sea and doing likewise in the North Sea).
And on the east side finish in Tynemouth (4 miles longer) or Sunderland.
The Sustrans map also shows a further link from Carlisle to Penrith.
The Sustrans route is signed as 'C2C'
The route is predominantly on minor roads and disused railways.
There are some tougher (=more climbing) options, e.g going from
Whitehaven crosses Whinlatter Pass but starting from Workington
(6 miles shorter) does not. And east of Keswick the 'alternative'
Old Coach Road takes you way up on to rough moorland tracks while
the 'main' route parallels the A66 on minor roads.
The CtoC links into the recently created West Cumbrian cycleway
network near the Mirehouse housing estate in Whitehaven. The cycleway
is largely tarmac-topped and follows the lines of disused rail
links that used to serve the are's iron and coal industrial past.
More details of the C to C cycleway can be found at: Excellent site giving details of the Coast to Coast
Cycleways.
Thanks to Sustrans many disused rail lines now double as cycleways
around Keswick and between Workington and Whitehaven.
 |
Hadrian’s
Cycleway is a new 170 mile long distance Coast to Coast cycle route being developed by Sustrans and is due to eventually link Tynemouth to Roman Ravenglass. |
Details of West Cumbrian cycleways.
Keswick Bike Hire optionKeswick Mountain Bikes
Mountain Biking details on Keswick based site Lake District Outdoors
Bikemagic UK site....Bikemagic.
Cycleway information... Sustrans
Rivals Net Mountain Biking webRivals MTB
MTB biking magazine link http://www.gofar-mtb.com
American MTB site...MTBReview.com
Extreme site: http://extreme.nas.net/
Fattires! http://fattire.com/
Try this one.... Cool biking link
Cumbrian cycle club;honister92.com/
Bunkhouse near Shap: New
Ing Farm, Shap, Nr. Penrith, Cumbria, CA10 3LX tel: 01228 598782.