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C2C Cycling
Holiday Information

The Coast to Coast cycle stretches from the beach at St Bees on the Irish Sea coast to the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea. It is the classic long-distance off-road ride in the UK.

 

This ride is 180 miles long. It is a fantastic way to see northern England and how the landscape changes sometimes abruptly, and then more gently as you cycle along.

 

The Coast to Coast is a special route and the enjoyment of it can be further enhanced by careful planning to fit your own unique requirements, aims, fitness, experience, and any time constraints.

 

We will help you draw up the itinerary that is right for you with the flexibility to book on any date throughout our season.

 

This cycling holiday allows you to fully explore and savour the experiences of discovering unspoilt hamlets along the way, (re)connecting to nature, explore the stunning British landscapes at your own pace, capturing breath-taking surroundings and truly living in the moment!

Price on Enquiry – The price is per person and based on twin sharing rooms.

 

Optional Extras

The below optional extras incur a supplement:

  • Pre-start accommodation in St Bees or Kirkby Stephen
  • Post-finish accommodation in Robin Hoods Bay or Kirkby Stephen
  • Single occupancy rooms – single supplement of £45 per night
  • Bike Hire – We have good relationship with Dales Cycle Centre and Eden E-Motion and can facilitate your hiring of a bike – electric, mountain-bike, hybrid or road. We shall collect and return the bike on your behalf.
  • Additional rest days – Adding an extra night will change the price to that for the new total number of nights in the package. For example, from 14 to 15.
  • Car Parking in Kirkby Stephen
  • Passenger transfers to St. Bees and back from Robin Hood’s Bay

We specialise in coast to coast tours, and that means we can deliver a deluxe experience.

 

High Quality Accommodation
We have an unrivalled working knowledge of all the accommodations along the Coast to Coast. We only use those which provide a high quality experience, not just in terms of facilities, décor and food but also their service and understanding of the requirements of long distance cyclists. The places we use are a mixture of small country hotels, inns, guest houses & farmhouse B & B) that are located on or close to the route (we do not place our customers a distance away from the route). We also look at the entirety of your trip so you can experience the different styles of high quality places and find no two nights are the same.

 

 

Maps & Guide Books
We include the GPX (for Garmin / smartphone devices) and google earth files of the various route options. We can also supply other guide books and maps at cost (with an additional post and packing charge current at time of order). These include the Harvey Maps.

 

Assistance Pre & Post Trip
If you need assistance or advice on anything related to your trip then we will happily help and can arrange for you. For example, finding train tickets from the airport, hotels in Manchester, and taxis from Robin Hood’s Bay (purchases are all additional expenses).

 

Detailed Information Pack
We have written and produced a comprehensive guide to your Coast to Coast Holiday covering all the things you should need to know to prepare and pack for your trip. It also includes details of what to expect and look out for along the way and the services to be found in each village (such as cash points, banks, shops etc), as well as the times to expect your bag(s) to be picked up and delivered each day. Alongside the Pack is a full colour guide and location map for the accommodations so you can easily find them and read our suggestions on places to eat in the evening. You also receive your own bespoke Personal Itinerary setting out all the details of where you are staying, daily distances, and any other specific arrangements for you. These are all emailed to you several weeks in advance of your trip in PDF format so you can carry on your tablet or smartphone (we advise this over paper versions).

 

Support From Us
We’re available 7 days a week and not just in office hours to help you with any query or request either prior to or during your wonderful trip. Don’t forget we are the only local and the only specialist Coast to Coast holiday provider. Meaning we can freely give you any insights into the route, we will meet you as you pass through, we can even look outside our window to tell you exactly what the ground conditions are like and what the weather is doing.

Our packages covers all of the things you will need, with just your lunch, bike hire, evening meal and travel insurance for you to choose and pay direct.

 

Cycle Hire
We have good relationship with Dales Cycle Centre and can facilitate your hiring of a bike – electric, mountain-bike, hybrid or road. We can also collect the hire bikes and return them afterwards on your behalf if you hire through us.

 

Evening Meals
Tasty options throughout the walk including country pubs, restaurants, bistros, and local takeaways (look for our suggestions in your Info Pack). Allow around £20 – £25 per person for a two-course meal.

 

Lunches
Your appetite may change along the route as you adapt to the challenges and you may have special requirements, which is why we avoid choosing your lunches for you. As with evening meals, there are often many great local options to choose from and in any case your accommodations can provide a packed lunch (which you simply order on arrival). Allow around £5-£7pp for a full packed lunch including sandwich, snacks and drink.

 

Car Parking in Kirkby Stephen
We have a secure (locked) car-park at our operating base in Kirkby Stephen, where you can leave your car for the whole duration of your trip. We will then transport you to the start in St Bees and bring you back from Robin Hood’s Bay. You can also access your car when you pass through Kirkby Stephen.

 

Passenger Transport

  • Kirkby Stephen to St. Bees
  • Robin Hood’s Bay to Kirkby Stephen
  • Back up passenger transport to the next route location where required
  • PSV registered and fully insured vehicles driven by our fully qualified, safe and courteous drivers.

 

Travel Insurance
We have developed a partnership with the leading travel insurance company Citybond – part of the TIF plc group. They provide a comprehensive range of travel insurance offering high levels of cover for medical emergency, repatriation, personal baggage, cancellation and much more. This partnership grants you 10% discount on their policies when you give the unique referral code C2CP10. To see more please click here.

Planning your Arrival / Departure

Bus links – Train Links

 

Which airport is closest to route?
The closest ones to the start and finish (and hence easiest to travel to/from) are Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

How to get to St Bees from Airport (applies whether London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow)
Train to Carlisle then local service to St Bees

 

Stay up to date with the latest route conditions, closures and diversions

 

Travel Advice to St Bees, Kirkby Stephen and from Robin Hood’s Bay
We recommend that you have suitable and adequate travel insurance that includes cover should you have to cancel your holiday/booking or abandon after you have started.

 

The Start

  • If you are travelling from overseas you might find travelling by rail directly out to St Bees and back from Robin Hood’s Bay your easiest option. In this case your first night will be at St Bees rather than Kirkby Stephen. Manchester is the nearest international airport and there are rail stations at Whitehaven and St Bees on the west coast.
  • If you are travelling by car, your easiest option is to drive up to Kirkby Stephen, centrally situated just off J38 of the M6. Here you can spend your first night before parking your car in our secure pound in the morning and taking the Packhorse Minibus out to St Bees to start your Coast to Coast journey.
  • If you live close to Kirkby Stephen and can get to us by 8.00am – you could drive directly to us, leave your car and catch the minibus departing at 8.20am prompt.

 

The Finish

  • Cycling across the country from the Irish Sea to the North Sea in a few days is a major achievement and one we recommend you savour at the end, rather than rushing off home. Robin Hood’s Bay and the surrounding area is a lovely place to relax in (or keep active if you desire). From having a cold beer or two overlooking the beautiful bay, wandering around the village or sitting on the beach to being a bit more active and walking the coastal path 8 miles to Whitby (and bus back). For a bit more riding (of a more genteel nature) take the Cinder Track – a converted 21 mile old railway line from Whitby to Scarborough through Robin Hood’s Bay – traffic free and never more than a mile from the sea.
  • If you want to come straight back to Kirkby when you finish your trip, bear in mind that the Packhorse bus departs at 4pm latest from Robin Hood’s Bay. To catch it therefore we suggest you cycle from no further away than Osmotherley on your last day.
  • You will need to decide whether you want another night in Kirkby Stephen before setting off home, or whether you want to jump straight into the car and head off at 6.15pm when the minibus gets back.
  • If you are travelling from overseas, Manchester is the nearest international airport and Scarborough (East Coast Mainline) the nearest rail station on the east coast.

After an exhilarating day walking, cycling or running along the Coast to Coast, the right accommodation is essential. Welcomed into a friendly, clean, comfortable and characterful accommodation to stay is an absolute must. We are very demanding in the standards we expect for our customers.

 

Our accommodation hosts are our trusted and valued partners in ensuring you have a special trip. From 400-year-old cottages and farmhouses, through family-owned country inns and colourful guesthouses, there are over 130 places we use and visit frequently.

 

We look at your overall trip and curate it so the places you stay give you a full flavour of the styles and characters to be found on the Way. No two consecutive nights may be the same as far as the physical surroundings go, though the warmth of the welcome, quality of the lodging & food and facilities to dry your kit are a constant.

 

With over 130 places, it’s a little hard to list without some key omissions! We take your nights and mornings seriously, and so do our accommodation choices.

The below optional extras incur a supplement:

  • Pre-start accommodation in St Bees or Kirkby Stephen
  • Post-finish accommodation in Robin Hoods Bay or Kirkby Stephen
  • Single occupancy rooms – single supplement of £45 per night
  • Bike Hire – We have good relationship with Dales Cycle Centre and Eden E-Motion and can facilitate your hiring of a bike – electric, mountain-bike, hybrid or road. We shall collect and return the bike on your behalf.
  • Additional rest days – Adding an extra night will change the price to that for the new total number of nights in the package. For example, from 14 to 15.
  • Car Parking in Kirkby Stephen
  • Passenger transfers to St. Bees and back from Robin Hood’s Bay

Book Your Coast to Coast Adventure

Secure your booking with just a £100 deposit today.

Want a more bespoke Coast to Coast trip? Create your own adventure here.

Coast to Coast Packhorse is part of PHSV Ltd. Your booking contract will therefore be with PHSV Ltd and your payment will be made to PHSV Ltd.

Key Information

Price from: £

Days: 6

Type: Non-Guided

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C2C Holiday

Itinerary for your
C2C Cycling Holiday

Dedicated to the Coast to Coast route devised by fell walker Alfred Wainwright, C2C Packhorse has served walkers and cyclists across this route for many years. Based at Kirkby Stephen, close to the trail’s halfway mark, the Packhorse provides a comprehensive range of services, thus creating a supportive backdrop to your self-guided trip.

Arrival in St. Bees via train – routes available from all major airports.

St Bees includes St Bees Head, the most westerly point of Cumbria, on the coastal strip between the Lakeland fells and the Irish Sea. It has a history going back over 1,000 years and has been a popular holiday destination for over 150 years.

OR Arrival in Kirkby Stephen
This option is recommended if you are driving and from more than 90minutes away.

Kirkby Stephen is our home town and a place we are very proud to be in. It is a lovely traditional small market town with nice friendly cafes, small galleries, shops, cobbled yards and quaint corners, along with really good pubs. Attractive local walks to loosen your legs after your journey.

Having dipped your wheel in the sea, the ride rolls out gently for the first few miles on quiet lanes and occasionally along the former Ennerdale Railway Line. Leaving this, you approach the Lake District with views over Ennerdale Water and then you pedal around Loweswater. The big hill of the day is up over Whinlatter Pass (318m), shortly after the top there are views over Keswick and to the peak of Skiddaw. It is then a fast and undulating descent into the lovely village of Braithwaite set a few miles outside of Keswick (if you arrive in plenty of time you may Fancy a ride around Derwent Water and into Keswick – literally, an old cheese town, with a market charter going back to the 1200s).

Accommodation: The Coledale Inn

More climbing than day 1 but a continuation of stunning scenery and quiet lanes. Initially on a marked cycle route through Keswick onto a steep climb out to the famous ancient stone circle of Castlerigg, which bestrides a hillside reflecting the contours of the mountains around it. Descending to cross the River Greta, you wheel through pretty Threlkeld Village then along a cycle path beside A66 for short while before crossing into Matterdale and quiet lane through to the shores of beautiful Ullswater into Pooley Bridge.

After maybe a café stop there it’s more quiet country lanes through the village of Askham (part of the Lowther Estate) and Bampton then into Shap (maybe with short detour to visit the historic Shap Abbey). The views of the imposing Howgill Fells come as you crest the divide between Lake District and Westmorland Fells dropping into the pretty village of Orton. More café and chocolate temptations here before the last section across Sunbiggin fell and through Soulby before entering Kirkby Stephen.

Kirkby Stephen is our home town and a place we are very proud to be in. It is a lovely traditional small market town with nice friendly cafes, small galleries, shops, cobbled yards and quaint corners, along with really good pubs.

Accommodation – a good selection in the town.

A day of choice between two equally beautiful though hilly routes, both converging in Reeth before final section into Richmond.

One option is via the villages of Winton and Barras before the long climb up to the famous Tan Hill – the highest pub in the UK. From here it’s a super rolling ride through Arkengathdale with the amazing views across the North Pennines and real sense of wilderness, before reaching Reeth.

The second option features an almost immediate climb up Tailbrigg to the watershed and county border into Birkdale, Across the wild grouse moors before reaching Ravenseat and the start of the River Swale. Beautiful Swaledale is then your companion all the way to Reeth passing the traditional stone barns, walls and meadows this area is particularly famed for.

From Reeth the route rises up on a quiet lane through Marske and above Whitcliffe Scar before final descent into the pretty market town of Richmond, with its quaint cobbled streets and imposing Norman Castle.

Accommodation – located in Richmond centre

The flattest stage of the trip. Out via Easby, with opportunity to visit the Abbey, and Brompton on Swale, onto the quiet and popular cycling lanes through the Vale of Mowbray passing villages also on the walk, like Streetlam, Danby Wiske and Osmotherley. Now into the beautiful N York Moors National Park there is the only climb of the day up past Cod Beck Reservoir before descending the village of Swainby. Quiet flat lines at the bottom of the Moors escarpment brings you into Great Broughton.

Accommodation: The Wainstones Hotel in Great Broughton

The final day is a superb roller coaster through the National Park, after the initial flat quiet lane into Kildale. Glorious descents and some steep climbs passing across the heather-clad moors and through the traditional and picture-postcard villages like Commondale, Castleton, Egton and Grosmont (the latter with the famous N York Moors Steam Railway, now also synonymous with Harry Potter as well as Tom Cruise). The last section towards Robin Hood’s Bay gives you both excellent views across to the North Sea and Whitby Abbey as well as a few more roller-coaster climbs and descents. The final one brings you right down into Robin Hood’s Bay and onto the beach to dip your wheel in the sea again!

Accommodation – located in Robin Hoods Bay town

Depending on your onward travel arrangements, you will either make your own way to Scarborough Station for trains OR enjoy a day at leisure in Robin Hood’s Bay or Whitby before catching our minibus back to Kirkby Stephen at 16:00. This usually arrives back at around 18:00 and so you may wish to consider adding an extra night in Kirkby Stephen if you have a long way to drive home.

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Coast to Coast Packhorse is part of PHSV Ltd. Your booking contract will therefore be with PHSV Ltd and your payment will be made to PHSV Ltd.

C2C Cycling

Chat with our team

Are you dreaming of booking one of our amazing walking holidays along the coast to coast and have some questions for our team? We’d love to have a chat about our hiking staycations and help to plan a totally bespoke journey for you. Fill in the form below and our team will be in touch as soon as possible. Thank you.

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“Oh, how can I put into words the joys of a walk over country such as this; the scenes that delight the eyes, the blessed peace of mind, the sheer exuberance which fills your soul as you tread the firm turf? This is something to be lived, not read about…” Alfred Wainwright