The C2C And Northern Cycle Routes Forum

I'm planning this year's April ride and it's looking like coasts and castles. I have 3 days. So far I'm thinking of:

Day 1. Train to Newcastle start 10:30, find my way out of Newcastle and ride to Alnmouth (55m),
Day 2 visit Lindisfarne if tide OK and stop in Kelso (78m),
Day 3 Kelso to Edinburgh (73m) train home 18:30.

Any thoughts or suggestions of good B+Bs or places to eat?

geocycle wrote:Any thoughts or suggestions of good B+Bs or places to eat?

Sorry I don't but if you hear of any can you let me know as there is about 14 of us who are planning to do it august bank holiday weekend From Edinburgh to Newcastle

Thanks and good luck

Thanks for your reply. I'll be off in April so will post a report here.

I found a site of tide tables for the Lindisfarne crossing that might be of use to you in your planning.

http://www.northumberlandlife.org/holy-island/Page3.asp

Well I did it! Thought you might be interested in some pics of my ride from Newcastle to Edinburgh last week.

Day 1 was Newcastle to Seahouses. 75 miles all fairly flat but some interesting coastal views and tracks along the dunes. The first 15 miles were along the tyne and fairly urban, I used some of the paths and then took main roads when these got a bit glass strewn or tricky to navigate through, especially in the Byker/Walker area where a lot of building is taking place. I liked the quayside developments in newcastle though. Good signposts thoughout. Really enjoyed the castles especially Warkworth. I took all the offroad options and had no problem but it was dry. It might have been trickier in the wet. I am still getting the sand out of the chain! I stayed in St Columba's House B+B Seahouses -very nice people and ate at the Links hotel -excellent.





Day 2 Seahouses to Melrose 75 miles. More good tracks. The highlight was Lindisfarne and the tidal causeway. Some rough sandy sections up to Berwick. Again quite flat but hard work into headwind after Berwick. I took a quiet B road from berwick to kelso as the sustrans route gets quite convoluted. I have also done quite a bit of it before on the pennine cycleway. Very impressed with Melrose. I stayed in the George + abbotsford which was friendly enough and worth its 2-stars but ate in the Station hotel which was excellent.






Day 3 Melrose to Edinburgh 52 miles. Excellent ride through the Moorfoot hills and then some time in Edinburgh. The climb through the Moorfoots was quite long but not difficult and easy enough to keep a rythym. There was an excellent downhill toward Edinburgh. This was my favourite day in terms of the cycling. I got lost entering Dalkieth because I didn't leave the rail path at the right place. I ended up on the A7. Other than a very hairy roundabout where it crosses the main ring road this is actually quite a good route right into the city with bus/cycle lanes along most of it. Best bargain was the shower for £3 at Waverly station! There's also a left luggage.




Overall I really enjoyed this very varied route. Take time to see the castles. It is not as tough in terms of hills as the C2C, Reivers, PCW or even hadrians although some parts are exposed and the wind could be an issue.

Nice photos there, geo. The Coast & Castles is one I would like to do sometime, maybe this September. I need a return route from Edingburgh.