Yesterday ten of us touched our bike wheels in the sea by Sunderland Pier and it was a perfect moment as the sun shone and everybody beamed. Judging by the number of cyclists we saw during the last three days the coast to coast must be completed by thousands of people on bikes every year and yet you can still feel a huge sense of achievement and friendship, through pain and laughter, when that person is you and the rest of your mates.
Three days earlier I was just meeting some of our group for the first or second time ever but the C2C is like an accelerated learning course for friendship. It takes the first mechanical, a bit of map reading and lunch at 2pm despite leaving home at 5.30am to cover kids, jobs and partners. By the time everybody has had at least one hill they couldn't get up, but did; and kept look out while someone has to pee yet again, it feels like we've known each other for a decade or two.
Day one is hard work long before you get on your bike what with trying to leave home life organised while getting yourself plus bike to Workington in time to cycle the first 55 miles to Penrith. Then there’s the unplanned trip to Halford’s and a completely different route out of Workington due to the devastation left by the flooding at the end of last year. Cockermouth had been similarly affected and whole streets were boarded up and strangely uninhabited. So the trip started with a guilty buzz of excitement at our own frivolity against a backdrop of such obvious calamity for others.
To be continued ... see
Girls on Tour: the C2C road route Workinton to Penrith
Girls on Tour: the C2C road route Penrith to Rookhope
Girls on Tour: the C2C road route Rookhope to Sunderland
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