Our C2C Day 2 began with us leaving Keswick Youth Hostel on a bright Sunday morning by following NCN route 71 along the Keswick Railway Path.

  

We cycled through Threlkeld.

And then on to Greystoke.

  

Here we decided to stop off for a cuppa at the Greystoke Cycling Café again. With its gluten-free bread it had been one of the highlights on our  previous visit on our End-to-End.

Then we cycled through Penrith and Langwathby,  before stopping for lunch at Little Selkeld.

  

Although todays C2C route so far had been rolling with plenty of ups and downs (including Whinlatter Pass) we now reached the start of the serious hill climbing as we cycled through Renwick. Here we began the climb up Hartside Pass, generally acknowledged as the toughest climb of the tour. Although not the steepest hill on the C2C, nor even the highest point, it is the length of the climb that makes it tough.

After continually climbing for nearly 5 miles we finally reached the summit at 1903 feet.

At the top is the Hartside Top Café. We decided we had earned a cup of tea and some cake.

We then set off down the hill to Alston where we were staying for the evening.

Highfields B&B is an unassuming house situated on an unassuming little housing estate at the top of the hill in Alston. However Celia and her daughter Cath have been looking after C2C’ers for many years. We can report that their welcome is a fantastic one. They had gone to enormous lengths to provide a tasty gluten-free evening meal for Sarah.

Later in the evening we walked back down the hill to The Angel Inn for a quick drink to finish the evening off nicely.

In total we had cycled 47 miles today and climbed 4100 feet. No wonder we were quite tired at the end of the day!

You can view our C2C Day 2 route below:

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