Huge well done to Chris Dyson, Gary Philbin and Alan Dootson on completing the C2C (Coast to Coast Challenge) After the customary dipping their back wheels in the North Sea, the guys decided to go from East to West for the ride starting at Sunderland and setting off to find the trail. After several hours of mis-directions sat nav issues the boys landed into Consett after around 5 hours so it wasn’t a great start – they’d lost in the region of 20 miles and had only actually knocked off 20 miles or so off the actual journey….
Nonetheless after being fed and watered the guys set off again heading Nenthead a further 29 miles away. However disaster struck when Al's tyre was ripped to shreds on a steep descent. We’d planned to get to Penrith after day one which was over 40 miles away… . We decided to drive the boys Penrith – get the tyre replaced and head back early the following day … still 90 odd miles short of reaching their destination in Workington.
After a good meal and a decent nights sleep the boys were up and early at 6 to head back to the point where Al's tyre blew out and duly started again. Disaster struck again! Gary's gear chain broke and was driven to a repair shop about 10 miles away. Nonetheless Al & Chris plodded on and Gary soon joined them once the repair was done. There was still some tough riding to go though as Hartside Pass loomed a tough 3 mile climb taking the guys to the peak of the Pennines.
The good news is though what comes up must come down! After a quick cuppa and bite to eat at the summit the boys hurtled down to Penrith in no time – so fast that Paul and I struggled to keep up in the Motorhome! 50 miles to go and could the boys do it? You bet they can and they polished off several challenges in the Lake district via Keswick to finally make it into Workington about 5.30.
A customary dip of their front wheels into the Irish Sea and the Challenge was complete! Only a 2 hour drive home now…..!
Anyway a fantastic effort by the boys and best of all they raised over £1700 for the Foundation to help with our brilliant causes – Well done once again and big shout out to Paul for covering about 400 miles plus over the 2 days of narrow and steep lanes and some dodgy navigation from Tony (me!)
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