Hi all,

Does anyone have a GPX for the Reiver offroad (and onroad if you've got it sitting around) c2c routes? I can find maps etc but no GPX. I know they're signposted but I want to check what's nearby etc.

Cheers,

Andy

I did it west to east as part of a C2C2C. Reivers is the end of part 2 and part 3

Part 1: https://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MTc2NDUzNw==
Part 2: https://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MTc2NDU0NA==
Part 3: https://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MTc2NDU0Mg==

(may be some slight variations, but I think only to go via the accommodation we were going to use)

That's brill, cheers!

How did you find it Dave?
(apologies if I have forgotten a write-up somewhere..... )

No you haven't missed anything. I did it a couple of years ago with a couple of friends that I've done some road touring with who were a bit "gravel curious". We rode the traditional C2C route from Tynemouth to Whitehaven, but using the off-road sections (of which there's not that many, though significant bits of the "road" route are on old railway lines etc.), and back on the Reivers.

Quite a lot of the Reivers is on the road too, though mostly quiet lanes. From Whitehaven to Kershopefoot, I only remember a couple of short off-road sections approaching and through Carlisle. There's the long gravel section through to Kielder, and then you're back on roads until you're approaching Ponteland. Unless I've forgotten some bits.

I enjoyed the trip though. We did it over 3 and a half days, which was pretty tough, but was mainly to work round accommodation as we weren't self-supported. The first day was about 90 miles, including from home out to the coast (for purist reasons), and featured a lot of big north Pennine climbs, and a stiff headwind. We stayed at my friends' parents' in Matterdale End, at the end of the Old Coach Road.

The second night we stayed at Skiddaw House which obviously added a big off-road climb at the end, but well worth it! That was another long day out to the coast and back, but ironically finished only a few miles as the crow flies from where we started.

The third day was a century across northern Cumbria, through Carlisle, the quiet lanes across to Bewcastle under big skies, through Kielder Forest and down to Bellingham. I remember riding at least half the day out of the saddle due to a bad saddle sore, much to the amusement of my friends, and dropping my phone trying to put it in a waterproof pocket during a downpour, and the water flowing down the road actually covering it (somehow it survived).

The final bit back to the coast and home was a bit anticlimactic, but probably because it's so familiar to me.

Thanks Dave. I follow the Reiver routes FB page so it's interesting to hear how it is in practice. Some of the new routes they are working on around Wooler look really good - nearly all off road if the photos are to be believed. NHS Borders has asked us not to cross the border unless we absolutely have to just now, so I guess it can all wait. Plenty this side of the border for now.

Hadn't come across that page. One of Ted Liddle's many pies it seems. Following some links, I came across this map, which shows both on- and off-road Reivers routes, which I wasn't aware of: https://www.tedliddle.uk/cycle-routes/r ... cle-routes. I can't remember what I used when plotting our route. Possibly I just cribbed bits from both and/or made bits up. Not that helpful to the OP really.

Can't help but think that NHS trusts issuing their own advice, alongside government "advice" at national (but not union, hence varying between England, Scotland, Wales and NI) and local level, and "legal restrictions" all of which is different, isn't making the water any less muddy But that's another story. Not crossing the border sounds sensible though, given the high infection rates here

I tried to invite you to like the page on FB but it wouldn't let me so maybe you have a 'don't even think about inviting me to like anything' setting enabled....

https://www.facebook.com/ReiversCycleRoutes/

Yeah, not going swanning about in large cities with high infection rates seems a solid suggestion and one I don't have to think too hard about.

Ted Liddle is pretty prolific, though most seem to be out of print these days. He has a new one due out in the spring though, which is what is being researched atm I think.

https://www.tedliddle.uk/publications