I’m sitting outside under a brolly enjoying the warm weather and (immanently) an ice cream. The joy of just being able to sit here and do absolutely nothing – priceless.

Last week I cycled from Whitehaven to Sunderland and “ran” back again. I’ll get around to explaining the ‘running’ bit in a minute.

I was incredibly nervous about the bike leg. It wasn’t a large distance each day for your average club cyclist but for me it was a massive increase on the distances I’d done in training. I’d also never cycled that far alone before. I always get anxious before going out on my road bike and generally settle down once I get going. The navigation was playing on my mind the most.

I had a pretty good idea before going that I couldn’t read my wahoo equipment (on board mini gadget that shows you the route) whilst riding. I could see the little moving blobs (just about) but I couldn’t read anything else on the screen and I worried about going through towns and busier places using it.

Before I set off I’d also uploaded the route to my wrist watch. I can read this very well but only if I pull the glasses down my nose because they are prescription for distance.

Very early in the journey I confirmed that I wasnt going to be using the wahoo at all and would be lifting my arm up on regular intervals to look at the watch. This did indeed prove tricky whilst going through Keswick and Penrith and I even had to stop a few times just to check and memorise the next section. It wasn’t ideal but I managed and thats the main thing.

For the start of the coast to coast it’s tradition to dunk your wheels in the sea by going down a ramp. Unfortunately a) it turns out I was at the wrong ramp and b) the sea was out anyway. So wheels undipped, Clover and I set off heading for Sunderland.

The weather was more than fine. It was hot and most of all incredibly muggy. I had a few tracker issues in the first 20km. I knew that it has to see the sky but had thought my thin upper front pocket of my rucksack would be fine. I was forgetting that when you ride a bike you lean forwards. Once I’d moved it to the back of my rucksack it could see the sun and work effectively.

The start of the C2C is easy riding along fairly flat lanes. After that you start to undulate up and down before coming to the Whinlatter Pass which takes you up a steeper climb. Admittedly it didn’t look steep (an optical thing) so I was dumbfounded as to why I was in a really low gear and sweating a lot. I later found out that long stretch was 17%. Once I reached the top there is a lovely visitor centre and cafe although I chose not to stop there on this occasion.

Where there is an up there is a down and a few wonderful km of downhills led me to Portinscale for my first cafe stop. I had some yummy vanilla French toast, enjoying some extra carbs whilst I could.

Apart from the ride through Keswick which involved a lot of getting off and walking (the traffic was nuts – I was forgetting that Saturday is market day) – the rest of the ride was beautiful country lanes and little villages. I had a brief stop in Langwathby for a cola and a cheese and chutney sandwich before heading up the Hartside climb to the summit.

This was an easy climb with a gentle gradient on switch backs. It did go on and on though.

Finally at the top I had a lovely 9km of descent to Alston where I was staying for the night. My back started to feel sore in this section and I had to stop once or twice to straighten up before getting back into a low positions again for the descent. 110km done on the first day hazaah.

Alston is a pretty town nestled between hills, with a few pubs, shops and absolutely no signal (a feature of the trip).

After some downtime in the B&B I headed out for a pizza and returned for an early night.

The second bike day was harder (in my opinion). Although it was shorter at 97km, the climbs were all in the first half of the day and were much steeper than the day before. In particular the climb out of Stanhope to Parkhead station felt like a 20%. The joy of reaching Parkhead however, is to know that all the hills are behind you and you will be cruising downhill from there in, all the way to Sunderland. The rest of the journey was easy riding but I was held up by a dicky tummy and a short diversion just before the end.

I arrived on Roker Beach just before 4.30pm, much later than I’d expected, but none the less early enough to meet my husband at our hotel for a coffee and a double helping of brownies with ice cream :-).

The anxiety of doing the bike ride was of course all behind me now and was replaced by a new worry. I knew this next leg would be so much physically harder. The plan was to do the run in just 3 days averaging 70km a day, something I’d never done before.

Waking up on day 3 and day 1 of the run (at 4.20am) I had two porridge pots before waving goodbye to hubs and setting off walking down the coast before heading inland.

After two days of cycling my thighs were like rocks and this in turn had led to a sore IT band and tight hip flexors. The result of this was that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to run at all. I decided to power walk for the first hour and see how it went.

After a while my legs started to feel a little better and the gradient although uphill all day was only ever 1/2% so I started to jog. It’s a very slow jog when you are carrying 10kg and I would find myself wondering if my power walk be the same speed. I decided I was still a bit faster jogging and in any case it was simply a more comfortable rhythm.

After a few stops at cafes, shops and parking my backside up on benches, I found myself on the Waskerley Way for the last 12km. The gradient picked up a little and the day got hotter. The way is beautiful and I saw many mountain and gravel bikers going up and down. Sometimes I would see the same person coming down who had passed me coming up, enjoying their speedy downhill and grinning.

The last 5km to Parkhead station took forever. I could see it in the distance and it never seemed to get any closer. I began counting to 100, singing songs, doing the A-Z game, anything to keep me distracted from the tired legs and mind.

Finally I got to the B&B and I knocked on the front door for the lady to let me in. She kindly got me some dinner and a drink and after lots of discussion on whether I could wild camp on the local moorland it was decided I could camp on their little patch of garden at the back of the house.

Her daughter took me out to show me the spot. It was a little bigger than my tent and there was sheep shit everywhere. I hope you dont mind the sheep droppings she said and please dont use a lighter as the fuel tank is just under there. Of course not. I confirmed I had no lighter or matches on me and I would simply kick the sheep poo out of the way.

Actually kicking the poop away was the easier job. The harder job was putting the tent up. I really hadn’t realised it was that windy but of course I was up on a hill in an exposed area. Every time I put down one end and put a peg in, the other part of the tent would fly up and wrap itself around me. I must of looked such a novice if they’d been watching. I bet the residents were looking out from their comfy bedrooms laughing their heads off.

In the end I placed some of my belongings on the tent to keep it down whilst I got enough pegs down to secure it. Job done I crawled inside and immediately wanted to fall asleep. It was only 7pm! It was still really hot though and the tent felt like a greenhouse inside. I couldn’t sleep in that heat so just lay there like a star fish chomping on wine gums until it cooled down a few hours later and then fell into a deep sleep.

My second day running was my worst day. It would be great to say it was wonderful and amazing and be really positive but I’d be lying. I had stopped on day 1 at 59km instead of the 65km I’d wanted to do so I was already behind on my original plan. I’d intended to do 80km on day 2 and already knew that I was unlikely to run that far let alone make up the difference I’d lost on day 1. With that in mind I was running along thinking about my route and where I would stop for the night as I was no longer going to stop where I’d originally planned.

Unfortunately I had no signal all day. It’s amazing how you might think this is great, away from everyone, peace and quiet yada yada but when you need to replan your route, know this will impact on your ability to get food and water and dont know where you are going to sleep……suddenly lack of signal feels like the loss of a vital life line.

I ran the first 9km well along a lovely trail path and carried on with a decent power walk for the next 10-12km uphill.

I ran through a village called Allenheads, which excitedly had a cafe and disapppointingly was closed. I saw a man outside a pub doing the garden and asked him if I could get some water in the pub. He said he only worked in the garden there and it was closed but he lived across the road and would pop back and get some water for me. Water topped up and feeling better for this kind gesture I set off for Nenthead, the next place with a possible cafe stop.

Arriving in the next village I found the cafe closed (this has been a theme of my JOGLE run and a theme of this run honestly). The village shop was open, however, so I ran in thinking about all the goodies I could buy to eat. Hmmm, tinned beans or entire loaves of bread, envelopes (it doubled up as a post office), staples…….. In the end I found nothing that was useful to eat immediately and settled for an additional drink, which I put in my waist bag.

Immediately outside the shop a guy was stood there drinking his cola and asked me where I was hiking. I explained what I was doing and he was interested to know more. He used to run and his girlfriend was a mountain leader. We stood there for a while chatting. It was so nice to have some company and conversation. I was busy explaining how I hadnt been able to get signal all day which meant trying to decide where to book in for the night was tricky. He said it was hit and miss around there and I should get signal once I’d dropped down the other side of Alston later in my journey. Ahhh right then. I could really do with using it now, I just need to check my route. It was at this point he suggested I could borrow his wifi as he lived a few doors down.

I know you are all thinking eek….risky… but honestly it was me pushing the point and I have fairly good instincts. So in desperation to know where I was going to be heading next and perhaps for the evening I followed him to his house and stood at the front door whilst he brought his wifi code across to me. Once I hopped on it was clear it was going to be another 20km to an expensive hotel or 30km to Langwathby where there was a pub/B&B. I quickly sent off a text to Chris whilst I could and decided to keep going for now and book somewhere later.

I set off again feeling quite happy, despite the exhaustion. You see so many bad things on the news and on social media and yet my experiences on adventures is that people are 99.99% lovely and want to help. It’s comforting and I’m not a naive person. I think its just you do realise how anxious you can get in this modern world and whilst being cautious is important so much of the anxiety is unnecessary.

7km later I’d climbed another hill and just as ‘Kevin’ had told me, it plateaued and I found a bench I could have a rest on. It was at this point I took off my shoes to have a look at my feet. I’d walked over some pathless bogland earlier and my feet/socks had become wet through. To my horror my big toe nail was raised and bloody. Hmmm. With certainty that was coming off at some point. Madly it hadn’t hurt until that point but donning some clean socks and pulling my shoes back on I was now aware of it and could feel some discomfort.

The next part of the day was the toughest mentally. I still couldn’t get signal and I was getting extremely tired. I simply hadnt had enough calories and a few snack bars here and there weren’t cutting it. Between that and the sore toe I was getting royally fed up and for the first time ever in a run/adventure or race I thought about giving up.

Why am I doing this? How is this fun? Why didn’t I just run 30km a day? Why didn’t I bring some bags of rice? What is the point of this adventure? The negative mind is a horrid thing and my mind kept spinning around and around in dark places.

During this time I came across a path I was supposed to go down only to find it completely overgrown. This is not unusual at the moment. Increasingly the last few years paths that used to be passable are no longer, not unless you have a machete in your backpack. Sadly I’d left mine at home 😆. I turned back and onto the road. Without signal or google maps, I was left to make decisions the old fashioned way. I saw a sign for Alston and although I knew I was supposed to bypass it on my original shortcut I felt I had no choice now but to go there and decide what to do. I’d stayed there on the bike leg and knew there were cafes/pubs. I could get something to eat and get WiFi.

Setting off up the hill I was also aware that this diversion was going to add another 6km to my day and I really didn’t have the mental or physical energy to get to Langwathby. As I took one slow jog shuffling step after the other I thought again about giving up. In this moment a car came by, stoppped and wound down the window. “Would you like a lift?”.

I dithered. Um, hmmmmm. In truth I really thought about it. I knew though that if I did, it was all over, as this would be cheating. I’d covered half the country already why give up now? I said no thank you and off the driver sped.

I then had a new thought. I will get to Alston and see if I can find somewhere to stop for the night. This will definitely mean I’m going to take 4 days to cross the country on foot rather than 3 but its still doable. The only real issue is my foot and how I feel tomorrow. I can always stop tomorrow if I simply cant go on. Hopefully though, tomorrow is better than today. I’ll decide later.

Arriving in Alston I found a room at the first pub hotel I walked into. I sat down to have some tuna sandwiches and phoned my husband. We had a good chat about the situation and he handled the matter of me stopping or carrying on with absolutely perfect responses. He didn’t push me to continue nor did he say its ok you can give up. He let me talk it out and make my own mind up. As we carried on chatting I was moving away from I want to give up to I might see how it goes tomorrow. Mindset adjusted – sorting out my toe seemed the remaining obstacle.

Just then the lady came by with my room key and I got up to be shown where my room was. As I stood up, a female hiker in the corner said “Sorry for eavesdropping…I didn’t mean to listen in…..but I kind of did….I just want to say that what you are doing is amazing….stay strong”.

How nice is that? I wanted to stop and chat to her about where she had obviously hiked that day (since I could see her hiking boots under the table) but the pub owner was waiting for me to follow her. So I expressed my gratitude and carried on upstairs.

Once in my room I discovered the cause of my pain was a blister that had formed under my toenail. This was forcing it up and off. Reading up on it on google (as you do) I set off (now at a hobble) to the local spar to try and get TCP and a sterilised needle. Of course I couldn’t find the latter but I did get the tcp. Back at the hotel I was able to pop the blister, clean it and bandage up the toe. The relief was instantaneous and a few paracetamol later I knew was going to be able to carry on the next day.

Get in.

Day 3 was a massive and wonderful surprise. I woke up after a great sleep and lots of food feeling really good. The toe felt manageable also. The first 9km out of Alston are all uphill but its gradual and takes you up to the summit at Hartside. I knew the views there were stunning having stopped there on the bike on the outward leg. It was early in the morning and I got to the summit by 7.30am, parked my bum on a bench and ate some brioche whilst enjoying the views all around.

The run down from the summit was glorious. I let my legs go and enjoyed a bit of faster jogging around the hairpins. I never sprint when I’m doing a long day as you will pay for it later but a faster jog was still doable and thoroughly good fun. Just as Kevin from Nenthead had said my 4G was back and I felt reconnected with the world. I could now look up how far away the next cafe was and what time it opened. Such a luxury! I found one in Melmerby and should arrive there just in time for it opening at 9am. Please be open!

It was!! I wanted to do a little jig and go and hug the people behind the counter but they would have thought me completely barking mad. I decided a big smile would do instead. I ordered a few rounds of toast and a pot of tea. Delicious.

The next 16km took me through Langwathby and onto Penrith where I had lunch and another rest. It was a hot day and getting hotter all the time. Leaving Penrith I’d covered 32km and had just 16km to go to a bed and breakfast I’d finally managed to book in the lunch hour. I’d tried contacting various campsites and had wanted to use the tent I’d been carrying all this way but irritatingly none of them would answer the phone or email. Pitch up also seemed useless as they either weren’t on it or only had large pods I couldn’t book.

I had a long lunch stop that day and so it was early afternoon when I left Penrith. I have no idea what temperature it was but it felt sweltering and my 16km run to Troutbeck, near Scales, was all on one country road that had zero shade. With 10km to go I started to feel slightly light headed. With 5km to go I was back to counting to a hundred and had to keep stopping and putting my hands on my knees to stretch out. It was tough but at last I made it and I lay out on the bed in the B&B with no desire to move for the next week. Sadly I had to get up at some point to shower and get food. Thankfully the pub was literally over the road and I headed over for a well earned vedgy burger, chips and pint of shandy.

On my last day I was up eating breakfast in the B&B at 5.30am. The lovely man that worked there got up early to get me some toast, cereal and a pot of tea. I had 54km left to go and I was focussing on the fact that I wouldn’t have to get up early tomorrow. I decided to celebrate every 5km of the day with a little dance and woohoo moment.

The run, my mood, my body. Everything felt right that day. Sometimes it just all comes together. I knew I had quite a few places to stop also so didn’t have to carry quite so much food on me. I settled into a good pace and got to my breakfast cafe after 18km. I even felt good enough to jog up the hill of Whinlatter pass to yet another cafe (you make the most of them when they are there!!) and after a large slice of cake enjoyed sailing down the other side.

After 30km of good jogging and great country lanes and trails I started to notice a pain in my knee. As time moved on, it became more prevalent and I had to take some painkillers. At this point I started to send my husband little videos of me doing my 5km ‘woohoo moments’. There was the 20km to go woohoo then the 15km to go woohoo etc. In all honesty the last 15km seemed to take forever and it was once again very warm but there was increasingly a nice breeze which made it far more manageable than the day before.

With just 10km to go I stopped for one last coffee and a piece of cake and tried (so hard) to enjoy the last stretch along the coast down to Whitehaven (despite the pain).

And then I arrived. I made it woohoo! The finish line was somewhat uninspiring with no one there and me just standing there going ‘hurrah’ to myself. (Note this is my own fault for telling my husband not to come).

After a few minutes a couple walked past me and took my ‘finishing picture’. Well thats that then. I started hobbling (amazing how once you stop running your body just goes ‘nope i’m broken’) to find my B&B for the night.

Just as was I setting off a man came up to me. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Well done on your challenge and everything but did you know that ramp where you are standing is not the official end of the C2C anymore. There is a new ramp now. Just thought you’d like to know.?”

Do you know what? I really didn’t want to know thanks!!

Still it counts! I saw the sea on one side of the country, then saw it on the other and back again. Ffs. 😂

Well what now you might ask? Well for a while nothing. I’m taking a break from endurance and have even cancelled my upcoming Ultra. I need some time out. I am going to focus on strength/gym and getting bikini ready for Barbados later in the year.

As for next year though who knows…. 🤔