This is a hilly cycling route with strenuous climbs and fast technical descents in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). I rode it twice over three days for the purposes of documenting the route - on a tourer and on a mountain bike - and enjoyed it equally on both occasions. It is based on Isaac's Tea Trail, a popular 37-mile walking route between the market towns of Allendale and Alston in Northumberland and Cumbria both of which offer a range of hospitality outlets and accommodation. To facilitate road bikes the main route uses metalled road surfaces - with the exception of 4.5 miles of the shared South Tyne Trail between Alston and Slaggyford which is confined, unsurfaced and bumpy in parts. Those with narrow, high-pressure tyres might prefer the A689 alternative which runs parallel. Elsewhere I’ve purposely offered other off-road options. These are more extreme and suited ideally to bikes with specific off-road features such as wider tyres with deep treads, a wide range of gears and even suspension (I managed tolerably well on a touring bike with 28c tyres but was far more comfortable on a mountain bike the second time). Clockwise is my preferred direction, making the most of a 5-mile descent on the well-surfaced A696 where traffic is light but fast-moving. On the second ride I came to the conclusion that the ‘shorter’ off-road alternative is only for the die-hard trail rider: apart from passing up a sublime descent on the road, it’s much slower, involves several awkward gates and may even be flooded into the bargain (as it was for me). Be aware that the C2C route in the early part of the ride, over Allendale Common, is exposed to the normally prevailing westerly wind and will be hard work if it’s blowing (I had an easterly wind on both occasions, so it felt quite easy). Other than over the top of Alston Moor the remainder of the route is quite sheltered.

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