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On the weekend of September 3^rd 2010, Peter Chappell and Andy Hanlon of Newton Aycliffe, Richard Smith of Darlington, Richard Henry of Sunderland, Raymond Booth of Billingham and Barry Mayhew of Coxhoe cycled the 140-mile stretch of mountains, moors and picturesque villages that divide northern England's two coastlines in aid of cancer research.

The Sea to Sea (C2C) starts in the former coal mining and industrial lands of West Cumbria, travels through the stunning scenery of the northern Lake District and heads into Keswick before passing through Penrith and the Eden Valley with its lush valleys and sandstone villages. It then starts the climb up to Hartside and onto the unspoilt Northern Pennines – the roof of England. There then follows an undulating ride as the C2C meanders through old lead mining villages, such as Nenthead and Rookhope, and down into the Durham Dales before entering the old steel town of Consett. From here it’s an easy ride through one of Britain’s old industrial heartlands to the North Sea and Sunderland. Tradition dictates that you start the ride by dipping your back wheel in the Irish Sea and only ends when your front wheel gets a dip in the North Sea.

So armed with our padded pants and go faster helmets we dipped our back wheels in the Irish sea and set off on the first leg of our journey taking us 53 miles from Whitehaven to Penrith via Whinlatter Pass, the first of 6 gruelling climbs. The second day was the shortest at only 40 mile but proved to be the most testing. The climbs started a few mile outside Penrith and included the grueling 4 mile climb up to the Hartside cafe, the steep and frustrating climb (due to several false summits) out of Garrigill, the long climb out of Nethhead to Black Hill, the highest point on the C2C at 2000ft and last but not at all least the soul destroying climb out of Allenheads (by this point most of the group were close to tears). The last day was supposed to be the easiest of them all at 47 miles (mostly downhill) but proved to be the most grueling for one of the group. The first mile of the climb out of Rookhope to Stanhope Common over very rocky terrain can only be described as Hell. With tightening muscles, sore backsides and knee ligament damage in one case, it was purely down to mental strength and group encouragement that got us to the 100-mile point of the C2C. We then followed the wonderful Waskerly Way and onto an old railway line leading into Consett. From Consett it’s easy riding to the finish where we were greeted by family and friends at the finish line and received a warm round of applause when dipping our front wheels in the North Sea at the finish. Mission accomplished.

All in all it was a very tough but rewarding challenge but most importantly it raised a lot of money for a very worthy cause which is close to the hearts of all members of the group.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dan Potter of Washington for his support throughout the journey, we would like thank our family and friends for their encouragement and support over the last few months but most of all we would like to thank everyone for their kind donations, it really means a lot to us and cancer research.

Thank you.