A new coast-to-coast cycle track, the 169-mile Way of the Roses from Lancashire into Yorkshire, opens in September I have a confession to make. Despite the fact that I cycle about 3,000 miles around Britain every year, I’ve never done the C2C. The classic coast-to-coast route from Whitehaven/Workington to Sunderland/Newcastle is, to me, terra incognita. So when Sustrans , the sustainable transport charity, announced that it was celebrating the 15th anniversary of the national cycle network by opening a new sea-to-sea route and that they’d take me in the very first group to ride it, my joy was unconfined. This was not, however, quite the emotion I felt a few weeks later half-way up the well-named High Side, a real cruncher of a hill that rises like some home-grown Mount Olympus from the unassuming market town of Settle, in the Yorkshire dales. I’m not entirely sure of the spelling, but my feelings could best be summed up in the word aaargheeeeeoooofffaaaargh. But that was one of surprisingly few moments of pain on the 169-mile ride from Morecambe in Lancashire to Bridlington in East Yorkshire that makes up the Way of the Roses. (See what they’ve done there?) Indeed for a cycle route that must inevitably cross both the Pennines and the Yorkshire wolds, it’s extraordinary how much carefree (and, indeed, car-free) riding there is to be had. Throw in the fact that the prevailing westerly wind often gives a helping hand over the hills, and you’ve got yourself a gauntlet that even fair-weather cyclists can pick up. I have to say though, that I didn’t expect leaving Morecambe to be such a wrench. If you should read a “top 10 hotels with great sea views” that doesn’t include the town’s Midland Hotel – an art-deco swirl of stone all alone on the front – it’s not much of a list. In the morning I drew the curtains to gaze on what looked like a thousand islands dissolving into a blazing Irish Sea, but turned out to be a huge sweep of Cumbrian coastline and some cleverly placed sea mist. All too soon I was joining my fellow debutants on the promenade and listening to a pep talk from Rupert, an impressive Lycra-clad man who helped devise the route and who would ensure we didn’t stray from it.

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