How I cycled coast to coast avoiding crossing any major UK river – Day 3

C2C: The Quiet Way — Wirral to Cleethorpes (Avoiding Major Rivers)

Join me on a coast-to-coast cycling adventure across England — from the Irish Sea on the Wirral Peninsula to the North Sea at Cleethorpes.

This isn’t the classic C2C — it’s a custom route designed to avoid major river crossings and keep to quieter, more scenic roads. The journey crosses the country from west to east through the heart of England, following five relaxed but rewarding stages:

1️⃣ Wirral → Chester — rolling out along the Dee Estuary with views of North Wales before turning inland through peaceful lanes.
2️⃣ Chester → Telford — a mix of Cheshire countryside and Shropshire market towns, following quiet backroads and canal paths.
3️⃣ Telford → Coalville — crossing the edge of the Midlands via the Wolverhampton canal network and leafy lanes through rural Staffordshire.
4️⃣ Coalville → Newark — riding through Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, tracing gentle hills and historic villages with old railways and abandoned canals.
5️⃣ Newark → Cleethorpes — a final flat run across Lincolnshire farmland, finishing with sea air and fish & chips on Cleethorpes beach.

Expect footage from the saddle, and reflections from each day’s ride — perfect for anyone planning their own coast-to-coast or looking for a low-traffic, scenic alternative to the main C2C routes taking in canals and old railways.

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full route:
https://www.komoot.com/collection/3934859/-c2c-no-major-rivers?ref=collection

komoot: https://www.komoot.com/user/1681213145680
Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/1057497

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[Music] Good morning. Welcome back. Day three for today. The same hotel. I think I stood here when I did my little jog. Day six. But we’re heading in that direction today. So today we’re going past RAF Cosford initially. Uh might see a few airplanes. cuz we might not jumping on the Shropshire and Union Canal. Then we’re doing the Birmingham Canal navigation. Uh the other side of Wolves today we got WY and Essentington Navigation. Never been on there which is a branch off the Birmingham Canal. Then we’re then going to jump on the McClean way. There’s a new section that only opened on Monday. So we’ll jump on that as well. I believe it’s a bit pebbly but we’ll suck in seas better than going on the A5. And then we’re going to ride alongside the Comventry Canal up towards Leicester. So 65 miles today. A bit less climbing than yesterday. Just having a few troubles getting the route on my wahoo. So hopefully I ain’t going to keep having me phone out a lot, but we’ll see. Anyway, let’s get going and I’ll see you on the trails. I said before, Telford is really good for bike lanes and cycling infrastructure. It’s a relatively That’s a relatively new town. It’s I think it was in the late60s it was built. There’s a lot of the older towns and cities in the UK one end. A lot the older towns and cities in the UK had to have retrospectively installed cycle structure. So it don’t always work as well. Whereas this was obviously thought out quite well as they were building. I think 90% of today’s route is new to me which is nice. Whole point of doing these type of rides is you see places you wouldn’t normally. You know we all tend to ride in the places we’re familiar with. I quite like to see a bit of the world, right? Oh, it’s chilly. Tell you what, it would have been a cold night camping last night. Oh, I’m glad I uh decided on hotels. Yeah, it’s very chilly. Forecast be about 14 today actually. So, that’s not bad. It’s going to be a nice pleasant warm day later. Sunny and dry all day apparently. We’ll see, won’t we? God, it’s cold. Like a scene from Apocalypse Now. I never like to see that. I know they regrow it, but yeah. Horrible, isn’t it? Right, I’m just heading towards Cosford now from Shiffn. I’m guessing there’s some sort of old Staley home or whole that way. I tell you what, it’s cold though. Pull me snood up on some of them back lanes. All right, let’s crack on. Anyway, so just behind me there is RAF Cosford. Air Museum. Highly recommend it. It’s free and it’s fantastic. They’ve got an awesome cold war section. Built this massive new hanger. Uh they’ve also got the only place in the world you can see the three V bombers together. Victor Vulcan and the Valiant. And the Valiant that is there uh was the the aircraft that dropped the first ever British hydrogen bomb. Yeah, not a nice thing, but there you go. Different times. So yeah, RAF Cosford Air Museum is fantastic. Totally free. Highly recommend it. Right, onwards pick up the canal in Wolves. So many moons ago when I was a boy in my 20s, I did uh 18 months trade training here an aircraft engineer. Great times right laugh and still in touch with people that I was on the course with. Very good mates. So, next stop is Old Brighton where if you did want there is a shop and a p and a chippy. Obviously not open at 10 to 9 in the morning but they’re there if needs be. It’s coming through a bit later. They are there. I’m going to take the bike path here cuz this is a busy junction. at that house. Big chimneys. Five five separate pots on top there. Six actually. Wow. I don’t know that old. These are built in stylo. So I’m on NCN 81 at the minute. Came out of Old Brighton. Crossed over the busy A41 which was fairly straightforward. Yeah. On a NCN81. Lovely little quiet lanes. All I’ve passed is some horse riders and horses. Just riders without a horse. Yeah. Lovely. Still cold though. Just feel it on me toes. 9°. It was 11 earlier. So, it’s a little bit chillier here. I almost I’m sure I plotted to get back on the shy into Wolves to sort of finish it off. But we’ll see. And I’m like to plan little things like that. cuz I think it’s quite a nice little, you know, we were on the Shropshire Union Canal day one, we were on it day two, we crossed it a lot on day two, and then to to see where it finishes on day three, it’ be a nice little end to that one. So, yeah, hopefully when I was in planning mode, I did that. It is normally something I try and do, so we’ll see, won’t we? Right. You see the NCN sign there? Look 81. [Music] I’m back on the canal. I think that’s the shy down into overampton. So, we’re going that way, right? [Music] See what this is going to be like. Looks all right at the minute. Looks promising. It’s gravel. Sure helps. [Music] Hello, Mr. Geese. I know you have got a lovely spot, aren’t you? Oh, there’s hundreds of them. Yeah. It’s cool, right? Let’s crack on and see what this is like. Don’t know how far I’m going on this. Don’t think super far, but we’ll see, won’t we? Ah, it’s lovely, isn’t it? Yeah. Very nice. So, my choice of tires for this trip were very much dictated by going along canals and old railways. It’s only a it’s about 180 mile of it actually on road, but I didn’t fancy doing 85 miles alongside canals on not very grippy tires, hence me going for the sort of winter bobbly ones. Given the amount of rain we’ve had, I uh kind of hedge me bets. Figured I’d rather have it a little bit draggier on the road, but grippier on the canals. Last thing I want to be is slipping in mud and in a cold canal in October. Lot of tree roots on this one. Yeah, look all these boats. A cool little foot bridge. Haven’t seen many of them, do you? Fact. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of them before. Got a lock gate. I assume your props need a radar key or something to get through there. trouble when the leaves are falling. You can’t see the hazards underneath, can you? You really got to keep your wits about you this time of year. I mean, there’s no two ways about it. Riding along a canal toe path, especially one like this definitely slows you down, but such a lovely way to to get places. So picturesque and peaceful. Something I have noticed this trip and granted I haven’t ridden along a lot of canal. Very little boat movement this time of year. I don’t know if they sort of this time of year find where they’re going to hunker down for winter and just more up and that’s them done. I have no idea. Oh, look at this beautiful little bridge coming up. Look at that. That’s lovely. A picture of that. There were four miles to Wolverampton center. That was bridge number three. So I’m assuming we’re going to go down to 21. So the Shropshire Union 1792 was built and what’s now the Van Go and the one beginning with M. Hey, forget what it’s called. I want to say Mandre or something like that. Uh they used to be just known as Shropsy Union. It’s only in the sort of leisure age. The canals are no longer used for industry that they’ve been renamed. Yeah. 66 mi long. Runs from Wolverampton to Cheshire. Lovely. [Music] Oh, picture just there. You won’t be able to see it, but I’ll post a picture up on screen. It’s beautiful. That is getting nowhere quick today. But not bad at speed these type of things, have they? 65 miles today. So, I’ve got bags of time. I set off at 8. What they done? 16 and a half. So, I got 40 miles left. Have I? No, I ain’t. I got 50 miles left. Just under. And it’s only It’s 10:00. So, it’s been a steady 2 hours. I’ve dropped quite a few times. So, as I was saying earlier, it is nice to finish on the Shropy down into Wolves. Actually, having picked it up quite early up quite early on in its journey from Cheshire. [Music] Thank you very much. Cheers. So, whilst this canal 66 miles, I’ve probably only done we don’t know 10 or 12 by the time I get off it. It’s only a small percentage of a lot of it’s not really ridable. It’s uh it’s a bit like Chesterfield Canal in places. You tend to find a lot of the canals that go through rural parts. They’re the areas that are very footpathy and not really suitable on a bicycle. All right, we’re coming up to Aly Junction soon. Come on in. Chilly one, is it? It is. [Music] So this is where the sorry. Yeah, sure is after we all go. There’s a fair bit of glass on here, isn’t there? You know what I mean? She’s pump. [Music] Assume we’re still on the trophy, but I don’t know now cuz I know the uh navigation we’re going to pick up is the other side of Birmingham wolves. So, I think we’re still on the shy unless we’re on one of the arms of it just back there. Not 100% sure. Canals don’t generally have signs on saying you are on thee like they do on the M on the M’s on the mosses and stuff. [Music] This is bridge 65. So I’m going to say we’re still on the shopping now. We just got on it. The one before was Oh, I don’t know. I have no idea. I’ll see if I can find out and put it up on screen. I’m going to waffle and tell you when I don’t know. At least it’s a nice tarmac path. I feel like I’m going a lot slower, but actually I’ve just loped and I’m doing about the same uh average speed to what I do on the roads 10 to 12 m an hour. So, not too bad. You need to go a little bit quicker on the road. Wow. You need to go a little bit quicker on the roads with the downhills, don’t you? But [Music] train bridge above us there. Wow, look at that one. That’s a beauty. Oh, yeah. Oh, look at them with the little arches in the middle. They’re cool. Yeah. Awesome. Come on, keep running. You’re all right. Don’t want to stop you. Thank you. All right. No worse than to stop when you’re in full flow, is there? Easier for me to stop. Recently got back into running myself. off a little bit just purely as a a weight loss thing. Not for anything crazy. I was a runner probably about 15 years ago, 16 years ago I stopped when I got an injury training for a half marathon and physio said couldn’t run for 6 months. So, oh, this is the Birmingham canal I think. So I asked the physio what could I do and they said get a bike. So actually I’ve just missed this is the Staffordshire and Worersha canal. I’ve just missed my uh turning. I’m going up there. I should show you in a minute where I’m going. I’m going to get a picky me swing around. So we’re going up there where that gentleman is and his dog. I just missed me turning cuz I was busy waffling. So this canal here is actually the Staffordshire and Worersha canal. 2 miles to Wolf Center up this way. Thank you very much. Cheers. Have a nice day. Cheers. This is Oldersley Junction Bridge and couldn’t tell. Wow. I could not tell you what we’re on now. I’ve got no idea. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was so many. I know there’s quite a lot around this area, isn’t there? I mean, Birmingham at one point had uh more waterways than Venice, or it might still do, actually. I know it’s got uh Good morning. Thank you very much. Yeah, I know Birmingham’s got more green spaces and parks than Paris. So, there you go. I heard that on the telly last night. I’m not sure why that came up. [Music] Yeah, I can imagine in the heyday hustle and bustle around here. A very busy place to to navigate and work. This is a bit uh narrow and slippy on the foot as well. No momentum there. I have to walk up. These cobbles have been uh walked on many times, haven’t they? Imagine the horses hoofs in the early days flip-flopping up those quite a cacophony I imagine under the bridges. Oh, this is lovely. Considering I mean you can’t see it, but I think there’s a football ground over to the right. Possibly wolves. Not sure. That’s what I love about canals. They feel so cut off and actually they can be in really busy urban areas. Lovely locks. [Music] Huge set of railway sidings over to the left. Can’t hear them, but I can see them on the map. Massive complex. Come on in. Look at that. The old bridge with a skewed arch. It’s cool that with vio. Apologize. [Music] Wow. It is vio. There’s a lot of arches on that. Oh, I love a vio s. I didn’t even recognize that as one to be fair. I could only see one of the arches. as I approached it. Yeah, that one. And another nice lock. Is that vioked? I don’t know if you can see it cuz of the lock gate. Yes, you can just about. Yeah, it’s lovely that. Hello. Oh, I tell you what, there’s a fair bit of climbing up these locks. Little short ramps, like an interval session. Right. So, the canal was closed. No sign to tell you it was closed. Obviously, that too easy. So, I’ve got a bit of a diversion now. About to stop and have a quick look and make sure not going to put me over a river, but I don’t remember there being any rivers in Wolves that I had to avoid. So, according to my computer, it’s taking me back to the canal just along this wide path. So, not the end of the world. It would be nice if they put signs up though, wouldn’t they? Just here railway just above us. Look, see the bed of it all rotted. So hopefully this is the canal. That is indeed. Good job. Wahoo. Oh, nice. There’s a doer uper. All right, we’re back on track. [Music] [Music] So this is the Pel to Brown Hills Greenway or railway line. It’s got to be a it don’t know which one. Oh, it’s the McClean way. So it’s that one I was on about earlier. So, there’s a little bench there. I’m just going to grab a quick snack and have some of me brew. And then we’ll take this and I’ll show you the new section that’s just been built that we’re going to have a go on today. So, that’s still got ballast down on here. Cool. Right. I’ll put you back on and we’ll get going in a minute. All right. So, this is the man way. Let’s see what this is like. This is going to take us all the way up to Lichfield. There’s a brand new section which only opened on Monday. It’s not tarmac yet. But it’s uh fairly chunky gravel. So I’ve been told by a guy I know, Ian, that it’s ridable, albeit a bit skittish in places. So we’ll see, won’t we? Still a bit fresh today, though. The sun’s out, but really got going. I hope it warms up a bit this afternoon. Tomorrow’s looking awful. Thank you. Cheers. Yeah, tomorrow looks like an absolute drown fest, [Music] but we’ll see. They said Monday afternoon were going to be heavy rain and it wasn’t. So fingers crossed it’s not. I’ve got me poncho poncho of power that I wore on the jog which actually did it job really well. The only thing I had to do with on the jog when it was windy put a bungee around my waist otherwise it ended up everywhere and I forgot that this time. So we’ll see. They still got the old drainage channel just to the right there. Look, it’s called Sea. See it just run along to the right there. [Music] A few more bits of old railway infrastructure. Could have been a plate layers that couldn’t gates over there. Look. Yeah. Cool. Not sure what what it would have been for. Perhaps Ian knows if you’re watching Ian. Being a local, you probably know what a lot of this stuff was. [Music] Pop us a comment, Ian, if you know. Thanks, buddy. [Music] Look at that signal post. Awesome. Picky of that. Expecting that today. Nice. 10 mile to Lichfield, mile and a half to Brown Hills where we’re going. Five to Walaw, back the other way. All right, 10 miles then. So, we got 10 miles to Lichfield, which is on the McClean way hopefully. I’m not sure how long that’s going to take me given the surface change. So, we’ve done 30 miles. So, uh Lichfield is around about halfway point on the route. I couldn’t tell you exactly where, but we’ll assume it’s when we get off the McClean way cuz it’s there or thereabouts. Oh, that’s nice, isn’t it? The freaking hell you’re supposed to get a bike through that. That’s ridiculous pedals. I mean, the designs slow you down, aren’t they? But they don’t think about is the poor boogers that have got bloody pas on [Applause] ridiculous kissing it or something. That’s crazy. Very bizarre. I get the normal people on motorbikes and stuff in here, but at least give a bit of a chance. Eh, [Music] it’s a bit of compact ballast now. Nice little cutting. Look, little reinforced concrete walls at the side on both sides. [Music] Come on in. Come on in. Oh, wow. This cool, isn’t it? Right. So this is the new section. I was just chatting to a three gents there who’d uh come down here and one of them had got a flat so they were walking back but it’s literally just ballast look. So they’ve just compacted the ballast by the looks of it cuz he’s had the stretch over the uh M6 toll is the worst bit. Don’t mind just walk that bit. So you can hear my computer having a meltdown cuz I’m my computer. I’m just in fresh air at the minute. So this is the old railway. that chat there was saying he thinks they’ll probably put some of the tight one MOT gravel down at some point on in. So yeah, this only opened on Monday, Monday this week. So I just already plotted the route. I was going to go around it on the A5, which is awful. Then I saw this and I thought, so I went in ridden it on Monday and said it was all right. I thought, well, why not? Yeah, it’s not bad. Look, you pick your lines. It’s quite compact in places. I’ still got the old rails down as well on the left. Look, I don’t know what, if any, there’s plans with them. Whether it becomes a heritage line, I don’t know. Not seen anything about that. Yeah. So, my original route just over to the right on the A5 there, Watling Street. This horrible busy stretch. I’m just going to go down the pavement. So, this is all right. I’ve ridden worse. You got to watch your derriè. Hi. So, this is the M6 tall here. So, yeah, you can see how it’s not really being compacted down this one. So, a yeah, might just trundle over this just just I’m not putting as much pressure on my uh tires. You know what? It’s good that we’ve got these things. Not complaining. I’d rather have it than not. Yeah. I It’s cool. You took all the sleepers down. That wooden as well. Fight an old line. Training again. Oh, some of these bits are all right. Let it scraped by. Look, still got the old drainage channel there. Just drag it all back. Obviously, there’s more work to be done on here. might have literally just lifted all the sleepers, dragged balance back. [Music] I’m guessing it’s a bit like a a phase one. Mind I want to revisit in a few years a bit more on it then. Morning buddy. [Music] That rain’s just starting to get heavy now. Cool. [Music] Cool. [Music] [Music] I’m not sure if it’s better than being on the road. I mean, I’ve avoided the A5 anyway. City look. So, we’re not far from the center. Look at that. Three spires is beauty. That is it. [Music] Yeah, look at that. That’s beautiful, isn’t it? Look how ornate that is. Yeah, that’s lovely. Really pretty. Take a picture of that. Assume it’s pumping out. Looks like it stunner [Music] is well that tells you all you need to know, doesn’t it, about whether it’s a cycle path or not. And it’s not right. You got to keep on to the brakes. It’s probably easier if I just lift it down. Right. So, we’re just the side of Lichfield now. Just had a calculate. My halfway point is not Lefield. It’s 17 mi past the end of that railway. So, at 52 miles today. So, I’ll try to keep a mental note of that and we’ll we’ll have a celebratory cherry gummy thing when we get there, shall we? I don’t know how far this goes, but it’s nice. Listen. Serenity. Lovely. Right, I’ve just stopped for lunch at a village called Harleston about 10 milesi from Ashby Deausouch. We’re not quite going as far as Ashby today. We’re cutting south underneath it towards Coleville. Yeah, I’ just been spitting it quite a bit. So, I thought I’ll just stop and have a bite to it. I’m just sat in one of these little community hub places in Harleston. I’ve got 20 mi left for the day. So, plenty of time. I’ve been taking it quite easy today as well, actually. So, it’s quite nice. I think 55 65 miles is a nice sweet spot, I think, cuz you got time to enjoy, explore, stop at a pub, cafe, take pictures, chat to people. Whereas when you start pushing the distance out, you kind of like you’ve always got that I need to get there. I need to crack on. So, but yeah, been a cracking route so far today. Even the man way with its dodgginess weren’t amazing. But yeah, been all right. So, applauding. I’m enjoying it. It’s been nice and it’s not peed it down. So, I’ll see you when we get back on the road. but I’m in a little village called Clifton Campville and this is my halfway point. Those traffic lights got a beautiful place to celebrate the midpoint of any journey. set of temporary traffic lights. But to be fair, there’s probably nothing more British than a set of temporary traffic lights. [Music] So, just after them traffic lights, a lovely house. Look at that. It’s beautiful. So, yeah, let’s say that’s the halfway point, shall we? is only.3 of a mile past. Yeah, that’s lovely. That right, let’s get going. Yep. Lester, a lovely little village, Applebe Magna. Just crossed over the uh M42 obviously over the top and didn’t cross it direct those bike routes. is a little bit. Ah, more closed roads. Let’s have a look. I’m going to take me chances. I got lucky on the last one. There you go. You normally get past, can’t you, by a bite? Last one. The BS were lovely. Oh yeah. In there for a cyclist. I can squeeze up the side of that. Sweep between these corns. Dust. [Music] Yeah. You always find that a good 95% of the time you can get by bicycle. If there’s workman there, always be polite and ask. You can only say no. That saved me a little detour. The last one saved me about five mile detour. All right, we got about 10 miles left and the weather’s slightly improved. I’ve even took my snood off. Just warmed up a little. Probably the warmest it’s been all day, actually. So, it’s nice. But I’m just on these lovely little quiet lanes. Listen. Just silence. Beautiful. Really is. So, yeah. Uh 10 miles left. I was hoping to find a shop. I have got some food with me for tea. I’m staying at a a travel lodge next to the M1. It was kind of the right distance. It was cheaper than going into Leicester. So, I’m just north of Leicester. So, just past Coleville is where is there’s a services there, but I don’t know if the services is closed. So, we’ll see. I have got some food and stuff, so I should be all right. And then I just need to buy me lunch tomorrow. So, uh yeah, unless I see anything interesting between now and there, I’ll come back to you at the end. [Music] Yeah. Look at it. Nice, isn’t it? I’m uh just coming up towards Itock. This is an NCN route and I’ve got seven miles left. [Music] Nicest part of the day now. Hello. Sun’s out. [Music] Right, there we go then. 65.2 mi today. Not the prettiest place to stop, but it’s kind of bang on route. So, it’s coming around a busy roundabout, but I was on a foot path, so it’s not too bad. This was actually the dearest Travel Lodge of the trip, believe it or not. 67 quid. I think it was 87 when I checked it on the Sunday and then the price came down so I booked it while I could. Yeah, but it’s so close to M1. So, but yeah, other than this bit, it’s actually been a really nice route today. So, weather’s held. I’ve had a few spits of rain. Tomorrow’s looking grim. Tomorrow’s looking like poncho time over boost a lot. And I’ve got about 62 miles tomorrow up to Newark. So we’re getting close to the Trent. Tomorrow we get within half a mile of the Trent and half a mile of the Wii them. The Trent and the Wii are within half a mile of each other. So I’ve got to squeeze through them. Yeah. So that’s day three done. I’m going to go and get a brew and a shower and I’ll see you tomorrow.