Coast and Castles South
We undertook this Coast and Castles South cycle tour with some of our Stockport Community Cycling Club friends in summer 2013. The journey started in Newcastle. From there we travelled up up the north-east coast of England to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Then we headed inland and cycled along the Scottish borders to Innerleithen. Finally, the route turned north again to Edinburgh. As a little extra a smaller group of us continued the tour by following the Coast and Castles South alternative route. This takes you back to Berwick-Upon-Tweed following the Scottish coastline.
Sustrans write “The 200 mile … cycle route links the Forth and Tyne estuaries, from Newcastle to Edinburgh, via miles of unspoiled coastline and some of Britain’s best built and natural heritage.”
As you will see from the blog posts and photos this is arguably the most naturally beautiful and scenic of all Sustrans long-distance cycle paths. It is a route we would highly recommend to anyone seeking a cycling tour exploring the very best that England and Scotland have to offer.
The Itinerary
You can follow all of our Coast and Castles South adventures by clicking on the links below:
Coast and Castles South Itinerary
Day 2 – Whitley Bay to Alnwick
Day 3 – Alnwick to Lindisfarne
Day 4 – Lindisfarne to Yetholm
Day 5 – Yetholm to Innerleithen
Day 6 – Innerleithen to Edinburgh
Day 8 – Dunbar to Berwick-Upon-Tweed
The Route
You can also view our full Coast and Castles South route below:
Sorry, only just seen your reply. Thanks a lot, very helpful. Unfortunately we have a golf mad mate on the cycle who is desperate to end in St Andrews so we’ll have to do that to keep him happy. I was considering doing the last few days up to Aberdeen on my own. Your route maps with all the details on are incredibly helpful and informative. Thanks again both.
Hi, just discovered your blog site it looks great and really helpful. I am looking at doing Coast and Castles (south) from Tynemouth to St Andrews and wondered if you could recommend or comment on the relative merits of either continuing up the coast from Berwick to Edinburgh or taking the inland route via Galashiels. Many thanks. Keith
Hi Keith,
Thanks for getting in touch. It’s a while since we completed our C&C South tour now, so it’s getting a little hazy! We wouldn’t like to say we preferred one route over the other, hence why we completed the traditional inland route then followed up by cycling along the coast back to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The inland route is probably a little hillier than the coastal route, which for a fair chunk follows the ‘golf coast’. When we cycled this section of the route though, rather than following the official C&C South alternative we left that route for awhile and cycled to North Berwick. There are some hills on this alternative route, south of Eyemouth to consider. That said, while the inland route hasmore hills, those around Innerleithen and then the Pentland Hills, they aren’t particularly onerous. Pays your money, takes your pick! C&C South officially finishes in Edinburgh. The section to St Andrews is part of C&C North. We have to be honest and say we didn’t find that section of the route particularly inspiring, it picked up after that 🙂
We hope this is of use
Regards,
Andy & Sarah