Tyres for byways / cycle routes?

Continental Sport Contact, planet x from £7.50 to £10 a tyre. Love em!

I have done the c2c twice in the rain on 28mm slick schwalbe duranos (which I recommend over gatorskins but aren't quite as good as conti 4S if you're feeling rich). You just need to stick to the road through whinlatter (and avoid the other optional off road sections).

If you're doing it soon, be aware that the alternative north section (Workington to Keswick) is currently closed through wythop woods (no diversion available, and this isn't mentioned on any of the c2c websites or the sustrans map!)

Also be sure to read the Keswick diversions which are still in place since 2015 at below link (it's baffling on the ground if you haven't read that post!

https://c2c-cycle.com/2017/04/09/keswick-c2c/

GravelKing SK got my vote (32mm) - will do light mud, hardpack and still roll fast on the road. I'd imagine they'd be even better if you go tubeless. My commute was a mix of offroad in the New Forest on forestry tracks (not much loose stuff), horrible broken asphalt backroads, cycle paths, and fast new tarmac. Handled them all and weren't noisy or draggy.

Also take a look at Clement/Donnely & WTB

Schwalbe G Ones 40mm, dimple tread pattern, very fast on road and good off road unless it becomes very muddy.  They're tubeless aswell, so great puncture resistance.  I be them for 100 mile Sportive and gravel packed trails.

They will be my tyres for Jogle 

My lady runs an e-bike; it's big and heavy and she rides mostly on cyclepaths and gravel strewn minor roads.  This is hard on tyres, very hard, but we have found the sweet spot of the Schwalbe Marathon range to be the Greenguard.  It's lighter, and cheaper, than most but still pretty much puncture proof and she finds them more comfortable than the full strength Marathons too.

Best of luck.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus (32mm).  I just did some touring last weekend on a hybrid loaded up with panniers etc; all manner of road surfaces and some tow path/off-road/gravel as well - reassuringly 'bombproof'.  If I swapped that bike for a tourer or gravel bike with mudguards, pannier etc, reckon I'd stick with them.  Even using them on winter muddy lanes and glass infested city roads for 10 years I've only had 2 punctures; one was a failed inner tube seam and the other was a piece of glass that had managed to slowly work its way through the 'armoured belt'.  Kind of 'blew a hole' in Schwalbe's 'unpuncturable' claim but I'll give them 1 in 10 years.  Bit heavy, but that comes with the puncture resistant territory.  Relative of mine does crazy long distance touring across Europe and Asia; uses one of the Schwalbe Marathon variants.

I use Schwalbe CX Comp tyres on my cross bike. They’re not super deep tread wise, so they’d be no good in real filth, but for cycle paths, towpaths, decent forest tracks, and the road they’re great. I can push over 20mph on tarmac on my commute, so they’re not too bad on that front. They’ve got wire beads, so they are a bit heavy. Cheap, though.

I use 32mm Gravel Kings on my winter bike, which are excellent on poorly tarred surfaces and gravel. However where they really fall down is on mud, where you need something rather more knobbly.

As you are looking at a new bike, I would think seriously about going tubeless. I'm old-fashioned and still use tubes, so can't offer any useful advice, but there look to be advantages going off-road (on-road the pros and cons seem much more balanced). And as the bike is at least partly for commuting, make sure that it will take your chosen tyre width with mudguards fitted.

35mm is probably the sweet spot. You could do everything on 25mm road tyres or some 40mm knobblies but most entry level hybrids come with a slightly grooved 35.

28mm GatorHardshells work well on all manner of well drained non-muddy surfaces.  Any lack of confidence about braking ability of slick road tyres on hardpack is more a thing of the mind than than a thing of the actualité of riding. Our intuition is often wrong.

Depends on the weather (and therefore worst ground conditions) you are looking to cope with.  I've quite happily taken my utility bike with 28mm slicks (Conti GP4000 S2) along similar sounding tracks when dry(ish), but in spring got stuck in muck with the same bike on 35mm commuter tyres, which is probably the mid-point between slicks and gravel.  The most practical solution is probably to assume frame clearance for at least 40mm and swap tyres seasonally.

 I've got a pair of 40mm Schwalbe Land Cruisers as winter tyres (which are pretty rugged for commuters and deal well with muck), and would propably pair them with Schwalbe Marathons for summer.  Personally I swap the Land Cruisers for more sporty  Contis in summer but I don't tend to trail ride between Easter and autumn Half Term. 

HTH