Just got home from my latest three day tour. On Saturday I caught the train
to Berwick Upon Tweed from Leeds arrived at 13:17 on time. Cycled to
Bellingham Youth Hostel, about 58 miles. I was really lucky with the
weather, roads were often wet and it always looked like it was going to rain
but I never needed my jacket :-). There are some great country roads in
that part of England, harldy any traffic and good views, the surfaces
varied. The Pennine Cyclway actually goes from Berwick to Bellingham, I
wondered what NCN72 was when I saw the signs, then I met 7 lads in the
hostel who were doing the latter half from Appley, they'd done 80 miles when
I met them, were less lucky than me with the rain. Like lots of folk doing
these routes some of them are cycle commuters and found 80 miles in one
stretch pretty hard going !
On Sunday I pedalled 67 miles to my parents house in Hartlepool. Got off to
a great start on superb roads in Northumberland, blasted along the Tyne
Valley from Corbridge to Wylam, stopped for a chat with Mike McGeever and
saw loads of other out on a Sunday ride. After lunch in Wylam the hills of
County Durham started as I headed South East towards the Big H. At
Chester-Le-Street it started to rain and I got wet for what seemed to be
about and hour. I was pretty much dried out when I got to the Olds.
Unfortunately they had gone to my big brothers for the weekend so I had to
fend for myself though Mum had been thoughtful enough to get beer and
nibbles as well as good food for dinner and breakfast !
The Transporter Bridge doesn't operate on Bank Holiday mornings so I had to
ride around to Newport Bridge to cross the Tees this morning. The road
around there are built for trucks and for movement of huge things that are
used in industry. Thus the roads are wide and usually well maintained,
coupled with the tailwind I was flying and pretty much had the roads to
myself. Through Thornaby and finally into the North Yorkshire countryside
after about 25 miles of industry and industrial wasteland, with a few nature
reserves thrown in. It was a beautiful morning. First lunch in
Northallerton, second in Boroughbridge then on to Morley via a few of the
villages East of wetherby and onto my well known routes. 97.95 miles for the
day, giving me 229 in total (There was 5.5 to get to Leeds station on
Saturday morning)