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)