The northern bike tour continues! Another day on the bikes and this time though some different terrain as we headed south to Darlington. The storm was wild last night with gales and heavy rain but it had all abated by sunrise, leaving us with a bright still morning to set out into. The morning’s route… Read more

There was a definite sense of urgency and an ‘into the headwind’ theme of todays bike ride! The weather forecast has said that strong southerly gales would be increasing through the morning, with rain arriving mid afternoon. To give ourselves the best chance of staying dry, we opted for an early get away from Whitley… Read more

Considering it’s now November, the weather has continued to be kind to us and we set off into the morning from Wylam with our sunglasses on. Todays route has kept us almost entirely on traffic free cycle routes and mostly following the River Tyne out towards the sea. A stop for elevensis was declared due… Read more

The day started off with some good scenes of the sun rise, viewed from bed in the Bowes Hotel in Bardon Mill. After an enormous cooked breakfast, the hotel owner wished us luck after delighting in telling us that our route involved climbing a big hill straight out of the village.  He wasn’t wrong! Bottom… Read more

Day 1 of the Tour and all is well! The logical challenges of getting ourselves and the bikes up to Haltwhistle went smoothly and apart from actually starting on the west coast, all is on track! First stop was to visit the historic Hadrian’s Wall. We cycled up to Walltown Country Park, where you can… Read more

Despite the reduction in lung capacity, I felt well enough to set off on this week’s planned adventures, but have toned down the level of challenge to factor in my weakened state as well as a rail strike! We left The Cottage at dusk and drove north in a well loaded van. It was bizarrely… Read more