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

Still trying to shake off the lurgy and although much better than a few days ago, we’re both still a long way from full health. However, I was well enough to contemplate leaving The Cottage to check out the north coast with Luke. We went over with the proviso that I might just take some… Read more

Best laid plans and all that…! Having set aside a week for some local adventures and catching up with with friends, I promptly came down with a crippling lurgy. Then shared it with Clare! It’s been a feet up, tea drinking blur of time that’s not seen us stray far from The Cottage – not… Read more