lellow bike, 'nover lellow bike exclaimed the little girl...

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 6 (Part 2 of 2)

After tea and cake (dairy free!), there was a long steep climb out of Lanercost which whilst one of the steepest ones today was actually much easier on me due to having had a good rest. We stopped a couple more times at various turrets & mileforts before stopping again at Birdoswald where having sorted the bikes & their storage out we were able to have a good walk around, but to be honest it was a touch disappointing.

Nope - a cycling together photo in that direction is not going to work...

So where were you Stuart? This was an attempt at both of us cycling along Hadrian's Wall... but it failed....

Some general scenery - don't jump. For some strange reason this is to the south of Birdoswald - I guess it meant that they soliders really did have to fight to defend the fought because they would not easily have retreated down that hill!

A bit of Birdoswald...

The last we will see of the actual wall... It carries on, the road swings round and down (then very sharply up!). Just down the down was the car park with some bicycle parking - we didn't use it but took the bikes in through the ticket office and left them in the courtyard in front of a security camera - reception also kept an eye on them, but there was no issue again.

A few miles further on and we were at a small private campsite (also has a camping barn) in a walled garden overlooked by Thirlwall Castle. Camping tonight £10.

Tonight's spot.

And the toilet - have you spotted the shower?

Sunset from the castle.

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296198

 

[Spoked Wheels]

It was actually the word "lellow" that brought me to this thread as my 3 year old grandson also says "lellow", so cute .

I have to say I really enjoy your writing style.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It was actually the word "lellow" the brought me to this thread as my 3 year old grandson also says "lellow", so cute .

I have to say I really enjoy your writing style.

wait til you read what we threw at the wheel you rebuilt on the last day (should you wish to stay that long that is )... all is well (except the hub has an oil leak and needs to go back to Rohloff, but that is nothing related to the wheel rebuild).... no broken spokes despite the best part of 100km off road and some of it very technical & laden... tested out mtb skills to the limit, I can tell you! drop offs, steps, loose large rocks, steep descents and lots of going downhill at 8kph or slower! not to mention no grip on the surface we were riding on, long sections of rocks laid down as 'cobbles' to reinforce the track and badly rutted tracks.... sadly mine is now slightly out of true but it has covered over 11,000 miles....

 

[Spoked Wheels]

wait til you read what we threw at the wheel you rebuilt on the last day (should you wish to stay that long that is )... all is well (except the hub has an oil leak and needs to go back to Rohloff, but that is nothing related to the wheel rebuild).... no broken spokes despite the best part of 100km off road and some of it very technical & laden... tested out mtb skills to the limit, I can tell you! drop offs, steps, loose large rocks, steep descents and lots of going downhill at 8kph or slower! not to mention no grip on the surface we were riding on, long sections of rocks laid down as 'cobbles' to reinforce the track and badly rutted tracks.... sadly mine is now slightly out of true but it has covered over 11,000 miles....

Interesting but I have to say, the wheel does have one strong rim and there is no dishing, so no wonder it's a tough wheel. For me, the real challenge is your husband's riding style, specially the way he likes to chase up other cyclist up the hills if the wheel can cope well with that then I think I did a good job with the rebuild

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Interesting but I have to say, the wheel does have one strong rim and there is no dishing, so no wonder it's a tough wheel. For me, the real challenge is your husband's riding style, specially the way he likes to chase up other cyclist up the hills if the wheel can cope well with that then I think I did a good job with the rebuild

He went up the Wrynose, Hardknott and Woodhead passes as well as some tough and unnamed ones in the north Pennines and he chased a few other cyclists as well.... He had covered much less distance on it on our world tour when the first spoke broke in Ireland. so I agree, you did a good job and should be pleased with yourself! thank you.

 

[Archeress]

Thank you for the thread. I'm enjoying reading it.

Hugs
Archeress x

 

[Spoked Wheels]

He went up the Wrynose, Hardknott and Woodhead passes as well as some tough and unnamed ones in the north Pennines and he chased a few other cyclists as well.... He had covered much less distance on it on our world tour when the first spoke broke in Ireland. so I agree, you did a good job and should be pleased with yourself! thank you.

Emma, that's very kind of you, thank you.
It's very rewarding to read that the wheel coped with the demands of a powerful rider and probably a few kilos of camping gear.
It was also rewarding to work on a very different wheel too. Thank you.

Keep posting.... I'm enjoying it.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 7 (Part 1 of 3 - too many photos again! ) - Friday 5th September 2014
Ovingham - 61.37km

Apparently the skies cleared quite early last night, so Stuart tells me which explains 2 things. 1) why I was curled up in a ball actually using the sleeping bag (OK as a quilt still but…) and 2) why the tent was so wet on the inside - heavy condensation. It was actually a cold & misty start to the day and both leg warmers and the sleeves to our ‘transformer’ cycling tops were worn this morning, but we both knew they would not last long because once that mist burnt off, or we climbed up out of it, it was going to be a very hot day.

It was also going to be a very difficult day for me. This had nothing whatsoever to do with cycling, more to do with photography clashing with cycling. OK cycling was the reason I was there, but it was a day when if I had had by big camera with me (and I am known to cycle with it), we probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere this morning!

Thirlwall Castle this morning.

It is going to be one of those photography days...

As hill starts went today’s pretty much out did anything we have done previously. It was chronic! I only just made it without stopping, and that had more to do with the rest overnight than my fitness. My lungs need time to warm up and 100% humidity that is also very cold is not a good way to start the day for a severe asthmatic trying to cycle up a very steep hill (+15%) on a touring bike. At the top of that climb, both the leg warmers and the arms came off and I then cooled down taking a few photos…

The top of the first climb told me everything I needed to know about today... hot, cold, wet, dry, sun cream and I want to be taking photos...

Oh the fun I could have had with the big camera this morning...

I then played chicken on the next downhill which was a long fast downhill, riding the brakes, not wanting to go too fast because I would get too cold…

At Haltwhistle I convinced Stuart to purchase bread and supplies as we passed a co-op… It was a move that was to prove exceptionally useful later on in the day. Somewhere between me, photos and the scenery (plus needing to send in search and rescue to get Stuart out of the co-op in Haltwhistle) we managed to arrive at Vindolanda just as it was opening at 10am.

Somewhere east of Haltwhistle

Somewhere east of Haltwhistle

Looking back towards Haltwhistle

Looking back towards Haltwhistle

Marginally further down the road from Haltwhistle...

Nearly there for today's sightseeing...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 7 (part 2 of 3 - still taking too many photos )

(We have arrived at Vindolanda - definitely well worth a visit btw, unless you don't like the romans and archaeology... in which case please skip this section because there is a lot of square and oblong rocks in the ground and only the last photo really has a scenery on it... )

There were, thankfully, no issues with them looking after the bikes and panniers, so we were able to have a good look around. Chatting with them, it turned out that they were happy to see cyclists, but sadly get few because most cyclists just put their head down and don’t stop. I did point out that we are so used to not being able to leave our bikes (and kit) anywhere that often we don’t even bother trying to stop to see if someone will watch thousands of pounds of unlocked kit for us!

Not many visitors yet... it has only just opened for the day.

Sadly the café at Vindolanda didn’t have any dairy free options (except for black coffee) but kindly pointed me in the direction of the gluten free cake (having watched me check the ingredients of it before I asked – it was gluten free and only gluten free…). I don’t quite understand why when I ask about dairy free, people reply no, but we have gluten free – great, but still useless to me - I'm allergic (as in 999 and anaphylactic shock) to dairy products not intolerant to gluten...

Replica wooden and brick towers built back in the '70's to see how the Roman's built them and also to see how they weathered in the environment.

Roman bath house.

By now it was lunchtime and time to cover some ground, so after finding a spot in the car park that was in shade, applying the battle paint (factor 50 suncream) and having lunch, we headed off to start with another lethal climb. The only blessing was that the tarmac was newly laid, so silky smooth and we met nothing because the road was 6 foot wide and the only thing that could have passed us at this point would have been another cyclist/motorcyclist. Even meeting a car would have meant us having to move off the road and I was having a hard enough time staying moving up that hill as it was… At the top of the climb, or part way up depending on your definition I found time to stop and look back at where we had come… always a good excuse for a photo… sorry that should read a photo is always a good excuse for a rest…

Looking back at Vindolanda.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 7 (Part 3 of 3) - Roman/archaeology haters are now safe again... well safe-ish....

Some general views of the area...

First stop, sorry photo stop on the way up the hill...

2nd stop... getting easier now but I still rather like that view and it is behind me, so I just have to stop....

Further up the climb as it eased off, Stuart spotted a NCR 72 marker which turned out to mark the highest point on the HCW we are following, 255m above sea level along with the distances to each end.

The marker - highest point on the Hadrian's Cycle Way.

In detail....

This bit of Roman is a touch beyond me... but it is a nice touch and I thought it worth getting the detail...

Photo taken we then enjoyed, and this is no understatement, 11km (≈7 miles) of downhill. I would have stopped to take a photo or two more, but I have been married long enough to pick up on the warning signs and we had had both the best of the scenery and the best of the light by this point. It had started to cloud over and we were now on the east sign of the Pennines. It didn’t take long for Sustrans to decide we had not done enough climbing for the day, taking us back up and over a ridge only to bring us back over it again a little further on – no cyclist in their right mind would plan a route like that…. But we had decided to follow the route faithfully (baring diversions for campsites) and also didn’t know what the route had in store for us.

Coming in to Hexham we did the train whistle under a blind railway bridge (cycle track only at this point) only to meet a cyclist coming towards us with a huge grin on his face – well it worked, he knew we were there but I’m not sure what our response would have been if he had also train whistled… Pausing at a road junction further on, to let a pedestrian across the road in queueing traffic, said pedestrian decided to have a chat with us… after a few mins he wished us well and we headed off to hold up all the traffic over a narrow bridge – such is life. To make matters even more fun, we then turned right immediately off the bridge, some drivers just don’t seem to be able to cope with people wanting a slower pace of life! The road we turned onto was meant to have been a small single track, quiet back lane. It was all that except QUIET… there was a constant stream of vehicles of all sizes – way too big for the lane, using it. Eventually we found out why – a major bridge crossing the river was closed for 12 months for repairs and all the traffic was diverted down this narrow country lane!

Somewhere in amongst all of this, and I don’t quite know where or the correct order anymore, we passed through Corbridge. Here we found a shop – it would have been a café if the place had not been so very busy with other tourists, and had a breather (embarrassing 2 mtb’er who had tried hard to overtake us earlier in the ride (along a flat section) and not really made that much progress – we both think they thought they were fitter than they were, lol). Drinks and snacks followed and it actually looked for a while like it might rain – though it held off. Rain is forecast for this afternoon, evening, tonight and even tomorrow morning (Ahhhh we might actually have to get the waterproofs out!)… but so far it hasn’t.

Then it was on to the campsite, so a slight diversion off the HCW. Paying for this campsite proved rather difficult/impossible. Reception was unmanned, there was no price list, no letter box, no honest box and despite ringing the number provided on the door and leaving a message, by the time we came to go to sleep, no-one had arrived or called me (in fact they never rang me back…). The only other thing to note about this campsite were the 4 chickens… nothing major there, but they inspected us thoroughly clucking away as they do. Even pecking at my boot whilst I sat writing my journal up. What was interesting about them was the clucking noise… it was musical… that is all I can describe it as. Think of a bugle playing the first notes of “The Last Post” now change that to a hen clucking and you have Stuart’s musical chickens… (honest)

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296214

 

[Archeress]

Looking forward to the next installment x

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Looking forward to the next installment x

that may take a few days sadly - hospital appointment this afternoon, and back on the 22 mile each way commute tomorrow... but I will see what I can fit in

 

[Archeress]

that may take a few days sadly - hospital appointment this afternoon, and back on the 22 mile each way commute tomorrow... but I will see what I can fit in

Good luck for this afternoon x

 

[Spinney]

Great write-up. Liked your 'pac-man' sun a few posts back!

Went on a bike ride from Cockermouth out the the NW Cumbrian coast once. A bit cold and breeze, but weather not to bad. But the verdict when we got back was 'OK, we've ticked that bit, we don't need to come here again!.

 

[Hyslop]

What a wonderful read,super pictures and narrative,.Im really enjoying your ride with you.An added bonus is the fact that you passed me just as you left Drumburgh,I was sitting on a seat watching the world go by,when you appeared(I remember the bikes) heading for Burgh,one of you waved,and I wondered where you were headed.Well,now I know! hope you enjoy the rest of the ride,Im certainly enjoying following your progress and I look forward to the next bit!