This was my first proper night ride, and I was very curious what it'd be like staying awake and keeping cycling the whole night 
- not anxious-like, I'd recently proved to myself that I can function perfectly well for 24 hours or so without sleeping (thanks to helping out at the LEL control in Edinburgh), but about staying alert and not doing anything stupid due to a moment's doziness or inattention (and having had Audaxers tell me about sleeping in bus shelters when they feel tired 
).
It was one of the most brilliant experiences on a bike I've had (and there have been a few) ... cycling on empty roads under a starry sky, along Hadrian's Wall for some stretches, watching dawn breaking and finally the sun rising, all in the excellent company of 12 other slightly mad people (with a 13th joining in from Hexham, and a couple more beating us to breakfast at the Quayside in Newcastle).
We met up at Carlisle Station, 6 of us arriving just over an hour before the off, so we had time for a drink and getting to know each other a bit (I only knew Mcshroom, but others were clearly old friends, or had met before). There was a mix of CCers, YACFers, and their friends, some regular night riders and a few complete newbies
, myself included.
At the Griffin, Carlisle (left to right: CharlieB, Mcshroom, Phantasmagoriana, Hedgebanger, Yoav)
Just after 11 we set off after an obligatory photo outside the station, slightly incongruous amidst the normal Friday night population of Carlisle, some of whom were tottering about on extremely high heels and were clearly intending to party the night away in their own fashion...
Ready to roll, outside Carlisle Station
The first stop was just a couple of km later, at the 24-hour Tesco at the eastern edge of Carlisle, to stock up on snacks, buy a woolly hat in expectation of the temperature dropping and/or use the facilities. While we were waiting outside, a policeman came up and asked us what we were up to. We explained and asked if he wanted to come along, but he declined politely.
Soon we were off again, heading east along the A69 to Brampton. Normally this road would be a bad choice for a group cycle ride, but just before midnight there was hardly any traffic, and we were off onto the wee roads before very long, cycling through the deserted town, where we joined the NCN72 (Hadrian's Wall Cycle Route), which we'd follow on and off for most of the way to the other side of the country. Shortly after Brampton, we went past Lanercost Priory, a beautiful ruined abbey that was built to a large part from nicely prepared stones, freely available from some old wall nearby at the time - some stones with Roman inscriptions, mason's marks and even the knee of a broken statue with toga folds still visible. [@HJ and I had stopped and visited the abbey and pretty much all the Roman sites along the Wall and a few nearby castles in April, during a long weekend.] But during the night we only came across the signposts, and I could just about make out the dark silhouette of the tallest building against the little light provided by the very orange crescent moon that was rising to the east as we came over the hill from Brampton.
Soon after, we hit the first proper hill at Banks which I remembered well, including the various twists & turns, so there were no surprises, but it was quite different riding it at night, seeing the various blinking red lights moving along ahead and bits of the road illuminated by some pretty powerful front lights that provided plenty of brightness to see by, both ahead and behind. We stopped at the turret/watch tower at the top of the hill to re-group, have some snacks and admire the starry sky. Afterr switching off all the bright lights, the Milky Way was clearly visible, and so many more stars that I'd seen in a long while, due to the clean air and absence of light pollution (even though we could see the lights of Carlisle in the distance, but they already seemed quite a long way away). Somebody was asking about the wall, and I said there was a bit just off to one side and switched the front light on, pointing it straight at some rather impressive looking remains that he (and possibly others) had been completely unaware of, having not had the advantage of seeing the place in daylight before.
I was then leaning on my handlebars, and there was suddenly quite a large amount of give, and I was thinking that was rather strange, as my bike didn't have a front suspension. It was a slow puncture that I must have picked up on the way home from work in the evening (which already seemed a world away), where I had tried to avoid some hawthorn hedge cuttings. Luckily I had a spare inner tube etc. with me, and between a few of us the puncture was fixed very quickly - many thanks to the expert fixers, much faster than I could have done it myself. One was yoav of yacf, the other (I think) might have been hedgebanger (also of yacf?).
It turned out to be the only puncture of the night, there were a few other very slight mechanicals, but nothing serious, thankfully.
We continued along the Wall, past Birdoswald (a big Roman Fort), some quick downs and ups into Gillsland and through Greenhead, where we could see the next BIG hill looming up in the weak light provided by the crescent moon.
It was here that we came across the first couple of cars since Brampton, which was quite a while ago.
(next installment to follow later)
- not anxious-like, I'd recently proved to myself that I can function perfectly well for 24 hours or so without sleeping (thanks to helping out at the LEL control in Edinburgh), but about staying alert and not doing anything stupid due to a moment's doziness or inattention (and having had Audaxers tell me about sleeping in bus shelters when they feel tired ).It was one of the most brilliant experiences on a bike I've had (and there have been a few) ... cycling on empty roads under a starry sky, along Hadrian's Wall for some stretches, watching dawn breaking and finally the sun rising, all in the excellent company of 12 other slightly mad people (with a 13th joining in from Hexham, and a couple more beating us to breakfast at the Quayside in Newcastle).
We met up at Carlisle Station, 6 of us arriving just over an hour before the off, so we had time for a drink and getting to know each other a bit (I only knew Mcshroom, but others were clearly old friends, or had met before). There was a mix of CCers, YACFers, and their friends, some regular night riders and a few complete newbies
, myself included.Just after 11 we set off after an obligatory photo outside the station, slightly incongruous amidst the normal Friday night population of Carlisle, some of whom were tottering about on extremely high heels and were clearly intending to party the night away in their own fashion...
The first stop was just a couple of km later, at the 24-hour Tesco at the eastern edge of Carlisle, to stock up on snacks, buy a woolly hat in expectation of the temperature dropping and/or use the facilities. While we were waiting outside, a policeman came up and asked us what we were up to. We explained and asked if he wanted to come along, but he declined politely.
Soon we were off again, heading east along the A69 to Brampton. Normally this road would be a bad choice for a group cycle ride, but just before midnight there was hardly any traffic, and we were off onto the wee roads before very long, cycling through the deserted town, where we joined the NCN72 (Hadrian's Wall Cycle Route), which we'd follow on and off for most of the way to the other side of the country. Shortly after Brampton, we went past Lanercost Priory, a beautiful ruined abbey that was built to a large part from nicely prepared stones, freely available from some old wall nearby at the time - some stones with Roman inscriptions, mason's marks and even the knee of a broken statue with toga folds still visible. [@HJ and I had stopped and visited the abbey and pretty much all the Roman sites along the Wall and a few nearby castles in April, during a long weekend.] But during the night we only came across the signposts, and I could just about make out the dark silhouette of the tallest building against the little light provided by the very orange crescent moon that was rising to the east as we came over the hill from Brampton.
Soon after, we hit the first proper hill at Banks which I remembered well, including the various twists & turns, so there were no surprises, but it was quite different riding it at night, seeing the various blinking red lights moving along ahead and bits of the road illuminated by some pretty powerful front lights that provided plenty of brightness to see by, both ahead and behind. We stopped at the turret/watch tower at the top of the hill to re-group, have some snacks and admire the starry sky. Afterr switching off all the bright lights, the Milky Way was clearly visible, and so many more stars that I'd seen in a long while, due to the clean air and absence of light pollution (even though we could see the lights of Carlisle in the distance, but they already seemed quite a long way away). Somebody was asking about the wall, and I said there was a bit just off to one side and switched the front light on, pointing it straight at some rather impressive looking remains that he (and possibly others) had been completely unaware of, having not had the advantage of seeing the place in daylight before.
I was then leaning on my handlebars, and there was suddenly quite a large amount of give, and I was thinking that was rather strange, as my bike didn't have a front suspension. It was a slow puncture that I must have picked up on the way home from work in the evening (which already seemed a world away), where I had tried to avoid some hawthorn hedge cuttings. Luckily I had a spare inner tube etc. with me, and between a few of us the puncture was fixed very quickly - many thanks to the expert fixers, much faster than I could have done it myself. One was yoav of yacf, the other (I think) might have been hedgebanger (also of yacf?).
It turned out to be the only puncture of the night, there were a few other very slight mechanicals, but nothing serious, thankfully.We continued along the Wall, past Birdoswald (a big Roman Fort), some quick downs and ups into Gillsland and through Greenhead, where we could see the next BIG hill looming up in the weak light provided by the crescent moon.
It was here that we came across the first couple of cars since Brampton, which was quite a while ago.
(next installment to follow later)
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and carried on cycling. At this stage, it might have been around 2 AM (?), I was starting to wonder when I might begin to feel tired, but Cathy, another 1st time night rider, and I agreed that we couldn't possible have been more alert and alive than we were feeling. Maybe because it was all new to us and such an amazing experience, or because the temperature was dropping and stopping us from getting sleepy?
), we soon left the deserted B road and headed down the 6-mile long descent to Newbrough along the Stanegate road. We were spread out again, and after I dropped back from the front group to add more layers, I was suddenly all alone. I could occasionally see the twinkling red lights of the front group ahead, and the yellow glow of the group behind just over my personal horizon, but this made me even more aware of just how quiet it was, apart from another owl, some sheep bleating off to the left, and suddenly a rather loud noise, from an invisible donkey that must have been startled by the strange flashing lights disturbing its peace.
). We all piled in and did our shopping before congregating in the deserted cafe, where we scoffed an interesting assortment of foods, I saw sushi, sandwiches, rather colourful iced doughnuts, bananas, a large yoghurt pots very politely emptied with the folded up lid used as a spoon replacement, etc. Soon the first heads started to nod, and one body was stretched out on a row of chairs, fast asleep within seconds.
). I stopped and then had to walk a few steps to the top of the wee hill as I was in the wrong gear 
... we passed by a very closed looking cafe in an industrial estate, where on last year's ride coffee and tea had been available, but sadly not this time. We pressed on around another bend or two in the river, and under the A1 motorway bridge. The path then left the river again and we cycled along a massive multi-lane road, on a shared pedestrian/cycle path that crossed over said lanes a couple of times via pedestrian lights and a big roundabout. As it was only 7:30/8AM on a Saturday morning, we didn't really have to stop or wait anywhere, as there was only the odd delivery vehicle or car around, but I was thinking this must be pretty unpleasant during rush hour. Soon we turned back to the riverside with its wide pavement, along the tidal mudflats of the Tyne with lots of wading birds, ducks and gulls enjoying the early morning sunshine, and a fair number of cyclists and walkers doing the same, but on firm ground. The famous bridges across the river finally came into view, and suddenly we were at the Quayside, our breakfast destination. We parked up and shared bike locks before piling into the place, where the only other customers were a couple of fellow riders who had decided to meet us at for breakfast after their own night ride rather than doing Carlisle to Newcastle.
...
... phew, that's it all done 
