£14 for a third of campsite for two nights, Bleatarn Farm, Irthington
£4.10 for pot of tea and slice of gluten free carrot cake, House of Meg Tea Rooms, Gilsland
The morning dawned windy but dry. Vaughan informed me that "the wind would be up my chuff" all day, making the riding fast when travelling east. It was a chilly morning so I put on several layers and looked a bit overdressed with my new overshoes, waterproof jacket over long sleeved thermal jersey (over arm warmers and new Sustrans short sleeved cycling jersey), leg warmers with bib shorts, buff around my neck and head, and waterproof baseball hat under cycling helmet. I also wore a pair of plastic gloves under my waterproof full fingered gloves, gathered from the petrol station in Carlisle. I'd found that this keeps the wind chill off the fingers and my feet and hands were feeling particularly cold.
I left the campsite at 9am and joined the last of the rush hour traffic on the A689 to Brampton. I then picked up route 72 all the way through to the outskirts of Newcastle. This is Hadrian's Cycleway, one of the popular coast to coast routes. Since this is a popular cycling route the signs were very clear and although I had the map in front of me I didn't need to refer to it for directions at all.
I'd never visited Hadrian's Wall before, so I was looking forward to cycling alongside it. After climbing up I saw a long turf bank parallel to the road and I guessed this was the remains of the wall and got excited, taking lots of photos. I then turned the corner to discover a stone turret at Bank, and a long section of wall further on near Birdoswald fort. I was beside myself, taking loads of photos without a care about the delay to my long day's cycling.
You could tell the Romans had been here by some of the roads as well as the wall. A few times in the day I rode on dead straight roads with the wind at my back and took my speed to over 20 miles an hour for long stretches. I was also without any panniers, just carrying my day essentials. Riding was an absolute dream after my previous fortnight.
As I went through Gilsland I saw a sign for a Tea Room so stopped by. I'd been cycling (and photographing) for an hour and a half and needed something to eat as well as a warming cup of tea. I sat outside with my bike eating an enormous slice of gluten free carrot cake and drinking tea from a dainty china cup. Heaven.
After Gilsland the road started to steadily climb the North Pennines. I began to get too hot in all my layers, so shed clothes as I went up.
Liz had told me that Corbridge would be a good place for lunch. I hung on until I got there at 2pm to eat. I looked in a couple of cafes that looked too posh for me in my Lycra, then discovered one that looked a little more down to earth. Corbridge is pretty but posh. Lots of designer dress boutiques, art shops, and places for ladies that lunch. As I sat down with a hearty bowl of soup, Vaughan texted me to ask where I was and how I was doing. He and Liz were just finishing their lunch around the corner, so they came and joined me as I polished off my second pot of tea, insisting on paying for my lunch.
A few miles on I wanted to leave the Hadrian's Way cycle way. Vaughan had helped me look at the map the previous evening, and as he and Liz used to live in Newcastle they knew that riding into and through the city could slow me down at the end of a long day in the saddle. He'd plotted an alternative route around the north of the city, bringing me to Seaton Sluice where they'd booked a room above a pub as there were no campsites nearby.
Finding my 'escape route' from the lovely traffic free cycle path through the Tyne Riverside Country Park proved more difficult than I expected. I was looking for a sign to Heddon-on-the-Wall but hadn't seen one by the time I started coming in to Newburn, the next town along. I stood by the side of the track looking at my map and comparing it to the OS map on my Garmin when a cyclist went past and asked if I needed help. I explained that I needed to get to Heddon-on-the-Wall and he warned me that it involved a very steep climb. When I then went on to explain that I was doing the End to End and I was heading to Seaton Sluice for the night, he was suitably impressed and offered to ride with me to the turn off as he was going that way anyway.
We chatted as we rode along and swapped Strava details. Thanks Gary - I'd never have gone up the track as I'd seen it when I rode past before and it just looked like a track into a farm.
Getting to Heddon-on-the-Wall reminded me of the Cornish hills. I was without panniers this time though, so managed to get up without pushing (although I admit to stopping half way up for a breather and an energy gel). Knowing that Gary would be checking my Strava stats for the climb also spurred me on, if I'm honest. What amazing views back down into the Tyne valley when you reach the top though!
I managed to navigate myself from Heddon-on-the-Wall to Killingworth on the northern edge of Newcastle-upon-Tyne without difficulty and I was feeling rather smug at my map reading skills. I was now on the Rievers cycling route 10 so could follow the blue cycling route signs again. These suddenly disappeared as the route went through an enormous council estate with small knots of teenagers hanging around on corners. I didn't want to appear lost or consult my map here, so kept cycling in the general direction I thought I should be going.
When I began to enter my third housing estate and noticed from my bell mounted simple compass that I was heading south, I decided to pull over into an empty bus stop (so that I was less conspicuous) and look closely at the map. Yes, I was going towards the centre of Newcastle. I set off again, taking a few turns, then found one of the blue cycling route signs for route 10 again. I felt smug again, even though it was now approaching dusk.
I reached a T junction and the route 10 sign showed the route going both ways, but without any town names for me to work out whether I should go left or right. My instinct told me to turn left, and I soon found myself cycling directly into the sun. I then knew I should have taken the right turn at the T junction!
I turned around and pedalled as fast as I could for the remaining 5 miles as I didn't want to arrive at the night's accommodation in the dark.
As I took a right turn off the B road into Seaton Sluice at 7:30pm, the car behind me blew it's horn. I looked back, expecting it to just be another cyclist hating car driver, but saw Bryony, Vaughan's eldest daughter, hanging out of the passenger window of the campervan yelling "Ali!"
Vaughan had popped over to Newcastle to pick Bryony up as a surprise for me. It was lovely to see her and we caught up over the 'famous' fish and chips that The Waterford Arms specialises in.
I turned in early as I was pretty tired from the day's riding. Vaughan had booked a room for 3, so inevitably when he and Liz came up we chatted for a while before switching off the lights. A proper bed with nice linen was gorgeous for my tired legs.
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You're doing so well -fantastic achievement Allison!
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