August 2011 Big Trip - Day 2

Day Two - Tuesday 9th August

Powburn > Elsdon > Bellingham > Haltwhistle

This was probably my favourite day of the trip although at 64 miles it also turned out to be our longest day of travelling. The weather was the best we were to encounter during the week, being cloudy with sunny breaks initially before the sun managed to burst out in the late afternoon.

After a decent breakfast consumed to background music of Abba tunes played on panpipes, we set off from Powburn at 9:30. The first 30 minutes of the ride were uneventful, apart from a brief occasion when Rik got chased by a dog.

Pausing to consult the map by the River Coquet.

Before too long we started to climb on the way to Elsdon. The climb wasn't particularly steep, just stretched out. At least the views were worth seeing. The ride down the other side made up for the exertion.

Bryn on the road to Elsdon.

We halted in Bellingham around 2 pm for a lunch break in the sun. Although we were now half way through day two of our trek, Rick soberly pointed out that geographically we were still north of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. We still had a long way to go. Never mind, we kept our spirits up by watching the comedy antics of a group of highway workers who were repainting the white lines in the main street.

Leaving Bellingham we spotted a newt attempting to cross the road. Our delight was short lived, as the poor thing was promptly run over by a car and squashed. To further dampen our mood we were presented with another stiff climb almost straight away. Not what you really want straight after lunch. The next stage of the route took us through Wark Forest. Once again, we had reason to mutter and grumble about the chosen path of NCN 68. Leaving the roads, we were sent along a five mile stretch along tracks that had been roughly carpeted with jagged stones. Bone-shaking describes it well. Again, we felt that the Sustrans map could have pointed this out a little more clearly so we could have found an alternative route. Fortunately all our bikes had fairly sturdy tyres. I wouldn't like to attempt that route on a road bike.

The climb out of Wark Forest.

Leaving the forest behind, the landscape was bleakly impressive, with a thrillingly swooping descent on the way to the oddly-named Once Brewed thrown in as a bonus. Just prior to this, Rik's milometer clicked on to register 100 miles cycled so far, requiring a halt for a commemorative photo to be taken. I'd been resetting my counter at the start of each day to collect daily stats.

The route took us past the entrance to the Vindolanda fort.

Finally we arrived in Haltwhistle, only to find - argh! - the Mount guesthouse was back up a steep hill on the other side of the town. We eventually crawled up there and were met by Pete, the affable host. When we were ready, he gave us a lift down into the town and arranged to pick us up again later. We had a fish and chip tea followed by a few pints. It was a very pleasant evening, as I recall. We were in bed with the lights off at 10:45 pm. That's the earliest I've been to bed for years. Wow, we must have been tired.

Day Stats
64.32 miles
Average speed: 10.92 mph
Top speed: 39.5 mph
Wheel time: 5 hrs 53 mins

Click here for day 3.