Unsure where to post this but travel seemed most appropriate.
Me and her have managed to get our diaries to align and have a 10 day window approaching for a chance to get away. We have relatives in Kendal so have done most of the Lakes aswell as Yorkshire etc but have rarely visited North Pennines/Kielder/Northumberland/Borders apart from passing through.
So I'm hoping the collective can provide local info on must ride roads, must see vistas, must do walks, stunning coastlines in any of these areas for me to stitch together a plan. The only limitation is tarmac only as her indoors doesn't like her MT07 in the mud .
Thanks in advance.
Cheers, Tony
Open your eyes and you see what is in front of you, open your mind and you see a bigger picture but open your heart and you see a whole new World.
your deffo heading for some of the best riding in the uk i think so much up that way .. ten days is a lot but i reacon you can fill em heres a very very nice route up from there its hard to go wrong ..you may like to go and see banborough castle ..not far from there is the holy island crossing ...cros the tiny military roads over the cheviot hills ..very hard to pick a wrong road up there
id say doing the three lochs meggets resivoir is well worth it and id also cross over in to galloway national park just plot a rout around the geen bit in the middle and you will be a very happy bunny ...nice place to stay portpatrick if your on that side before tou head to the lakes
I live here, in Sheepwash, near Morpeth, in Northumberland.
It's already been said that you can't go far wrong on any of the roads here, so long as you avoid the main population/industrial areas to the south east of the county.
The same can be said to be true of the borders, both country and county, Scotland, Cumbria and Durham. All fabulous areas with cracking road riding and walking. You'll probably hit right wherever you go, once out of town, but a few suggestions of 'don't miss ....' might include:
- a ride along the military road running alongside the Roman Wall, with lots of nice walks on sections of the wall and Roman forts and museums to call in at (Housesteads, Vindolanda, Steel Rig and Sycamore gap, etc). If you're heading north east from Kendal and you're not heading into the Yorkshire Dales via Sedbergh, you could head for Penrith on the A66, then take the Alston road (A686), which is a cracker, up, over the top of the Pennines, coming out at Haydon Bridge, which puts you right into Roman Wall terrain. You have a choice of east and north from there, to the beautiful Northumberland coast, or west, to areas like the Solway and North Lakes, or south and east to the Durham and Yorkshire Dales. All lovely.
- the Northumberland coast, North of Ashington. (Not that Ashington doesn't have things worth seeing, as it has the County record office there and Woodhorn Museum, should you be interested in the history of the local pits and it's the home of the Ashington Pitmen Painters, but it's not the prettiest of towns!). Follow the coast road north from Ashington (A1068), which runs mostly parallel to the coast, detouring from the road to any place on the seaside (Creswell/Druridge/Alnmouth/Boulmer)) Carry on north, avoiding the A1, as you can take B roads all the way up, almost to Berwick and you will be rewarded with lovely scenery and quaint fishing villages like Craster, Newton, Beadnell and Bamburgh (with its splendid castle, much photographed and used in movies). Must sees, might include Cullernose Point, just south of Craster, an igneous intrusion and part of the Whin Sill, with weird rock folds along the cliffs before it - you can park up in Boulmer and it's a fabulous coastal path along to Craster, taking this in, of about 4 miles or so and stop for a picnic at Howick, overlookingb the sea and watching the eider ducks and sea birds, or at either of the pubs at Boulmer or Craster.
Once north of Bamburgh, you can work your way past Budle Bay (huge tidal mud flats and fantastic for bird life) and on to Lindisfarne, the Holy Island, well worth a visit if the tides are right. You could then consider cutting across west, either to and through the border ribbon towns of Kelso, Selkirk and Hawick (Hoy'k), and on to Kielder, or head for Kielder slightly less north, via Wooler, Rothbury and Otterburn (easy to string roads together between these points from the map).
That would certainly give you a flavour of the best of Northumberland and could certainly fill several days, if you like to look and walk as well as ride.
If you need anything specific that I can help with, don't hesitate to message me.
Enjoy.
Last edited by Mosel Bikes on Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Greyhound Racing .... don't bet, don't go - you bet, they die
Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Although we've got 10 days off work the reality is we've got 7 days to fill between Durham and Kendal (relatives on the way back to Leicester) so it's looking good for putting a loop together covering areas we've previously just passed through.
Any further suggestions welcome
Open your eyes and you see what is in front of you, open your mind and you see a bigger picture but open your heart and you see a whole new World.
Thanks for the advice folks, here's a brief ride report of what we actually did.
After about 4 years of 'small bikes in the back of a van' type holidays we needed to find out if we could still hack the pure bike touring of the previous 10 years along with the necessary constant packing and unpacking that is needed. We needed answers to questions like ..... can I still manage the weight of my 15 year old GS with a weeks luggage for 2 people, is Booking.com still good for last minute stays and .... at 50 +10 years older is it actually fun anymore? Saturday was a just a 180 mile blast up motorways to get to see relatives in the Lake District ..... "BORING" but necessary (free B&B) and without drama. Sunday was the start of more varied and more enjoyable riding from Kendal to Durham via Ribbleshead viaduct, Buttertubs pass, Barnard Castle and Durham Cathedral most of which we hadn't done before. No rain plus good overnight stop made for a good day. 100 miles.
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Open your eyes and you see what is in front of you, open your mind and you see a bigger picture but open your heart and you see a whole new World.
Monday .... the hot weather is coming so head for the Coast. Consett area to North of the border via Craster Harbour, Bamborough Castle and Holy Island (33 degrees) before a last minute stay in Coldstream to cool down. Again we hadn't ridden any of this area previously. 110 miles
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Open your eyes and you see what is in front of you, open your mind and you see a bigger picture but open your heart and you see a whole new World.
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