Gateshead Flower Show - July 27th - 29th
As usual we attended this show and joined up with the Cycle NorthEast stand. This year the number of free passes was very limited and not enough to man the Sustrans display continuously.
Doug and Bob arived on Thursday afternoon with all the equipment and leaflets etc. and set every thing up. This year we were in a new tent, not in the Village tent as before but in the Food tent which sounded very appetising at first !!
Ron did the first shift on the Friday and a phone call from Ron later that day revealed an unforeseen problem, not being able to hear Ron because of the background noise. It seems the Food tent was also the Entertainment tent with the stage not far away.
Bob & John did a shift each on Saturday with Lindsay doing Sunday. After the show Doug arrived to pack all the equipment up and take it home.
Neil Frier enjoying the Steel Band music !!
photo by Ron Dodd
Banks of the Tyne - August 12th 
Organised by the HCW (Urban) group to welcome two new Rangers and check the route between Segedunum and Quayside.
Starting from Segedunum at 10:30 am Doug, David and Gareth welcomed the new Rangers to the Group.
Mike Winstanley and Les Haddon who also brought his son Manni (age 9 yrs) along.
Both have been assigned Segedunum to Quayside on NCR 72.
Having dodged the rain we set of up river, encountering several groups of cyclists mending punctures, which is odd as there was hardly any glass on the track !! There were the usual "lightly" laden Dutch cyclists with panniers to the front, to the rear and anywhere else they could stow equipment, beats me how thay manage to propel everything along.
Arriving at the Baltic Square where we expected to greet other rangers there were none to be found. Waiting awhile just in case anyone turned up late, we later set off for the Bill Quay Farm Tea Rooms. Arriving early gave us a chance to visit the pigs etc. until the cafe opened before partaking of coffee, crisps and chocolate biscuits, the new rangers were briefed on what rangering is all about.
L-R David, Gareth and Mike at Bill Quay Farm Tea Rooms
Suitable refuelled we set off for the Tyne Cycle Tunnel - here as we ascended the UP escalator we were greeted by many cyclists and Rangers from Wearside going DOWN - they were on an organised ride by Sunderland Council. On the north bank it was time to part and make our way home. During the whole ride there was no rain but shortly after getting home the skies opened, typical as I had watered the lawn last night !! Report by Doug
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