Ride Report

The Cloughs Cycle the Wall

Our family decide to cycle Hadrian's wall During the Easter Holidays 2009. Peter is 8 years old and Laura is 5 years old.  Sarah & Andrew’s ages will remain undisclosed!!  We were accompanied by back up team of Sarah’s mum Linda and Grandad Norman.  Distances are according to Peter’s cycle computer which don’t agree exactly with the map and also we did a little bit extra from the YHA at Once Brewed to the point at which we left the ride the previous day!

Day 1 - 14.73 miles - Bowness on Solway to Carlisle.

Well here we are safely in bed in the delightful “Nightowl Motel” on an industrial estate in Carlisle. The journey up North went well even though we were much later than we expected setting off. The list was made last night but the packing didn't get finished.

The intrepid quartet set off from a small car park in Bowness on Solway at about 3pm. There was no major ceremony but a few local cows came to watch us go past the fields. Laura was quite insistent at starting the ride with us and we honestly thought she would last about 4 miles.

We had a reasonably strong wind following us for most of the way which made life much easier. Occasionally it got a big gusty and at one point we had a bit of a heart stopping moment when an oncoming bus was blown across the road and just missed Laura. She was a little shaken but carried on. The first 7 miles or so were mainly along the Solway, pretty flat but there were a few small hills which Sarah had to pull Laura up alongside her but the boys managed very well. Saw quite a few walkers carrying their rucksacks and decided we had definitely made the better choice of transport.

After around 5 miles Gran and Grandad caught up with us and offered Laura a lift but she was having none of it so we carried on. Passed a statue of Edward 1st who is apparently buried in the village church which was built using stone from Hadrian's wall - that, so far is the only stone from the wall we have seen. We hope to see more tomorrow!

After a while the cycle path left the road and went onto a path alongside the River Eden. One of those sort of areas where if you look left there is a lovely river running by (if you ignore the odd supermarket trolley in it) and on the right is the back end of an industrial estate.

We probably did about 3 miles along this path which Laura was finding difficult due to the fact that it was rough and she was pretty tired.

Around 3 hours after we started and according to our cycle computers 14.73miles, we arrived in Carlisle and as we came to the first road at the end of the track, who should be coming round the roundabout but mum and granddad!! Well that saved us the price of a phone call and we got the bikes on the back of the car and found the motel. We’ve just been to a nearby pub for tea and as this is being typed, Laura is snoring loudly next to me! We are totally amazed she has cycled so far.

Sore bottom scale: (out of 10)
Andrew – 1
Peter – 1
Laura – 1
Sarah – 1 (But have an achy back after pulling Laura up hills!)

Day 2 - 37 miles - Carlisle to Bardon Mill

Set off from Carlisle at around 10am after a very good cheap breakfast at the motel (just over £12 for 6 of us!) About 100m after setting off, we found the cycle path closed and had to follow a small diversion. The first part of the journey was along the river Eden on fairly rough track with a few nice bridges to cross. This lulled us into a false sense of security before the real cycling began. Today was our very hilly day and also the last day of forecast sunshine. We decided to try and do as much as we possibly could whilst the sun was out so that we didn’t have to do as much in the rain later on. We had forewarned Peter that if he could manage today the rest of the ride would be a doddle. He coped admirably and overtook Sarah going up the hills!

Laura, Gran and GD stayed in Carlise and spent some time in the castle and playground before joining us along the wall.

We had a stop at the Coach Inn around Warwick Bridge for a drink at about 11am. They had a VERY friendly cat and very kindly filled up Peter’s water bottle with juice.

By 1pm we had made it to Brampton and had a butty in the middle of the village. So far so good until we hit the hills. We had a lovely run down past Lanercost Priory and then a massive steep climb up to Banks Turret. This was the very first part of the wall we had seen so we stopped for a while and had a drink and a snack by way of celebration. The next few miles were fairly flat and we saw a number of small mile-castles at the side of the road and a lovely stretch of the wall. After a cuppa at Birdoswald Roman Fort and a meet up with Gran, GD and Laura (suffering with a sore ear. Ahh.) We set off for the last part of todays ride.

There then followed further hills culminating with another really hard pull up to Haltwhistle the centre of Great Britain.

From here it said there was a slight hill before Bardon Mill but by almost 6pm it felt like a mountain! Coming down into the village, our chariot was waiting for us so we put the bikes on the car and rather stiffly got in. It was then a short drive to Once Brewed YHA our base for the next few nights.

The kids are now in bed. Laura’s ear is oozing all over the pillow just to make us feel really bad about not giving her more sympathy earlier. Poor little thing, we’ve dosed her up and are hoping she’ll have a good sleep and feel better in the morning.

Day 3 - 27 miles - Bardon Mill to Nearly Prudhoe.

Well it seems a very long time since we set off this morning. Once we had got to the top of the hill at Vindolanda, there was really steep climb up to the highest point of the ride.

It seemed never ending and our legs seem to be turning to jelly much quicker today after yesterday’s long ride! We had an excellent view of Housesteads fort and a long section of the wall snaking its way over the hills. Not too good for photos though as it was rather hazy. Peter and Sarah decided that hoods under cycle hats were good to keep out the wind which was blowing against us most of today – we don’t care what we look like!!

After the climb, we were rewarded with a lovely long downhill stretch, Peter managed a maximum speed of 23miles per hour at this point much to his delight. As we neared Hexham, we followed a path right next to the railway line and crossed it a couple of times on small unmanned level crossings. Much to Peter’s delight there was a train coming just as we got to one of them so we had to wait at the side of the track as it whizzed past.

We then had a long run through the industrial estates of Hexham before reaching Corbridge where we met up with the other half of the party. It seemed a really nice town with lots of little unusual shops, unfortunately we didn’t really have time to stop and look as we wanted to get another hours cycling in before finishing.

We cycled for another hour and then it started to rain so we decided to call it a day and call for the pickup team. We’d intended on doing 21 miles today but managed 27 so all in all a good day. We’re trying to get extra in while the weather is good in the hope that we can have a day off at some point to have a good look at the Roman sites rather than just riding past them.

Sore bottom scores:
Andrew – 5
Peter – 0 (must have buttocks of steel!!)
Sarah – 4

Day 4 - Nearly Prudhoe to Arbeia Roman Fort South Shields - 27 miles. (106 in total)

4 of us set off in glorious sunshine from the layby we had reached yesterday at a place called Bywell, about 2 miles west of Prudhoe. Laura decided she would join us again but this time on the trail-gator. (A thing that attaches her bike to Andrew’s.) She still has to pedal but at least we know where she is. We planned on getting as far as Newcastle today.

The first stretch of the ride was on fairly minor roads alongside the river but we soon ended up on cycle paths through the country parks. All very easy riding, mainly flat with a few little slopes. We then went on to an old railway line which passed the birthplace of George Stephenson, a little white cottage right at the side of the line.

We stopped for lunch on the banks of the Tyne and then set off again. As we neared Newcastle, we were still off road but on paths that had obviously been created at the edges of the industrial areas to try and make them more appealing. We the crossed a couple of fairly major roads and then followed the riverside path under all the bridges across the Tyne in the centre of Newcastle. Just as we were pedalling along, look who we came across to fix it for us!

Really nice bloke and posed for pictures with us. Peter and Laura didn’t have a clue who he was but we made them pose anyway!!

Had a quick meet up with the fan club just after the centre of Newcastle at about 3pm. We had thought that this would be the end of todays ride but Peter was keen to carry on so we said we’d cycle till 5 and then give up. The last 8 miles seemed to whizz by, plenty of flat and gentle downhill, past a marina until at 4.35 we reached the pedestrian ferry across the Tyne. The next ferry was due to leave at 5 o’clock so with only a mile to go at the other side we decided we’d cycle after the 5pm limit.

We had a steep climb up through a housing estate – Sarah was convinced that we’d gone the wrong way until just between two rows of houses, there stood the re-constructed gatehouse of Arbeia our finishing point. We arrived 10 mins before the 5.30 closing time luckily for Sarah as the loos were still open!! We had a quick look round and some finishing photos and then went for fish and chips in South Shields before coming back to the hostel having finished 3 days ahead of schedule.

We can’t quite believe we’ve got there so quickly and that Peter has managed the whole 106 miles without a murmur. When Gran asked him if he wanted to go back the other way, he even said a big “Yes” – we told Gran she could accompany him and the idea soon got shelved! Laura’s been on a bike for 41 miles and has thoroughly enjoyed it.

We’ll have a couple of nice days now looking round the Roman sites so long as we can walk tomorrow!!

Sore bottom scale:

Andrew – fine so long as he doesn’t have to get back on a bike!
Peter – 0

Laura – 5

Sarah – 4 - no worse than yesterday.