e2e.bike

Cycling adventures across Britain and beyond

Menu
  • End to Ends
    • Britain
    • Ireland
    • Isle of Man
    • France
    • Belgium
    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Liechtenstein
    • Austria
    • Poland
    • Slovakia
    • Latvia
    • Faroes
    • Cuba
    • Sri Lanka
    • Taiwan
  • Coast to Coasts
  • Yorkshire Ridings
  • Others
  • Writings
Menu
← PreviousNext →

Reivers 1: Newcastle to Bellingham

Posted on 5 April 201220 February 2021 by Rob Ainsley

With my friend Tim I’m doing a double Coast to Coast: the Reivers Route from Newcastle cross-country to Carlisle, returning back to Newcastle by Hadrian’s Cycleway.

We had a convivial evening with Tim’s friends in an Ouseburn pub followed by a cosy Travelodge room with four occupants: Tim, me, and our bikes – his ancient Dawes and my ancient Specialized. They’re our town bikes, more used to shuttling between home and the off-licence than doing grand trans-island Sustrans Routes.

Makes you cross, doesn’t it

The Reivers starts on the Tyneside path, ducking under Newcastle’s impressive range of bridge ironmongery. We headed into the cool, sunny morning towards the promisingly blue sky. We chatted to a Basque touring cyclist – wonder what she thought of geordie – who was doing our route, but lighter and faster.

Bus shelter with style

We peeled off onto the historic Puffing Billy track underneath Heddon on the Wall and eventually found the steep lane up to the village, notorious as the home of Pig Zero in the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.

We resisted making a snowman. There were already too many white males in the party.

Back lanes now, and patches of driven snow which were clear as, er, driven snow. Some friendly local blokes on MTBs gave us some unreliable route advice.

When it comes to the crunch

The beer opportunity in Birtley promised by the OS maps ‘PH’ turned out to be closed, like so many other rural pubs, so sat in the sun and lunched on muesli bars and bananas.

Thanks but no thanks, Dr Beeching

A disused railway offered a shortcut to Bellingham, pronounced ‘bell in jam’, where the pubs were definitely open, as our thorough investigations proved.

The bunkhouse was a farm in the middle of lambing; we had the place to ourselves, and the common room radio was already preset to Radio 3, so it was clearly the right sort of place.

Miles today: 48
Miles since Newcastle: 48

Previous
←   Newcastle: Angel of the North, and other Gormleys
Next
Reivers 2: Bellingham to Kielder →

You are here

e2e.bike > Coast to Coasts > Reivers 1: Newcastle to Bellingham

Recent Posts

  • Ouse Gill Beck: Ouse Ure friend? 25 November 2023
  • Bennerley Viaduct: It’s irony 17 November 2023
  • Pontefract: Liq of the lips in liquorice town 10 November 2023

Random Posts

  • Quirky London 19: Follow a ley line19 February 2010
    Where is it? Trafalgar Square, Strand, and ultimately to Arnold Circus. What’s …
  • Yorkshire Whisky Trail 1: Pateley Bridge to York21 January 2022
    Yorkshire is like a country in its own right. England’s Scotland. We …
  • N: York to Redcar3 April 2017
    The first of my Yorkshire Compass Rides was a glorious day offering …

Search e2e.bike

Find me

        
Facebook • Twitter • Linked In • Email
© 2023 e2e.bike | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme