On the Great North Trail: Day 2 - South Tyne (including Lambley Viaduct) скачать в хорошем качестве

On the Great North Trail: Day 2 - South Tyne (including Lambley Viaduct)

I like this video of a wonderful day's cycling full of immense variety: the tenuous boggy track on the high and misty moor was followed by the fast minor-road descent to Garrigill and Alston, the flat tree-lined path along the old railway line, the foolish struggle with my bike on the insanely steep stairs around the lovely but not bike-friendly Lambley Viaduct, the steep climb from Haltwhistle onto the bleak Northumbrian Hills where Hadrian decided civilisation ended (and cattle are the principal road users) and finally the ride along the beautifully secluded Forest Road to the village of Stonehaugh - just off the Trail. The previous evening, I hoped to descend to Garrigill before dark to camp there, but slow progress and the faintness of the track made me decide it was much safer to stop riding and camp on the top before it got dark; it was amazing to be safe and warm in my tent in such a vast empty place and (as on several nights of this trip) the stars were awesome when they (briefly) appeared. It was the right decision: the 5 or so miles across the moor took me about 2 hours this morning before I reached anything you could call a road that I could have ridden in the dark (although I did spend some of that time indulging in photography)! After Alston, the railway path (South Tyne Trail) is used in part by the Pennine Way and the Pennine Cycleway but only the Great North Trail follows it all the way from Alston to the A69 near Haltwhistle. I have now done all 3 of those routes and I feel that it is becoming a familiar friend, although I still missed the turning by the chapel and was helped out by a nurse who was visiting the house whose drive I turned into by mistake! That brings me to Lambley. My loaded bike is heavy to push up steps, or even on the steep ground beside the steps. It's not the bike's fault - I am guilty of loading it down with 3-season camping gear, photography kit, heavy power banks and chargers to keep it all running, 1 or 2 days food and enough water for a night and a day out in the wild - and a flask of hot coffee! Some of the bags are easy to remove but others are not. I'm actually quite satisfied that I managed to get my bike past all the obstacles to at least see the Viaduct (even though I couldn't cross it), but it cost me a lot of time and it was almost too much for me with my arthritic hands which are barely able to grip and lift the partially stripped bike. I won't go that way again! My advice is to follow the cycle routes round by road and - if you want - go and visit the Viaduct from the North end although it will take a few minutes to get there and longer if you want to take the path across the fields down to the river (and back the same way). I hope the Viaduct will be repaired so it can be crossed again but, even then, you would still have most of those upward steps to battle with if you want to go that way! The GNT weaves a different route to the PCW north of Haltwhistle, threading through the various escarpments and valleys of the Whin Sill and other rock layers that make up these hills. It seemed to go on for at least twice as long as I expected. By this point in my day my muscles were getting sore and my mind just wanted to sleep (maybe it was doing so already to numb the pain); after each gate (there were several) I found just enough energy to get back on and turn the pedals and each hill meant a slow crawl in low gears. It was a relief to reach the delightful but remote forest road at last - another familiar friend now, almost exactly a year since I first encountered it on the PCW on the way between the Sill and Wooler. It was getting late but that was not really worrying me. Although wild camping is not legally permitted in England, it was comforting to know that, in terms of safety, I was carrying with me everything I needed. After the time "lost" on the moors and stairs earlier in the day, it was over-optimism that I could reach Kielder (and I never saw any sign of those permitted wild camp spots anyway). I was really too tired to make the decision to retreat to plan B (Stonehaugh) until my ageing phone battery decided matters for me. It was definitely right not to take on the forest trails without a map (but I won't say any more about that until tomorrow). I had wanted to check out the Stonehaugh campsite anyway, and having done so I hope to go back there again soon. The facilities were good and I am totally in favour of supporting campsites that support simple cycle camping at a reasonable price - and this one definitely came up trumps for me. Incidentally the music is AI generated (as I have been finding it really hard to find music I like for all my videos without running into potential copyright issues). I wanted to create some Northumbrian sound with the 2nd tune. If you like it you might like to listen to real musician Katherine Tickell and her Northumbrian pipes and fiddle whose "vibe" was clearly being imitated here. I hope you liked the video!