V
vernon
Guest
I have just spent the last weekend and Monday cycling from South Shields to
Bowness on Solway - the Hadrians Wall section of the Hadrians Cycleway. The
route is a clever bit of marketing by Sustrans as most folk will associate
the route with the wall and not its creator.
Friday night I travelled up to South Shields with two cycling companions,
Dave and Lynne and a support vehicle driver, Greg and his three legged dog,
Gemma. From the outset it was determined to be a gentle pootle over three
days from one extremity of Hadrian's Wall to the other and the 75 miles of
from Bowness on Solway to Ravenglass was going to be discarded because of
time contraints. We had a pleasant overnight saty in the municipal campsite
and had a meal in an Italian restaurant. The waiter was a bbit of a way and
it was a hoot to hear 'Why aye man' delivered with an Italina accent.
Saturday morning started with a quick visit to Arbeia roman fort. I was
surprised by the reconstruction of some of the buildings. They were quite
des res. A quick ferry crossing to North Sheilds put us on the route proper
and the well signposted route took us along the Tyne through some of the
industrial heartland s of Tyneside and under the renowned five bridges. The
scenery became more rural as we approached Wylam and the back roads the
route used were very quiet indeed. Corbridge was our second stop of the day
having drummed up near Wylam. Corbridge appeared to be a very affluent town
with shoips catering for women with expensive tastes in clothes and shoes.
A wonderful cake shop had a range of tasty goods which were purchased before
moving onto the campsite just to the north of Acomb. So far the ride was
wonderful. The weather had been sunny and none of the route would
intimidate the timid cyclist. Our evening meal was in the Miner's Arms at
Acomb. The pub served great food and had a good range of real ales. The
landlord was evangelical about his beers and effectively refused to serve
our driver with a lager shandy by giving him a 'better tasting' beer shandy.
Greg was not convinced. It absolutely chucked it down with rain overnight.
Sunday morning didn't bode well. The overnight rain had converted the
pitches into mini quagmires but miraculously the rain stopped around 08:30.
We broke camp and left at 10:00 to be confronted by a persistent headwind
and some long drags that drained my two riding partners. I couldn't
convince them to up their calorie intake as I was certain that their
problems were nutritional rather than fitness. Dave is a runner and Lynne
is a gym regular but both are abstemious with their calorie intakes. The
views as we rode to Haltwhistle were great. Lynne opted for transport at
Haltwhistle but then decided to ride for a further three miles to Greenhead
before getting picked up and transported to Brampton. I was urged on ahead
of my companions if only to keep warm as the temperature had dropped
noticeably. I gotmy first glimpse of Hadrian's Wall on the way to Banks. It
was a bit of an anti-climax but the ride to Brampton was invigorating. We
had our evening meal in the White Lion and used the Brampton caravan site -
it accepted campers too. It's just off the A6071 from Brampton.
Monday started with rain and again it faired up by the time we left the camp
site. The final day's ride was overcast at first and thanks to a navigation
error which found us in some woods, we were sheltered from the final deluge
of the ride. The ride through the woods became a push for mst of the way
for me as my touring tyres could not grip on the greasy tree roots and wet
leaves. The ride onto Carlisle was uneventful apart from a diversion which
tranformed the ride into cyclo cross. I had some ahiry moments with my
wheels stepping out on the greasy grassy path that formed the diversion
around a golf course. Having just made a comment about the superb quality of
signposting by Sustrans, we were abandoned by them as we left the River Eden
but thankfully DAve and Lynne were familiar with the area and we found the
route with little fuss. The last ten miles were a cruise. The sun came out
and ride along the Solway was very pleasant though the three or so miles
from Longburgh to Drumburgh seemed to take an eternity along the straight as
a die road. A celebratory cup of tea was provided by our support driver and
we then set of for a fish supper at Settle.
Overall a great ride taken at a gentle pace - 7 mph. Highly recommended for
a first coast to coast crossing that isn't too arduous. The route is fine
for narrow tyred road bikes though a little bit of caution is needed in
Carlisle where there's a bit of unmetalled surface. I'll be having another
go at the ride next summer when I'll have a go at it completing the entire
route in a couple of days. There's plenty of opportunities to explore the
Roman heritage but more often than not one will have to go off-route to
explore it.
Bowness on Solway - the Hadrians Wall section of the Hadrians Cycleway. The
route is a clever bit of marketing by Sustrans as most folk will associate
the route with the wall and not its creator.
Friday night I travelled up to South Shields with two cycling companions,
Dave and Lynne and a support vehicle driver, Greg and his three legged dog,
Gemma. From the outset it was determined to be a gentle pootle over three
days from one extremity of Hadrian's Wall to the other and the 75 miles of
from Bowness on Solway to Ravenglass was going to be discarded because of
time contraints. We had a pleasant overnight saty in the municipal campsite
and had a meal in an Italian restaurant. The waiter was a bbit of a way and
it was a hoot to hear 'Why aye man' delivered with an Italina accent.
Saturday morning started with a quick visit to Arbeia roman fort. I was
surprised by the reconstruction of some of the buildings. They were quite
des res. A quick ferry crossing to North Sheilds put us on the route proper
and the well signposted route took us along the Tyne through some of the
industrial heartland s of Tyneside and under the renowned five bridges. The
scenery became more rural as we approached Wylam and the back roads the
route used were very quiet indeed. Corbridge was our second stop of the day
having drummed up near Wylam. Corbridge appeared to be a very affluent town
with shoips catering for women with expensive tastes in clothes and shoes.
A wonderful cake shop had a range of tasty goods which were purchased before
moving onto the campsite just to the north of Acomb. So far the ride was
wonderful. The weather had been sunny and none of the route would
intimidate the timid cyclist. Our evening meal was in the Miner's Arms at
Acomb. The pub served great food and had a good range of real ales. The
landlord was evangelical about his beers and effectively refused to serve
our driver with a lager shandy by giving him a 'better tasting' beer shandy.
Greg was not convinced. It absolutely chucked it down with rain overnight.
Sunday morning didn't bode well. The overnight rain had converted the
pitches into mini quagmires but miraculously the rain stopped around 08:30.
We broke camp and left at 10:00 to be confronted by a persistent headwind
and some long drags that drained my two riding partners. I couldn't
convince them to up their calorie intake as I was certain that their
problems were nutritional rather than fitness. Dave is a runner and Lynne
is a gym regular but both are abstemious with their calorie intakes. The
views as we rode to Haltwhistle were great. Lynne opted for transport at
Haltwhistle but then decided to ride for a further three miles to Greenhead
before getting picked up and transported to Brampton. I was urged on ahead
of my companions if only to keep warm as the temperature had dropped
noticeably. I gotmy first glimpse of Hadrian's Wall on the way to Banks. It
was a bit of an anti-climax but the ride to Brampton was invigorating. We
had our evening meal in the White Lion and used the Brampton caravan site -
it accepted campers too. It's just off the A6071 from Brampton.
Monday started with rain and again it faired up by the time we left the camp
site. The final day's ride was overcast at first and thanks to a navigation
error which found us in some woods, we were sheltered from the final deluge
of the ride. The ride through the woods became a push for mst of the way
for me as my touring tyres could not grip on the greasy tree roots and wet
leaves. The ride onto Carlisle was uneventful apart from a diversion which
tranformed the ride into cyclo cross. I had some ahiry moments with my
wheels stepping out on the greasy grassy path that formed the diversion
around a golf course. Having just made a comment about the superb quality of
signposting by Sustrans, we were abandoned by them as we left the River Eden
but thankfully DAve and Lynne were familiar with the area and we found the
route with little fuss. The last ten miles were a cruise. The sun came out
and ride along the Solway was very pleasant though the three or so miles
from Longburgh to Drumburgh seemed to take an eternity along the straight as
a die road. A celebratory cup of tea was provided by our support driver and
we then set of for a fish supper at Settle.
Overall a great ride taken at a gentle pace - 7 mph. Highly recommended for
a first coast to coast crossing that isn't too arduous. The route is fine
for narrow tyred road bikes though a little bit of caution is needed in
Carlisle where there's a bit of unmetalled surface. I'll be having another
go at the ride next summer when I'll have a go at it completing the entire
route in a couple of days. There's plenty of opportunities to explore the
Roman heritage but more often than not one will have to go off-route to
explore it.