Friday 27 May 2022

Quite some 10 miles

I’ve ridden cycles  all my life from teenager to now. London to Brighton, London to Derby ( my pb for distance 115 miles in a day) Manchester to Blackpool and loads of miles in Derbyshire and beyond. Today we had a 10 mile run from the highest point of Hadrian’s wall into Hexam that was quite the best cycling or more to the point freewheeling ! 

Anyhow before that we cycled from our Twice brewed inn ( lovely) of last night to Steel Rigg to walk the wall to the “Sycamore gap tree” apparently the most photographed tree in the country. 


It was quite a hike to get these pictures, I’d love to come back and take some at night with a clear sky in the background …..


The accent and decent was steep…

The Twice brewed inn, a good place to stop 

After our cycling to Steel Rigg, then walking to the gap we rode to the largest Roman fort on the wall ( or just below it ) at Vindolanda. A very large uncovered fort showing all the buildings with a great museum (I am sure you didn’t know I am a published author on Roman architecture - isbn and all !! ) a lovely few hours of education and information. 



On leaving via a small lane we had to manhandle our bikes past a stand off  on a steep hill between a UK motor home ( downhill) and a German car coming uphill…. They could still be there ! 

Then it was a mean climb to the highest point on the trip and Hadrian’s wall 


But from this point on it was a magical 10 mile decent into Hexam with a 20 mile and hour westerly wind on our backs all the way…. Quite the best cycling I’ve done in many many years 


We were routed via the river and railway through and out of Hexam over the River Tyne and onto our destination for tonight in Corbridge….a lovely Roman  town that we explored after our evening meal.



A lovely day or exploring walking and cycling 

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