Wheels, Pedals, Person

Today's ride, while a long ride, hasn't been the same kind of tour of Northumberland as the previous two. Rather than following a coastal route, today's ride headed directly into 'Dark Northumberland' which is a name some use to describe the wild and empty parts of Northumberland. My theory being that the heather and bracken than cover most of the moors and hills here give the area a characteristic dark and moody colouring and it's clear that you've entered a wild place. 

But before I left I got a mention about my Festive 500 on Nemone's show on 6Music, which was really nice!

 

I headed up through Alnwick out west towards Rothbury and even before leaving the town it's clear you're not going to have an easy time of it; kicking up into a series of steep and unrelenting climbs. Well, they do relent eventually but the beauty (or curse maybe) of this route is that these climbs are never far apart and it seems that you're riding uphill no matter which direction you go.

The weather as I left the coast was quite pleasant, sunny skies and quite warm, which lead me to the conclusion I only needed a winter jersey and a gilet, although I did pick the bright pink gilet with lots of reflective stripes on; a decision I was to be very glad of when riding the last part back again in the dark. But it's clear here that you're entering a very different place to the coastal roads for many reasons not least of which were the grey, wispy rain clouds shrouding the higher parts of the road. In fact it wasn't too long before I was riding in the clouds and the humidity and chill increased drastically; so much so my breath became huge clouds of white vapour as I rode upwards and upwards.

My plan was that I'd ride to Cragside, a large country house near the town of Rothbury, then go around an approximately 40km loop before arriving back in Rothbury and pick up the road back to the coast, although one end of the loop had been closed by police due to an accident (and had remained closed when I passed a couple of hours later) and the other end, as it turned out, was closed due to flooding; so instead I decided to head to Otterburn Ranges and then turn around and come back. In fact a guy I asked directions from later told me "You don't want to go that way, just head back the way you came". While it sounded like something from a horror film, I took his advice later on and re-traced my ride back the way I'd come.

The road to Cragside was very much a 'climb-descend-climb-descend' type of road and has lots of "Hidden Dip" signs. Of course these are more for when you're driving a car but for me it just meant "Get some speed up, you're about to have to climb back up again". Maybe they'll put those signs out some day. Though after about 30km I arrived at Cragside, a country house first built in 1863 and then extended to form a 'steampunk-style' Tudor-esque mansion, half way up a hill in a pine forest. Cragside generated its own electricity from hydro-electric power and was the first house in the world to be lit by this power source. Clearly water is in no short supply in this part of the world (as was proved today) and by adding the generators to the flow from a reservoir the house had all the power it needed! You might remember me talking about Bamburgh Castle in my day 1 entry and the person that bought Bamburgh Castle and started the restorations was the same person responsible for Cragside too; Lord Armstrong. As the house was closed I stayed for a short while but it was lovely to be back again. Maybe it's the steampunk in me but Cragside is an amazing place and really beautiful and the location for many school trips when I was little.

Only a couple of miles along the road I stopped off at the town of Rothbury to eat some food and warm up a little, although to my dismay the cafe I used to stop at here when out on my bike was closed on Boxing Day. Rothbury sits on the River Coquet, the same river that eventually makes its way through Warkworth and out to sea via Amble Harbour; the location of yesterday's ride. Rothbury though has been around for a long while and it's said that the name comes from a settlement around the year 1100 called 'Routha's Town'. Certainly there is pre-Norman history here and the town has seen it's fair share of trouble including during the time of the Border Reivers, although more about them later in the week when we get to the borders!

Heading off from Rothbury I continued as far as Otterburn Ranges which is the site of a the largest army firing ranged in the UK but also has been the site of many a battle through the years including a huge battle between English and Scots in 1388 from which we get the folk song The Ballad of Chevy Chase. 

Riding out towards Otterburn the road pretty much continually rises and falls and the views (when you're not grinding up a hill) are just stunning. I had my favourite folk songs running through my head and it was a real joy to see the Northumbrian hills again. The most magical moment though was riding at about 40kph with the land falling away to the right towards hills covered in dark brown bracken and shrouded in a crown of fog while a buzzard flew along side me. The buzzard was only about 20 feet from me as we moved together through the hills. Finally it banked away and flew off over the valley.

Time for me to fly home too so I turned around and started the long journey back home...riding uphill again!