Hadrian’s Way Ride 19th Oct 2008:

The club would like to thank Geoff Williams for organising an excellent and enjoyable ride from Bowness on Solway to Tynemouth, a ride of over 100 miles, the longest ride some of the group, including Geoff, had made.

A 6am start at Stocksfield Station made it something of a long day but it was worth it! The bus trip over was uneventful and after dropping the ‘leisure’ riders off at Carlisle the rest progressed to Bowness on Solway, which is such a tiny place we sailed straight through it before we knew and had to turn back!

The ‘leisure’ riders at Carlisle:

Bowness on Solway - blink and miss it. Daylight at last!

Fuelling up at Brampton:

Posers:

Lanercost Priory and still smiling - or is it wind?

Millenium Bridge:

Millenium twins:

Ton up!

We did it! Where’s the rest?

Club Runs

Like most clubs the staple diet, or bread-and-butter, of members is the weekly club run. This can vary from around 50 miles in the winter to over 100 in the warmer longer summer days and is always something of a social occasion, invariably featuring a lunch stop at one of our favourite cafes, or watering-holes! Behaviour on the road isn’t always sociable of course as there’s often someone feeling frisky and eager to show off his fitness, much to the consternation of the others!

Typically two such groups venture forth each Sunday, one even following a “run list” mapped out well in advance, see table below - this group meets at the Fox and Hounds Wylam at 0900 each Sunday and rides at a comfortable pace. This group often also organises mid-week rides - details to follow.

The other group is less well planned, or spontaneous as we prefer to call it, and often the wind direction decides the route for us. We meet each Sunday at the traffic lights where the Wylam / Greenside road crosses the main road at Crawcrook. Meeting time is usually 9.30am and the rides are fairly brisk. Popular lunch stops (depending on the season) are Chollerford, Allendale, Alston, Rothbury, Bellingham, Falstone, Gilsland and more. Occasionally this group exchanges road for track and goes off in search of off-road antics, just for a change. The ride up the Derwent Walk and Waskerley Way is a favourite, with a lunch stop at the Crawleyside Cafe before the long and fast descent home. Kielder is another popular venue, with its constantly expanding network of tracks and trails - watch the news (home) page for posts.
See the bottom of the page for details of some typical 2007 runs of the “Crawcrook” group.

If you’re interested in joining either group then just turn up; you’ll be made welcome.

Racing

Although we support and promote certain road races, some of which are highly prestigious, such as the Tour of the Reservoir - see our events calendar - we would like to recruit new racers to participate and show off our club strip in these events.

Touring

Most members regularly take part in weekly touring rides all year round to a variety of spots, and it’s not unusual for parties to travel to Europe or further afield for touring holidays or training. The photo below shows a group enjoying a welcome rest on top of Hartside Pass on a recent C2C ride.

Examples of “Crawcrook” group runs 2007, collated by a group member:
date - where to - miles - riding time - ave speed - weather - terrain
30/4/2007 - Allenheads - 60 - 3h 57 - 15.1 - cool - hilly
6/5/2007 - Bellingham - 73.6 - 4h 40 - 15.7 - fine - rolling + hilly
13/5/2007 - Gilsland - 83.5 - 5h 24 - 15.3 - fine - rolling + hilly
20/5/2007 - Gilsland - 78 - 4h 50 - 126 - windy - rolling + hilly
27/5/2007 - Alnmouth - 100 - 6h 30 - 15.4 - fine windy showers - rolling + flat
3/6/2007 - Alston - 91 - 5h 30 - 16.5 - ??? - hilly
30/8/2007 - Gilsland - 95 - 6h - 15.8 - ??? - hilly
5/9/2007 - Allenheads - 75 - 4h 58 - 15.1 - hot sunny - hilly