back to Travels page

Jason and Terry picked John up at 9.30 and the trio drove north 15 miles or so to meet five of the Reivers at Hadston Carrs, after the now ritual missed turn and a five mile deviation to Hauxley for no good reason. Parking on the seafront, we eventually got away around 10.30 led by Tom. By the way, you can see what Tom thought of last weekend's Seven Stanes ride at Kirroughtree here.

The weather was strange, very cool in the sea breeze as we left, but very warm away from the waves. It remained cloudy and largely dry during the ride. The sun threatened to break through at odd times but fortunately it didn't do so, as we would have been fried alive.

We were led up the coastal paths following the coastline wherever possible, through Hauxley to Amble via the coast road and dunes, through the town centre and Marina up to Warkworth dropping to the riverside and avoiding the main road. From there we climbed east past the Cemetery towards the sea front bridleway again as far as the southern side of Alnmouth Bay. Here we were forced up to the main road where there's a fairly new cycle track/bridle path alongside the main A1068 Coast Road. We paused here to draw breath (thanks, Suzanne) and Jason set about pumping some air into the Scott MC50's troublesome rear shocker. I watched him do this and couldn't help notice that he kept feeling his rear tyre. Pretty strange behaviour, and he didn't realise he was doing it, but he knows now after the whole group fell about hysterically. Stranger still, as it must have been around 10 hours since his last alcohol fix!

The bridle path (very short video snippet) allowed us to get to the west end of the bridge linking Hipsburn to the seafront, then it was onto tarmac into the little seaside town of Alnmouth. Make that the busy little town of Alnmouth. The pace hadn't been particularly leisurely up to this point with Suzanne and Derek leading the charge most of the way as they had the week before.

Once down the main street we veered off left and, led by Tom, dropped over the side of the road onto the bridleway along the western edge of the golf course where we scared a few of the stick wavers as we went. We were atop the cliffs now at Marden Rocks but had to drop onto the dreaded sand for half a mile to get back on track. The descent to the beach induced the first MidAirCrisis of the day, when Jason, being the first to successfully negotiate the steep drop to the seaside, came to a halt on the concrete pad at the foot of the grassy descent. Not much cause for concern there then, eh? Well, no, unless you happen to be using SPDs and forget you're clipped in! Going, going, gone... He hit the deck on his left side with such a wallop that injury seemed inescapable, but as is most usual with Jay he just shrugged it off and continued onto the sand. What he couldn't shrug off, however, was the dollop of canine expulsion he'd landed in, and the sweet smell of doggy perfume was to remain with him for the rest of the day as he kept on riding through the muck from that point on. Thank you, dog owners everywhere.

We'd just had a few minutes to laugh at his misfortune when a strange figure emerged from the sea - who was this dark, cloaked figure, who seemed to dry immediately, and proceeded to talk about about some commandments or other? Life's a beach video 2MB.wmv

After this short stint on the beach, with the Gollum weeping and wailing about salty sea sand eating aluminium and steel, (Oi! vid 2MB.wmv) we climbed a stone staircase to the top of the dunes again and rode down through a static caravan site emerging on the road south of Boulmer. Through the village, our route once again was coastal bridleway as far as Howick. Just past there, we were confronted by a chained gate across the track to Cullernose Point. A couple of riders had already lifted their bikes over to continue when Yours Truly spotted a sign on the gate:

So I made my apologies and turned back, jumping on to the adjacent road up the coast. It wasn't long before the rest of the squad caught me up, thank goodness. That's not to say I've never ridden on a footpath, but I prefer not to, and this sign made it pretty clear we weren't welcome. Apart from that, we three MidAirCrisis bods were wearing our luxurious purple team livery, easily spotted by the Ramblers association. Mountain biking can easily get itself into trouble without our help. Aahh, I feel better now.

So we dropped into Craster and after a bit of a run-around settled on the back garden of a local boozer where we sat outside in the light drizzle eating crab sarnies and drinking crab vino (not me, by the way) and breathing foul dog farts. It was here that the whole gathering, man for man (not sure about Suzanne) took turns in taking pot shots at the Gollum, with his weight and bone structure coming in for heavy criticism. Maybe partially triggered by my wearing the Northwave Skeleton outfit under my MidAirCrisis top, which I'd removed for cooling purposes only, exposing the bone structure underneath for all to see. This shell I travel in does have its' advantages, such as when crawling into small caves.

After we'd downed the refreshments (cheers, John) it was time to head for home. A short burst on tarmac ( 2MB video) put us back onto the trail we'd travelled up on, and we used the same general route back again with a few more diversions to stay coastal. That meant a longer beach ride north of Alnmouth but at least it was fairly firm most of the way.

We were just leaving the bottom of Alnmouth golf Course again when Gavin got a flat rear tyre, so we stopped at the water fountain at the entrance to the links car park to fix it. It took quite a while as the first attempt failed, with the tyre not seated correctly on the rim - well spotted Jason. While we were taking this enforced break there was much joviality - this all added to the enjoyment of this ride - never thought I'd say that about a Reivers trek!

Tyre repaired, we scooted up into Alnmouth where Derek, Gavin and Tom made use of the Chippy at the harbour, the latter teasing the rest of us with a gorgeous chip each from his platter. By now we were bathed in hot sunshine again after being wetted on leaving Craster for ten minutes or more. We made extra use of the Coastal Path on the way back south (2MB.wmv vid), making the overall time spent on tarmac insignificant (grass video). There were no more crises on the return and we got back to Hadston after six excellent hours of mainly full-group riding and crazy banter. I clocked 34.9 miles but Mick had 38 on his computer so we'll split the difference. I made it 3 hrs 43 minutes time on two wheels (or one) and an average speed of 9.3 mph with a max of 29.5, but goodness knows where we did that! Must do this ride again, it was what a bike ride should be, but the company makes it.

Completion and videos later this week (19th - 23rd June).

photo album of the ride here