Sunday August 21st was a fabulous day, hot, clear and sunny. Only three of us available to restart proper activities after what seems ages without a decent ride. We did Hexhamshire Common, a 21-miler featured in MBR magazine a while ago. It's a fairly strenuous loop when you've been off the bikes a while but the weather helped make it a great ride.

We started at Whitley Chapel between Corbridge and Slaley where Golly's mother and step-dad used to run the Fox & Hounds pub in the seventies - it's just a house now. It wasn't long before we were climbing up rough stone Bridleway tracks but that's what we were looking for.   The ride was a mixture of B-roads, roughish singletrack over grass and heather   and later an amazing yellow Dolomite ribbon 20 feet wide laid out over the highest part of the Common. The Martians should be able to see this OK. It was on this very stoney strip of trail that Jason almost up-ended.

We had to fight through squadrons of specially-trained Battle Flies over the first 5 miles on the moors through East Allen Dale, but I think we all escaped unblemished. We stopped for a lunch break on the East Allen riverbank at Spartylea, then over the Allenheads road onto a steep uphill over grass for a couple of miles. We were passed here by three Enduro - type motorbikers who made the climb look easy! It wasn't, and we walked most of it until Jason mounted for the final few hundred metres up to the Dolomite road.

This took us over Allendale Common and Hexhamshire Common all the way down an exciting, fast and very bumpy, even with 6 and 7 inch suspension on all three bikes , yellow trail to the B-road at Harwood Shield. Another section of tarmac uphill led us to the final road descent back into Whitley Chapel, but not until after we were accosted by a black leather-clad female motorbiker. God, did she have me scared. Tatoos and everything pierced. Anyway, we couldn't help her as we were too tired. The 20-something miles took us 4 hours with a good half hour lunch stop and a fair bit of fell walking. Just ran out of water in the Camelbacks before we got back to the car.

not another gate! which way now?

wheeee! heads or tails? Jay has a bee in his pants