Another depleted squad after Andy, David and John pulled out due to marital pressure, vertebrae pressure and offspring pressure respectively. So once again the Giants of MidAirCrisis bundled a Scott and a Barracuda onto the car and headed north towards Wooler, where the intention was to do a nice steady XC ride around Wooler Common without body armour. We ended up stopping a few miles short of Wooler as the sun had emerged from dark grey skies, leaving the main A697 just north of Powburn to the Ingram Valley visitor centre car park at Ingram Farm.

It was a fairly cool 2 degrees but dry as we offloaded and after Terry had a quick look at the map in the car park we were gone looking for a Bridleway "off to the left". There it was, just past the farm, so Jason led into the greenery.

He continued to lead for some time, as the terrain got steadily steeper, and the sheep formed a guard of honour for us as we headed up, believe it or not, Ewe Hill. This started fairly hard and seemed to continue that way. This green carpet you see here soon turned into a dual track and got fairly boggy in places but it was mainly the cold that affected our progress, or maybe that's an excuse. At this point the sun had gone and we were headed into the cold Northumbrian mists, but visibility was never a problem and what we could see of the scenery was superb.

Whose house is this?

Jason tries to heat his face up Where to now?

Hiking and walking is what the Ingram Valley is most famous and popular for, and it wasn't long before we came up against a slowly moving human road block so we waited and had a good hammer down this bit, taking our chances when we could for some downward enjoyment. We did have a slight problem with Jason's rear brake being slightly frozen and powerless, and Terry's just not working for the last month - too wrapped up with his new Coiler to fix it, I would say! When we got past the morons , sorry happy hikers we had to haul the bikes under some fallen trees after dragging them  up from a stream crossing A bit further on we discovered what the locals feed on then Jay restarted his love affair with the Scott MC50

so I took some pics of the 'Cuda and the fabulous Northumberland landscape Barracuda gets ready to attack the valley drop and here goes Jason... This was a brilliant terraced drop diagonally down the hillside - no video but we both fell trying to stay leaned into the hill on a very narrow ledge, and we're going back for another go some time with the Big Bikes and armour. At the edge of this stretch we even got a bit of forestry to drop through - this was scarily fast with odd branches poking your eyes out. Back onto more bridleways across farmland at Chesters and Alnham Moor we managed to take the long route to where we ended up, the hamlet of Linhope, but it brought another fast drop into someone's kennels where about a dozen barking dogs were just dying to rip us to shreds, and there were discharged shotgun cartridges all over the ground. Some more bridleway followed after leaving the village but we took a wrong turn and ended up on tarmac again. This took us over Greensidehill  on a steady, fast road descent until we hit the valley floor, following the River Breamish. We stopped here for our last bite and then rode, partially frozen now, over the bridge at Brough Law and finally back to Ingram. We'd covered just over 9 miles that felt like fifty in about 3 hours and were home at 2.30pm, good job done.

Just take a look at the profile off the route from the GPS and surely you'll agree with me! (yes, we went from left to right).

All of the outward ride was on Bridleways with a little bit of "where the heck are we now?" thrown in and a couple of fences to lift the bikes over. There are so many splits in the bridleways that it's easy to take the wrong one without a map. We'd made a late decision to come here so had no map but did have fresh Duracells in the GPS so no chance of getting proper lost (he says).

There's a lorra lorra riding available out here, comfortably centred on Ingram, so I'm gonna christen this ride Hartside Hill, as it's my game or I'm not playing. I'm sure we'll have a few more names to add before the year's out.

Here are the route details in GPS text format

Waypoint,,Distance,,Position,,Elevation,,Leg
WP01,,0,,NU 01705 16369,,394 ft,,112øT 206 ft
WP02,,206 ft,,NU 01764 16345,,394 ft,,243øT 0.45 Mi
WP03,,0.489 Mi,,NU 01115 16018,,466 ft,,212øT 344 ft
WP04,,0.554 Mi,,NU 01058 15930,,502 ft,,143øT 622 ft
WP05,,0.672 Mi,,NU 01171 15777,,541 ft,,237øT 0.307 Mi
WP06,,0.979 Mi,,NU 00752 15512,,731 ft,,235øT 748 ft
WP07,,1.12 Mi,,NU 00564 15383,,796 ft,,197øT 565 ft
WP08,,1.23 Mi,,NU 00512 15218,,839 ft,,224øT 0.304 Mi
WP09,,1.53 Mi,,NU 00170 14867,,955 ft,,159øT 452 ft
WP10,,1.62 Mi,,NU 00219 14738,,940 ft,,239øT 676 ft
WP11,,1.74 Mi,,NU 00041 14633,,920 ft,,262øT 801 ft
WP12,,1.9 Mi,,NT 99798 14602,,846 ft,,066øT 38.8 ft
WP13,,1.9 Mi,,NT 99809 14606,,851 ft,,264øT 174 ft
WP14,,1.94 Mi,,NT 99756 14602,,833 ft,,075øT 32 ft
WP15,,1.94 Mi,,NT 99765 14604,,837 ft,,273øT 0.287 Mi
WP16,,2.23 Mi,,NT 99303 14635,,656 ft,,335øT 473 ft
WP17,,2.32 Mi,,NT 99244 14767,,694 ft,,155øT 43 ft
WP18,,2.33 Mi,,NT 99249 14755,,690 ft,,265øT 0.316 Mi
WP19,,2.64 Mi,,NT 98740 14717,,832 ft,,048øT 11.8 ft
WP20,,2.65 Mi,,NT 98743 14719,,831 ft,,286øT 519 ft
WP21,,2.74 Mi,,NT 98590 14764,,885 ft,,120øT 15.4 ft
WP22,,2.75 Mi,,NT 98595 14762,,884 ft,,015øT 771 ft
WP23,,2.89 Mi,,NT 98657 14989,,857 ft,,237øT 734 ft
WP24,,3.03 Mi,,NT 98467 14869,,912 ft,,320øT 91 ft
WP25,,3.05 Mi,,NT 98449 14891,,911 ft,,190øT 23.9 ft
WP26,,3.05 Mi,,NT 98448 14884,,912 ft,,090øT 8.88 ft
WP27,,3.06 Mi,,NT 98451 14884,,912 ft,,293øT 155 ft
WP28,,3.08 Mi,,NT 98407 14903,,912 ft,,209øT 18 ft
WP29,,3.09 Mi,,NT 98404 14898,,915 ft,,305øT 148 ft
WP30,,3.12 Mi,,NT 98368 14924,,878 ft,,150øT 8.99 ft
WP31,,3.12 Mi,,NT 98369 14922,,881 ft,,316øT 32.3 ft
WP32,,3.12 Mi,,NT 98362 14929,,871 ft,,234øT 27.2 ft
WP33,,3.13 Mi,,NT 98356 14924,,871 ft,,297øT 50.2 ft
WP34,,3.14 Mi,,NT 98342 14932,,854 ft,,254øT 747 ft
WP35,,3.28 Mi,,NT 98122 14870,,776 ft,,150øT 18 ft
WP36,,3.28 Mi,,NT 98125 14865,,786 ft,,291øT 0.591 Mi
WP37,,3.87 Mi,,NT 97234 15209,,645 ft,,009øT 190 ft
WP38,,3.91 Mi,,NT 97244 15266,,641 ft,,294øT 0.214 Mi
WP39,,4.12 Mi,,NT 96930 15410,,711 ft,,025øT 60.9 ft
WP40,,4.14 Mi,,NT 96938 15427,,720 ft,,236øT 42.6 ft
WP41,,4.14 Mi,,NT 96927 15420,,712 ft,,034øT 47.3 ft
WP42,,4.15 Mi,,NT 96935 15431,,720 ft,,342øT 295 ft
WP43,,4.21 Mi,,NT 96908 15517,,727 ft,,048øT 23.7 ft
WP44,,4.21 Mi,,NT 96914 15522,,727 ft,,270øT 8.88 ft
WP45,,4.21 Mi,,NT 96911 15522,,727 ft,,116øT 209 ft
WP46,,4.25 Mi,,NT 96968 15494,,730 ft,,304øT 209 ft
WP47,,4.29 Mi,,NT 96915 15529,,727 ft,,048øT 11.8 ft
WP48,,4.3 Mi,,NT 96918 15532,,728 ft,,270øT 13.3 ft
WP49,,4.3 Mi,,NT 96914 15532,,727 ft,,038øT 538 ft
WP50,,4.4 Mi,,NT 97016 15661,,722 ft,,349øT 668 ft
WP51,,4.53 Mi,,NT 96979 15861,,727 ft,,358øT 274 ft
WP52,,4.58 Mi,,NT 96977 15945,,699 ft,,273øT 0.224 Mi
WP53,,4.8 Mi,,NT 96615 15969,,775 ft,,263øT 0.215 Mi
WP54,,5.02 Mi,,NT 96271 15931,,807 ft,,090øT 13.3 ft
WP55,,5.02 Mi,,NT 96275 15931,,810 ft,,349øT 294 ft
WP56,,5.08 Mi,,NT 96258 16019,,740 ft,,059øT 521 ft
WP57,,5.17 Mi,,NT 96396 16101,,734 ft,,337øT 433 ft
WP58,,5.26 Mi,,NT 96344 16222,,774 ft,,082øT 748 ft
WP59,,5.4 Mi,,NT 96571 16253,,811 ft,,270øT 17.8 ft
WP60,,5.4 Mi,,NT 96565 16253,,810 ft,,131øT 11.8 ft
WP61,,5.4 Mi,,NT 96568 16251,,809 ft,,253øT 27.8 ft
WP62,,5.41 Mi,,NT 96560 16248,,807 ft,,054øT 0.243 Mi
WP63,,5.65 Mi,,NT 96879 16475,,873 ft,,102øT 518 ft
WP64,,5.75 Mi,,NT 97034 16442,,870 ft,,239øT 15.4 ft
WP65,,5.75 Mi,,NT 97030 16439,,870 ft,,108øT 0.174 Mi
WP66,,5.93 Mi,,NT 97297 16351,,850 ft,,284øT 32 ft
WP67,,5.93 Mi,,NT 97288 16353,,851 ft,,156øT 34 ft
WP68,,5.94 Mi,,NT 97292 16343,,849 ft,,212øT 65.3 ft
WP69,,5.95 Mi,,NT 97281 16327,,847 ft,,182øT 462 ft
WP70,,6.04 Mi,,NT 97274 16186,,830 ft,,319øT 20.5 ft
WP71,,6.04 Mi,,NT 97270 16191,,830 ft,,082øT 0.739 Mi
WP72,,6.78 Mi,,NT 98453 16348,,655 ft,,083øT 0.423 Mi
WP73,,7.2 Mi,,NT 99131 16421,,556 ft,,094øT 792 ft
WP74,,7.35 Mi,,NT 99373 16402,,508 ft,,031øT 515 ft
WP75,,7.45 Mi,,NT 99456 16536,,492 ft,,319øT 41.1 ft
WP76,,7.46 Mi,,NT 99448 16546,,495 ft,,063øT 800 ft
WP77,,7.61 Mi,,NT 99668 16653,,486 ft,,200øT 25.1 ft
WP78,,7.62 Mi,,NT 99665 16646,,488 ft,,059øT 645 ft
WP79,,7.74 Mi,,NT 99835 16746,,476 ft,,336øT 34 ft
WP80,,7.75 Mi,,NT 99830 16756,,476 ft,,180øT 31.3 ft
WP81,,7.75 Mi,,NT 99830 16746,,476 ft,,037øT 29.4 ft
WP82,,7.76 Mi,,NT 99836 16753,,476 ft,,253øT 27.7 ft
WP83,,7.76 Mi,,NT 99828 16751,,476 ft,,000øT 7.82 ft
WP84,,7.76 Mi,,NT 99828 16753,,476 ft,,150øT 36 ft
WP85,,7.77 Mi,,NT 99833 16744,,476 ft,,250øT 23.5 ft
WP86,,7.77 Mi,,NT 99826 16741,,476 ft,,109øT 23.5 ft
WP87,,7.78 Mi,,NT 99833 16739,,477 ft,,336øT 34 ft
WP88,,7.79 Mi,,NT 99829 16749,,476 ft,,180øT 7.82 ft
WP89,,7.79 Mi,,NT 99829 16746,,476 ft,,090øT 8.87 ft
WP90,,7.79 Mi,,NT 99832 16746,,476 ft,,270øT 4.44 ft
WP91,,7.79 Mi,,NT 99830 16746,,476 ft,,097øT 824 ft
WP92,,7.95 Mi,,NU 00080 16713,,476 ft,,129øT 0.228 Mi
WP93,,8.17 Mi,,NU 00367 16481,,461 ft,,106øT 0.256 Mi
WP94,,8.43 Mi,,NU 00762 16362,,442 ft,,126øT 0.244 Mi
WP95,,8.67 Mi,,NU 01079 16128,,424 ft,,074øT 0.451 Mi
WP96,,9.12 Mi,,NU 01781 16324,,394 ft,,281øT 118 ft
WP97,,9.15 Mi,,NU 01746 16331,,394 ft,,010øT 127 ft
WP98,,9.17 Mi,,NU 01753 16369,,394 ft,,271øT 162 ft
WP99,,9.2 Mi,,NU 01703 16370,,394 ft,,

our next ride with the Reivers 23rd July 2006

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