Thrunton Woods provided today's target for nine of the Merry MidAirMen with Chris K escaping doggie walk duties and Ian B doing the same (too hot for those slightly enormous Newfoundlands) and we had Lee back for more. Steve B got a day pass aswell and these were joined by Mark, Jason, Tim, Chris D and Terry K.

We offloaded the bikes and were ready to ride around 1000 but for one slight problem. Lee had managed to leave the rear skewer from his Trek Remedy either in Terry's garden or his own back home! Futile attempts by Terry to use some Rawlplugs and long screws from Jason's toolkit were sneered at so much he just threw in the towel and started name-calling. One or two other good ideas floating around from the Professor and others but the nature of the trails here and our intended activities suggested Lee may need something substantial to sit on rather than a potentially explosive rear end. However, he managed to get hold of Special Spouse back home via mobe and she very kindly volunteered (at some small cost, we later learned!) to bring the found skewer up from Wallsend. What a woman!

The eight of us who managed to remember all our bits set off from the middle car park behind Terry as he led half way up the rooty singletrack behind the fireroad until the body gave up and he was unceremoniously dumped at the back. Once again Jason showed his strength on his singlespeeder up this reasonably technical, root-infested drag until we all gathered back on the fireroad.

Terry took over from there and ducked off the side of the trail onto the singletrack along the valley floor as Jason shot past it. Tim took the lead above the stream and we followed along the bone dry sandy skinnies all the way to the foot of the Crags. Stevie managed to upend the carbon Stumpy in a slow motion sequence which almost had him swimming. And that left us with a big climb either to the right or left. Left up the Crags was being saved for later by Terry, however, so we headed up north on the sketchy but rideable fence line to the cairn overlooking Powburn way below.

We were guided by Ian for the next section taking the high ground to the oil tank before engaging in some nice fast descents as we searched for more of our past favourites and new stuff, which is where Ian came in very handy later on as he disclosed a few new drops. These are used by the local downhillers who built the trails and we investigated the start of a few deciding to leave them for another time. Just about the whole place was bone dry and dusty, a state we haven't seen it in for years.

Finishing the first loop we'd arranged to meet up with Lee again so we popped out at the top car park from where Steve called him and requested his presence. As punishment for his misdemeanor we made him pedal up the road to us as we sat at the picnic table for a feed.

Time to start again as we took the fireroad up to the Memorial Bench scanning the trees as we went. A lovely fast blast down the lumpy trail from there set us back down again and we headed along the fireroad to repeat some of the initial loop in reverse. Back to the cairn for another rest and then the glorious rapid drop back down to where Stevie upended himself earlier. The only thing wrong with travelling in this direction is what awaits you at the bottom - that dreaded carry up onto the Crags. And to make things worse summer kicked in big style with the sun beating down on us like something from a desert movie.

Half an hour later the last of us reached the peak and slumped down onto the rocks for a well-earned rest. The second phase of Lee's punishment was to distribute all his jelly babies amongst us before we mounted up again and hit the ridge. The first few up (Chris D, Ian B, Steve and Jason) had bumped into none other than our very own Andy, out here on foot guiding a small party of walkers, his full-time job these days as a bike and walk guide. Good to see him enjoying the fresh air and stuff, and so good to meet hikers who don't grimace at you! So we didn't grimace at them. In fact, we all enjoyed their company, and I never thought I'd hear myself say that about bootwearers!

We hopped up and down along the waves along the ridge stopping to regroup as necessary until the final crest was cleared and Jason sprang away out front for that increasingly difficult boulder gully and a glorious end to the Crags. About half of us got down in one go, the dry conditions making it a fair bit easier than normal but still probably the most technical descent in our North East patch. Terry's latest experimental DDG frame took on everything at normal speeds and seemed to have survived so far.

We gathered again at the junction below where he called the others back as they headed toward the wooden bridge crossing, preferring the under-tree route off to the right with its fast, flowing but still tricky slalom. Strangely, all three front runners (Chris D and Steve the other two) had their moments coming down here but got away with it. The dryness of the ferns covering the floor of the trail had made them almost as slippery as the normally wet stuff which came as quite a surprise inducing massive two-wheel broadside slides. Just as surprising was the rate the hairpins arrived at!

We humped the bikes over the tree crossing the stream and waited for the imminent arrival of Andy and his guests, hoping to get some good shots of them climbing over the stream. We did, but unfortunately agreed not to publish them here. Shame!

The final section was to be a repeat of the start, but this time the singletrack was pointing down to the cars. Unfortunately Lee just shot off down the fireroad and missed the opportunity for the second time today, but the rest of us engaged it greedily behind Terry. Half way through the DDG hit trouble. Not the frame, however, but the pesky Shimano freehub losing one of its teeth. Probably due to the deliberate brutality inflicted on the bike at every opportunity since we started the ride. It made engaging drive pretty difficult, especially as it manifested itself on each of the short upward kicks, but it did manage to complete the run to the cars.

So, we've discovered a few more drops up at the top end of the Woods and will surely be back to have a go at them before the monsoons arrive in August. 15 miles. Home around 1545.

Pix here and semi-useful GPS trace here on Google Earth. And here are Mark's pictures - cheers matey!