With the Great North Run and other attractions & distractions taking place today this ride was doomed to be a disaster from the start, and so it turned out. NOT!

After waiting for any appearances at Holystone 'til 9.55, Gollum drove his cart along to Geordie Stevo's Cottage on the Great Lime Road to see who was sat there. One car, holding me old mate Arthur and his bike, but no-one else. We gave it 10 minutes then set off for Ryton to pick Paul W up. Just approaching the A69 turnoff Paul rang Golly to cry off, his extremely expectant, in fact a week overdue, wife not feeling too great. So we continued to Chopwell the pretty way, on the north side of the Tyne.

When we arrived at 9.45am, John was already there having come straight up from Middlesbrough where he's been working lately. So we were three. It was a beautiful morning with the temperature about 13 and rising with the sun. We kicked off around ten riding up to the top edge of the Woods to explain the layout and our trail patterns to first time visitor Arthur. Because he was present we put in an a couple of extra singletrack loops down the side of the Golf Course to try and demonstrate the extent of the place. Re-ascending the first climb, we then did the Root Trail steadily, firstly for Arthur's newness, then for John's stiff front forkness, then for Gollum's bare handedness (forgot me gloves, didl I?). And also to make it possible for Terry to take videos riding with only his left hand, including semi-detached thumb from Kielder. That all means we took it easy.

At the bottom of the roots we headed for the Downhill, making sure Arthur was aware of what lay lurking in the field and forest below. No problems, and another video snippet to prove he did it! We continued down to the end of the new section, or section 3, and then faced our third climb to get back up to the car park. Time to hit the Four Stages after a quick lesson for Arthur on where the fireroad crossings were. Golly led off, sliding on the damp roots and leaves, with John in the middle and then Arthur. Again no problems, except for having to wait for a man, a woman and their mutt half way down.

When we reached the end of the run it was 12.15 or thereabouts, so we completed the short, steep climb then fast, steep drop to our favourite riverside lunch stop on the Shotley Bridge side of the forest. We spent a very pleasant 15 or 20 minutes discussing the standard of driving on our roads, or Arthur and John did, with the Gollum fairly quiet and guilt-ridden!

Resuming the ride, we stayed low heading west, and got as far as the lowest point in the whole place when we came across about 50 horses and their very young looking riders. Their leader actually asked us if we wanted to pass, but such is the Gollum's knowledge of how dodgy a horse can be that he politely declined their kind offer and retreated. It was another slog uphill, but the final one, as we headed up to the top end again, going a little higher than the car park just to show Arthur the railway truck standing as a permanent reminder of the Derwenthaugh railway. We took the opportunity of finishing the ride with the short but tricky, and very mushy ribbon of singletrack back to the cars.

So, only three MidAirCateers but a very enjoyable leg stretcher in fantastic weather conditions, covering about the same distance or a wee bit more than our recent trip to Kielder. Terry's bike PC said 9.15 miles, 1 hour 29 mins rolling, 20.1 mph max (yep, that's all!). And back home for just after two.

We'll dedicate this ride to Arthur, so here he is (and Johnny, of course):-

Arturo in Action!        Video1    Video2    Video3

The OTHER job of the day - John's Forks - see this

Keep watching and if you fancy a ride out with us, drop us a line here: bailout@midaircrisis.org.uk