Once again Summertime Blues must have attacked a lot of our regulars as only eight (only?) turned out on this very breezy but strangely warm night, Thursday 20th November 2008. Gathering at the Cave again were Alex, Andy, Chris K, Ian A, Richy, Stewart, Terry H and Terry K. Good to have Chris back out after his ground kiss on the Great North Forest ride on the 9th, resplendent in new Giro helmet, of course. Wind always plays a part in our ride planning and to maximise its avoidance we decided to do Gosforth Park and then take another guess from there.
To get there we made a subtle change to anything we've previously done. What? You think we've done it all to death by now? Far from it, as the lads discovered when the Gollum pointed them down a dark lane in Palmersville and into a big field. We'd entered by a sliding gate, but the end of this few hundred metres of grass singletrack (where are you Keith?) was fairly abrupt as the track just ran into a barbed wire fence! At Golly's persistence, however, Ian led off over the fence and into the next field, where we were challenged by yet another fence at the football field. That's when the Gollum decided to head for the nearby ditch, which was 10 or 12 feet deep and the same width with water in the bottom, and a very muddy, almost vertical entry and exit up and down its banks. So that took a while to navigate.
By the time we all got through into the field at the other side we faced a bit of a lumpy damp, nettle-riddled grass slog (where are you Keith?) until the old fool led everyone into another dead end. This one at least did have a hole in it big enough for a human to squeeze through, but never a bike. Oh dear, what to do? To save his embarrassment somewhat, Golly clambered through a nettle and thorn infested jungle to the side of a bridge before managing to scale the fence. Once he'd wrapped his spindles around the top rung he was used as a human crane in a chain to lift all the bikes over the fence. Waiting at the other side was poor Stewart who took the brunt of the stinging nettle field to collect the bikes and sit them on the bridleway we should have been on 15 minutes ago.
The squad then hammered up the trail to Killingworth Village, popping out at the old pit monument, but having to wait for a totally exhausted Gollum to catch them up. Serves him right. We then followed Ian through a little cut into Killingworth Township and out onto the top road. As we approached the Centre, Richy decided his heavy cold wasn't doing him any favours and continued straight down past the Lakes heading for his bed. By this time, Gollum and Alex, who'd been having gear selection and chain jumping problems on his Stumpjumper, completely lost sight of the Speedian who was head-down and away. Luckily both parties saw each others lights at Camperdown and got back together again.
We followed Ian up the road towards Sandy Lane where he stopped at our favourite bridge descent and we tumbled off the side of it down onto the waggonways before crossing the field to the Garden Centre. Time to get down and dirty in Gosforth Park. Now it bears repeating that Speedian knows every leaf and twig in these woods, and for the next hour he proceeded to show us each and every one as we zigzagged through the ripples, ditches, bogs and tree stumps. It was still very muddy but by some quirk of fate, the whole place was covered in a thick blanket of leaves (Autumn, dear Gollum) which managed to absorb or check the sploosh and rise of the mud up our bikes and legs. Unless you stood in it, of course, as several or all of us did more than once.
For some very strange reason, the normally solid and stable Stewart had a hell of a time of it trying to stay vertical as the goo grabbed his Orange wheels and pulled him down at regular intervals. I reckon he's started testing his Hogmanay Home Brew a bit too early this year. The rest of us just kept falling off through sheer lack of skill until the Decree was issued by Golly the Godfather to head out to the Hotel and then north to Weetslade, so Ian took us directly there, no problems - as I said, this is HIS territory!
We sailed up into Wideopen and then continued to follow Ian as he swung into the bridleway leading across to Weetslade Country Park. This is the first time in ages we haven't climbed the Hill but time was of the essence. Speedy took the opportunity to stop for a snack break under the tattooed arches at Camperdown, so we chatted for five minutes there before moving through to Burradon. And we changed our regular route through there also, although it was a wee bit ad-lib until we found our way back onto the familiar Hillheads bridleway as the Gollum discovered a slightly different singletrack path up to the summit.
We had a leisurely freewheel down to the Crossroads to regroup again, then the Speedian took off like a hare down its hole beneath the A19 to the Seghill road. We followed him along the winding lane, once more most or all riders except Golly preferring to risk their lives on this skinny B road rather than the dutifully-provided and very necessary cycle path, put there for our safety! Someone please explain top me why this happens while poor Sustrans are banging their brains out with local councils all over the UK to get more cycle paths built, for US. I'm completely baffled by "our" behaviour. I know most of us are or have been road riders but we, generally, tend to dress in very dark clothing and place ourselves at great risk in the dark. My Goodness ( aka Holy Sh#t ).
We took the direct route out towards Holywell, staying on tarmac through Backworth and turning north for earsdon before hitting the fields again. Next target was Holywell Dene and that beautiful trail through to the Delaval/Whitley waggonway. Ian dropped to the back for a breather as Terry, Stewart and Alex galloped off down the rapid slalom with the others in pursuit. This was really hard work and at the far end Golly collapsed in a heap while the discussion turned to the best way home, again hopefully out of the wind.
We accompanied Terry directly south to the point where he pointed out a short singetrack leading west along the back of Beaumont Park. We emerged half way through the estate and followed the road out to Monkseaton Drive. The plan had been to follow our now-standard route through Murton Village, but in the interest again of staying in the shade, swapped to the more direct approach via Wellfield Estate and then into the eastern end of Shiremoor. So it was road all the way back to the Cave where, surprisingly, we made it for about 10:15pm and a few more miles than usual after more-or-less combining two of our regular rides into one loop of around 20 miles.
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