After ploughing, literally, through the building site, we were on singletrack again alongside the railway tracks, and there followed a nice quick blast along the fence line, with Golly almost coming unstuck in gooey mud near the crossing. Arriving there a few metres in front of John, and easing out onto the tarmac road, he witnessed what could only be described as a typical motorway pile-up, as the rest just didn't see each other stopping in the blackness and ploughed into the back of the one in front. Hysterical. Interesting observation by John, that we don't have brake lights. Stay back, you fools!

Around past the scrapyards it was Paul E's turn to take the lead with Terry 2, as we circumnavigated the fields on the eastern side of Seghill Refuse Tip, over to Hollywell Dene. One or two puddles to avoid but no dramas here, although the pace at the front was a bit eager for those in tow again. After another shouted warning from the Gollum, he led the pack along the riverside to that famous set of steps up into Holywell Village. That's where first-timer Paul E managed to split his cleat fixings in his left shoe (or right). As if to test our brag about no-one ever getting stuck on a ride, Derek produced a tube of Loctite which helped to sustain the temporary repair, although it needed tightening a few times during the ride. A short road burst got us safely down under the bridge to rejoin the Dene. Gollum once more issued warnings here, about the proximity of the river on the left, and the forthcoming tricky climbs. They were both cleaned by the more experienced riders, the rest pushing up. The fast lads got away in front with the Gollum riding shotgun to clean up the mess behind.

This put us onto the bridleway between Seaton Delaval and Tynemouth, and Gollum was surprised to see Derek lead back down into the woods, over a stile! Well, it was after eight, and it was the middle of the night(?). Anyway, crossing the fence, Speedian got into a pothole and his progress was halted as the others got away cleanly. That left him and Golly at the back, a few hundred metres behind, losing sight of the red lights up ahead. So Golly jumped in front of Speedy and the pair proceeded to shoot along the edge of the river. At about nine tenths distance, oh-so-close to the gate at the end, the daft Gollum managed to stick his rear wheel over the edge of a timber sleeper lining the side of the twisting trail, and wallop - Gollum flesh once again met Mother Earth at some speed. He was up quick enough, as he couldn't bear the squeals of glee and unsympathetic giggles from the Speedian, right up his chuff. When we reached the gate, the pain made itself somewhat more apparent. Must have been Gollum's lucky day, however, as the almost-repaired left thumb dislocation from Kielder two weeks ago managed to stay out of the way of the impact points. But you feel such a tit, don't you? And as I hinted further up (read on...) this one was completely avoidable. Because Golly had turned off his headlamp, and turned down the Blackburn X3 to it's lowest setting up on the Waggonway, forgetting to switch it all back on for the total black down here!

A short hop along the road set us back to the riverside again up to the road at the Melton Constable, Seaton Sluice. The we crossed towards St Mary's Island and Derek took us through the coastal path and over to the Island's main car park. Ian and Terry were still at the back after a failed photo shoot thanks to Golly's flat camera battery, and they saw a car coming towards then along the bridleway! "Strange?", they said to each other. When they got right up to it, the car said "We thought you were a car rally coming towards us with those 50 million lights!". No, it wasn't a car, but three like-minded souls going the opposite way.

Derek continued to pull us all along the path, straying onto the edge of the pitch and putt course where the trail is narrow and perilously close to the cliff edge. Then down onto the promenade to the Rendezvous Cafe. That's where terry 2 took his leave, as he lives just a short squirt up the road at Cullercoats, and he was last home the previous Thursday. The rest of us rode up Monkseaton Drive until we reached the Delaval-Tynemouth Waggonway for the second time tonight. Now there are three ways you can get onto this from the road. A trail to the right of the subway leads gently down to it. Another from the left takes you down some shallow steps about two metres apart. And the third is a steep concrete staircase with two vertical flights and a two-step turn at the bottom. That's where Gollum and John went. So what, that's absolutely normal. What's NOT normal is for Ian to take the lumpy route! And boy, did he make it look lumpy!!! Sat between the middle of the bike and the bars, he was way too front-heavy, but somehow pulled it off, including the tricky turn at the bottom. Even in the dark, however, you could see the beads of SpeedySweat on his brow!

It was noe just a haul back up the Waggonway again to the edge of Holywell Dene, where we chose to do it again in the opposite direction. Great fun in the darkness. We all survived it and That's where Derek took his leave, to cut through Seaton Delaval back to Cramlington by road. We trundled up the bridleways to Backworth, leaving Kay at the Blue Bell. The remaining five - Ian, Paul E, Arthur, John and Terry headed back to Holystone. Paul used Speedian's back wheel as a pace marker all the way back, while the other three took it much more steadily. From the Gollum's, Paul crossed to Asda and home to Hadrian Park, while Arthur and Ian had only the Great Lime Road to negotiate for a total mileage of about 22.

Golly's Bike PC said 18.8 miles, 2hrs 4 mins rolling time, 21.4 mph max. Beautiful night, perfect for biking.

Full index of local rides -

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