This is the pub, by the way, and Thursday is Curry Night! £6.75 per person, including a drink.
http://www.blacksmithsarms-pls.co.uk/index.php/thursday-curryIt's an auspicious name for a boozer - I think it'll be the third Blacksmith's Arms we've patronised.
Note to self: call pub to find out when they stop serving food.
My planned route to the pub is something like
This. There is some potential for gentle COR, though there's one bit which nearly always floods. I might check it out one night this week.
(There are actually two or three cracking off road routes from Darlo to Aycliffe, but as Patches Lane, Catkill Lane (I'm not making that name up, btw) and the loosely-connected paths and bridleways behind Beaumont Hill tend to be quagmires in all except the driest of summers, we'll give those a miss)
Coming back to Darlo, it's a relatively simple 9 miles back down the A167. We can take the detour through Brafferton to add some hills and bridges, and to avoid the scary roundabouts at Aycliffe Industrial Estate, and at the A1-A167 junction. The sightlines at the sliproads coming off the A1 are appalling at that roundabout.
There's also a longer route back through Great Stainton, if we have time and the inclination. We could also head to the pub that way, I suppose, but those roads are horrible rat runs for large parts of the day.
So, anyone except me and Tiermat? I'm working on crusty (and LG by proxy).
And what time are we meeting?
The meeting place, as is usual for Darlo rides, is the Victoria Road entrance at Darlington Bank Top Station (just underneath the station clock, and through the subway from the platforms).
