STAGE 2
Hallbankgate to Hexham
via Haltwhistle , Bardon Mill and Vindolanda fort
I woke to a very misty morning and left Bertie asleep . As I had not planned on leaving too early as Nanny was at work today and I did not want to leave the dogs on their own for too long. Bertie woke shortly before his Nanny had to leave for work , he had a breakfast of toast and strawberries and two cups of tea ( he has inherited his love for tea off his Nanny
We had a game of FIFA which he won as usual and I walked the dogs before packing the bike up.
Although expecting to be in Haltwhistle for lunch . he requested baby bells and haribos to "give him power "
It was noon by the time we set off along the A689 to Lambley ,crossing the South Tyne and pushing up to the old railway line now the South Tyne trail ( still no inner ring despite some fettling ).
The sun had by now burnt the mist off and another hot day was forecast. we reached Haltwhistle shortly after 2pm , with only one mishap Bertie breaking his bell ( what a shame )
At Haltwhistle we made use of the facilities and went proper Audax at the COOP meal deals and magnum ice creams and extra water to make up more bottles of squash for the rest of the afternoon.
The next leg was very hot and hilly , we eventually worked out a strategy for attacking the hills we would give it full gas for 10 pedal turns and get off if we thought we couldn't get to the top, he now realises that I can tell if he is really trying or not.
The roads on this stretch were particularly quiet and even the Roman sites didn't appear to have that many visitors, Vindolanda was a steep descent followed by the inevitable push up afterwards . Shortly the going became easier and once along the river it was a very pleasant afternoon to be out .
Reaching Hexham in good time just after 5pm .Bertie spied an ice cream van at the park so we queued behind a couple of Police officers,
who to Berties amazement didn't have to pay for them ( guess what he thinks might be a good job now )
We had a room at the Station Inn so booked in . took the panniers off and left the tandem inside downstairs.
I was informed that they were expecting a group of 12 cyclists that night .
A cup of tea ,shower ,change of clothes and a text to let Nanny know we had made it safely and we were off back to the park.
There was a cross- fit type course that he had four timed runs at before deciding he was hungry enough to walk into town.
The town centre was quiet at around 8 pm
A 14 " pizza and chips between us defeated us so we took 2 slices back for supper.
The other cyclists had arrived by now and an array of cycles were stacked in the Inn.
The riders told us that we had passed them earlier in the day whilst they were in a pub garden, they had stayed in Brampton the previous night and were going to Tynemouth the following day .
Despite being tired and finishing the pizza off we both struggled to get to sleep as we both live very rurally and are not used to traffic noise .
RIDE STATS
distance 53.54 km
elev gain 514 m
actual riding time 3h 22 min
