Wonderful Hosts...Shame About the Wind

Day 28 - 29 Durham - Morpeth - Wooler 49.83 and 44.91 miles

Thank you Martin, Heather and Harry for hosting me for the night in 4 Star accommodation. I would have given you 5 stars if my bags had been carried to the top of the escarpment. However, having had a good breakfast I managed without any problem.

These things work well up here!

Today's route would take me through towns and cities and I had to cross two rivers, the Wear, which was crossed by a bridge and the Tyne which I would use the foot passenger ferry. Heather had suggested the castle route so from Durham to Sunderland. I cycled along the W2W route and then picked up route 1. Apart from ending in a farm yard at one point and then having to follow a muddy track through the woods, which needless to say was poorly signposted at that point, I found my way without getting lost. The route through Sunderland was lovely being off road for most of the time and we'll surfaced. The only problem was the squeeze stiles for bikes, which were too narrow for my handle bars and took a certain amount of skill to get through.

Once in the town I had to find the passenger ferry which had been well signposted up to this point. I asked a bus driver to direct me. While he was giving me lengthy instruction a spotted a finger post which said, ferry 300 metres, when I pointed it out to the driver he said, "oh yes it's just down there you can take your bike on there."

When boarding the ferry I was amused to see one of the cycle route 1 direction stickers on the doorway. During the ten minutes it took to get across the Tyne I chatted to a couple of cyclists who kindly showed me the way once we arrived in North Shields. It was then an easy ride along the coast for several miles before turning inland to Morpeth.

As I arrived in Morpeth I noticed a cycle shop and as my gears needed a bit of adjustment I decided to take it in. I met Kevin my host for the night who took my bags and put them in his car and I was then able to take the bike into the shop. It was put up onto a cycle stand and soon fixed, thank you.

Once I arrived at Kevin and Audrey's house I was waited on hand and foot and wasn't allowed to lift a finger, so I got my maps out and started planning a route for the following day that would take me to Wooler.

After supper we spent the evening chatting until I felt myself nodding off.

Having had a good nights sleep and a huge breakfast, which sadly I wasn't able to finish, I headed north for Wooler. I started the day on a real high. The sun was shinning the wind was behind me and the roads were smooth. It didn't last long. The sun continued to shine but after a few miles I had a strong cross wind and the road surface was rubbish. Three hours later I finally arrived in Alnwick and was more than ready for a coffee, and something to eat. Obtaining a coffee was easy and fortunately Kevin had given me several pieces of cake which raised my spirit.

Cycle route sign of ferry

Me with Audrey

I left Alnwick on what I thought was the road to Wooler and pushed my bike up the long hill into a head wind. Some two miles later and still pushing my bike most of the way I met some people walking their dog and after talking to them I realised that I was on the wrong road. Although I didn't have to retrace my steps I had gone out of my way, it was at this point that I hit an all time low and just wanted to give up and go home! I continued on up the hill and finally came to the turning that I needed and a down hill stretch, which didn't last long and I was soon pushing the bike again.

Once back on track I followed the main road for a while but was soon fed up with the heavy traffic so took a side road. This turned out to be the wrong decision as it was up and down the whole way and as soon as I was able, I returned to the main road.

I was pleased to arrive in Wooler in the knowledge that tomorrow was a day off.

I have been looking at my route for the next week and if all goes well and the wind drops as promised I should be arriving at Ardnamurchan on Sunday week for those of you who would like to join me. Don't expect me to me going at any speed!

You can donate to Toilet Twinning by clicking here