Road ride through the North Pennines

On a days holiday today so I decided to hit the roads on my Dale Supersix Nano Black for some tarmac bashing. I headed out just after 8.30am and it was still dusky so had both my front and rear lights on. The route was over to Nevilles Cross turn right then straight on all the way to Stanhope, turn right up Crawleyside then the back way to cross the A68 and down to Lanchester, up the Peth to Burnhope, back way to Edmondsley, down to Waldridge, turn right down to the 167, turn right and back home - just under 51 miles & 4000+ft of climbing.
It was a chilly morning with the temperature on the Garmin just hovering above +1 degress at some points. By the time i was heading towards Wolsingham the sun came out so turned off my front light. Once i reached Stanhope it was a quick photo, energy bar & drink break before heading up the first big climb of the day. Once i crossed the cattle grid on Crawleyside Bank there was no shelter from the windy but it was a side/tail wind before i reached the very last climb past Parkhead cafe where it was blowing a near gale straight into my face! once at the top and turned the top corner i had a massive tailwind all the down where i topped 45mph. It was steady ride on the country back lanes all the way to Lanchester with very little traffic, once at Lanchester i had my second break to finish off my energy bar, quick photo and slurp off juice before taking on the secong big climb of the day. The Peth is very steep at the bottom then levels out before a short dip then straight back into the climb all the way to Burhope crossroads where i stopped again for a few quick snaps. Again i had a tailwind nearly all the way down before climbing upto Edmondsley then down hill through Waldridge Fell / Waldridge village and back home into a headwind on the cycle track along the A167. All in a good ride and the road conditions were nearly 100% dry so the bike and myself were clean. More soon -