A loop taking in five of the six reservoirs in Upper Teesdale

 

Well it was time to do some exploring and look for some of Northumbria Water Boards reservoirs in upper Teesdale. I have been looking at Google maps for a while and I had my Cannondale Synapse Neo in my van so I thought I would give it a bash. There are five out of the six reservoirs pretty close to each other but with them being in the middle of no where I was not sure if I could link a road loop together. It started off damp with a sleet shower on the way out of Barney. The sun came out so decided to go for it. First problem even before I slung my leg over the bike - I took my mtb winter boots with spd cleats. I have Shimano road spd pedals on Synapse Neo now. So, I have a spare of road shoes in the van - ggrr I still had my old Time cleats fitted not spd sl cleats. So after some head scratching I had a look through my spare parts in my tool box and found some old Ritchey mtb spd pedals - swapped them over and I was finally off. The roads were starting to dry with the strong wind and sun. As I thought there was plenty of climbing but nothing too steep or long. I had a couple of dead ends but not too worry all part of the fun! As I was in the middle of no where there was very few cars or the country lanes. All the roads were new to me apart from the return leg on the B6277 road from Middleton in Teesdale to Barney. Just as well it was a clear day as the views were unreal. Just goes to show you after riding around Co Durham for over 40 years there are still miles and miles of roads, lanes and tracks I have never ridden before. I have ridden a lot more on the Weardale side but not Teesdale side. 

So I have ticked off the following five reservoirs which was more than I was expecting but I just kept my head down, had to for the wind! - 1st - Hury, 2nd Blackton, 3rd Balderhead, 4th Grassholme and 5th Selset. Below are a few photos from the 25 mile loop with 2400ft of climbing. Also a short video clip at the bottom. Enjoy and hopefully more soon - 

Ps time to start planning a loop for the last reservoir in Teesdale- Cow Green.  

Snow on the hill tops in the distance