Another spin over the border into Northumberland - Blanchland & around Derwent Reservoir.

 

I was tired yesterday so did not go out on the bike after Saturdays outing to upper Weardale / Northumberland. After a poor nights sleep again I woke up to some sunshine so jumped into my cycling kit and had a drive up to Pow Hill Country Park at Derwent Reservoir. The sun was shinning of the mirror glass water as there was no wind. I had my Creo 2 in my van with the 700c wheels on so opted for a mixed route of gravel tracks, quiet country lanes and some singletrack which was mostly unrideable! I thought the reservoir would have been full to the brim but it was down a good 3ft or so. There was a few others out n about enjoying the early morning sunshine including plenty of fishermen. I did not see them catch any fish though. Again I crossed over the border into Northumberland twice to cross back over into County Durham again twice. The sun soon disappeared and it clouded over, it was not that warm with Garmin hovering around 6 to 8 degrees. Below are a few snaps from the 16.5miles in 1hr 24mins with 750ft of climbing. Enjoy and hopefully more soon but probably not tomorrow as there is rain forecasted for a solid twenty four hours. 

Trail side repair, forgot to replace the battery in the cadence senor, had a spare in my bag though. 

Steady spin around upper Weardale and crossing over the border into Northumberland.

 

Firstly apologies for the lack of blogs this week but I have been off work and the weather has been spot on so I have been catching up with most of jobs outside after the winter months. 

Yesterday after looking at the forecast for today I decided to have sometime to myself and not do any jobs in the morning. I had a drive up to Stanhope and parked up. I decided on a road ride but instead of swapping my bikes over I kept my gravel bike in van but put my second set of wheels in the back. Once at Stanhope I swapped over the wheels onto my 700c x 47mm wheels/tyre set up. Yes not ideal for the road but probably more comfortable and easier gearing on my Creo 2 gravel bike. It was a steady away loop taking in a lot of back country lanes / quiet roads and crossing over the border into Northumberland. There was very few cars or people out for most of the ride. The problem I had was it was 1 degree going up to Stanhope with a ground frost so very cold on the outward leg but coming back in the Garmin topped 17 degrees so I was over cooked. Once I reached Stanhope I stripped off two top layers, gloves and hat then headed to Frosterley n back on the back lane. I called in past the station cafe for a sausage buttie once back at Stanhope. By now the roads and town was busy. 

All in just under 31 miles in 2hrs 18mins with 2900ft of climbing. My top speed was 47mph dropping down into Allenheads. Below are a few snaps, route map & video clip for the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon-