Part 3 - Kielder Lakeside Way - North + South inc summary

The first ride of the morning was just the right temperature for me, cool! At least the cloud and wind kept the killer Kielder midge away. I started at the Castle end on the North side of the Lakeside way heading to the dam. The trail had loads of tyre marks considering it was the first day it had officially reopened! I though it would have been overgrown, debris all over the track but it was nice and clear. That was until where the Osprey blue joins in from the left, after that I could only see a couple of tyre tracks and track is down to a couple of feet wide in places now. There are loads of sections where the top has washed off over the winter months as well. Nature is defo taking back over again with no maintenance since it was first laid. Once at the dam I took some photos before crossing the dam and picking up the south side. This side sees a lot more traffic so the track is still a good width but again quite a few sections have been washed out. There are a couple of new signs as well. They could sill do with installing a few more at junctions where there are various ways to go and no arrow. All the gates were open along the South side so it was a clear run. I never seen a sole until right at the end where there was one walker taking a selfie. All in just under 25 miles with two short diversions - The footpath on the Belling peninsula, leading to the Wave Chamber artwork, is closed due to damage from recent works. The footpath will be reinstated soon and a short section at Lewisburn is closed due to a land slide. I covered the loop in 1 hour 51 mins with 1800ft of climbing, the battery started at 99% and there was 41% left at the end. Below are some snaps from the loop, enjoy and hopefully more soon -

Summary - I covered just under 44 miles in 3 hours 48mins ride tide and climbed nearly 4700ft. If i took my spare bosch battery for the Cube mtb would have done the Osprey blue which has a big diversion at the start and looks alot better ride than the official route of going out miles on the forest drive and turning right and along the never ending fire road.