A longer circular route on the lines inc Pontop Pike Transmitter again

 

Well I was up an out early doors for a longer circular loop. We had some overnight rain so the roads were damp on the way out down to Chester Le Street / Birtley on the cycle track. I picked up the C2C old railway line at the bridge where there is a new seat and two sculptures. It is a long and steady climb all the way up to Hownsgill viaduct but I was mainly sheltered from the wind. At Annfield Plain I decided to turn right onto the road at Tesco and head over to Catchgate then Harelaw and up the last climb to Pontop Pike transmitter. By now daylight had come through and it was brightening up. From there it is a very fast decent then over the busy road to turn right and back onto the C2C. At Consett the sun came out and it was now a beautiful morning. It feels like ages since I have had any cycling in some nice sun and it was a real uplift. Once at Hownsgill I decided to keep on going all the way up the new tarmac section to Whitehall carpark where I turned and headed back down to the crossroads junction. I turned right and took the old railway line all the way back down to Baxsters Farm. There was not many others out so had some really lovely long stretches of no slowing down / speeding back up. All in 40 miles on the nose with 1600ft of climbing in 2hrs 53mins. 

You may have noticed in the photos below I have swapped over my wheelset last night and creo is now back on the 700c's. I was totally flying with them on with the tyres aired right up. 

Update on the front Lezyne light- I put it on charge overnight and the green led finally went solid so the battery was full and I have every light mode again. I have ordered a new one so I will keep it for a spare. Also the Garmin heart rate monitor strap has decided to work on todays ride. Not sure what is going on but I have ordered a new one so have a spare when this one finally packs in. 

I have emailed Restrap about the foam packers but not had a reply yet, so wait and see on that one. Oh I have found my spare camera battery charger so slung the broken one. 

Enjoy the snaps below and hopefully more soon- 

A lot of things have gone wrong/broken - the weather is pants - back on Co Durham's lines

 

I had a day off yesterday from riding the bike but had a short walk for an hour in the evening as we did not get the forecasted storm and the temperature was nearly 17 degrees at 6pm! 

I was back out again today for a very early morning spin. It was a bit of a last minute decision so just re fitted my lights back onto the bike last night. I only needed them for the first hour or so before daylight come through. These are my Lezyne ones which I leave on the bike all winter and give them a charge if I use them for a couple of hours. The back one still had some battery life and was working ok but the front one would only come on full beam and no other setting ie flashing etc. Not too worry at least there was some light. Thinking back to Spring time when I put them away I remembered that when charging the front one the led green light would never change to fully charged so it must be on the way out. 

Also my Garmin heart rate monitor strap was not working on todays ride, I have been having a few issues recently with it so I changed the battery and washed the strap but looks like that has give up the as well. 

And the foam pieces that go on the straps of my Restrap Canister bar bag have fallen to pieces so the bag keeps moving around on my bars. I will get in touch with Restrap, see if they can supply some replacements. 

Oh the Specialized Future shock 2.0 on my other Creo had stopped working as well, put a final candle on the cake my camera battery charger has also packed in. 

Right back to todays ride -it was supposed to be red hot, dry and sunny well it was overcast, cloudy, raining and not that warm, oh and the wind is back again. The lines were wet and muddy from last nights rain. On the plus side there was very few others out. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon-