What a better day to take sometime off work, there was a sharp overnight frost and the sun was blazing away from sunrise. I decided to go back up to Weardale to ride the loop I was planning on doing last week. I parked up at Frosterley and took the back lane to Stanhope which was very frosty / icy. I went through Stanhope and turned left after the hospital and over the river to pick up the back lane to Daddry Shield, again this stretch was very icy in places where the sun had not melted the stretches in the shade. At Daddry Shield I turned right, over the bridge and then first left. This back lane to Cowshill was on the sunny side of the valley so it was alot less ice and the temperature went from minus -1 degrees to plus +6 degrees and I was boiling. Then it was the long drag of a climb over the moor before the long descent down to Allenheads. After crossing the Northumbrian border the descent was again very icy in places even though this road is salted. I turned right at the crossroads in Allenheads facing another climb onto the top of the moor before the long descent to Rookhope. This descent was in the sun so alot less icy but I had a headwind! Once through Rookhope I turned left and up another great big climb to the top of another moor before another icy unsalted fast descent to Stanhope where I took the same route back to Frosterley. There was a few more cars out today but not too many. The views from the tops were unreal with hardly a cloud in the sky. All in just under 31 miles in 2hrs 20mins with 2950ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps, route map and short video clips from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon-
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