Sunny ride down to Thorpe Thewles Country Park

This ride was out of the blue, I was at Hutton Henry and when I was passing through Station Town on the way back I seen the National Cycle route sign and thought it would be rude not to get the bike out for a spin. I was going to head north but headed south instead. Its the first time I have ever ridden this stretch of old railway line so did not know what to expect. It was mainly flat and smooth'ish with no big climbs / descents just a few dippers as I call them. It was a quite stretch of line passing only a couple of other people. It was busier when I reached the country park end with dog walkers etc. I thought the line continued on but ended up riding down the side of some rather large steps and thought it was not right. I back tracked and found the route to Stockton down the park drive and crossed a main road. I turned here as I wanted to stop of the old line so headed back up the same way. Again it was very quite but had a headwind this time and it is a slight incline all the way. As for the views there is not many as nearly all the track is lined with trees / bushes all the way. There was some lovely views looking over Hurworth reservoir. I took the Norco Search Adventure bike, as ever is was a lovely smooth comfortable ride. Below are a few pics, enjoy the weather  and hopefully more soon -

Fresh Goods Sunday - Park Tool SG 7.2 Oversized Adjustable Saw Guide

Regular readers of my blog know I just love good quality cycle tools that do what they should do and last forever. Well I have had my eye out for a good quality saw guide at the right price for a few years then came along the Park Took SSG 7.2 oversized guide.
Manufacturers rrp £44.99, I paid £30.23 inc p&p and come with three days of ordering. I have not had a chnace to use it yet but have put it in the vice and tried clamping a pair of forks in by the steerer, rock solid with no movement. Hopefully like all my other Park Tools it should last a life time.
Manufacturers blurb -
Accurately guides a hacksaw to cut aero-shaped seat masts and seat posts up to 2.75" (70mm), as well as fork steerer tubes and other round tubes from 1-1/16" to 1-3/4" (27mm to 45mm). The SG-7.2 features two different cutting slots — standard and carbon cutting blade widths — in a hardened steel body with moulded contact points to protect tubes and frames.
Key Features:

• Accurately guides a hacksaw to cut aero-shaped seat masts and seat posts up to 3.5" (89mm).
• Guides fork steerer tubes and other round tubes from 1-1/8" to 1-3/4" (32mm to 45mm).
• Two different cutting slots included: standard and carbon cutting blade widths.
• Hardened steel body with moulded contact points to protect tubes and frames.

Sunday ride on the old railway lines to Parkhead, Crawleyside.

We got out a little later than normal but the sun took a while to burn through this morning. We picked up the line at Bearpark and headed towards Consett. It was just over 5 degrees heading out and a headwind nearly all the way up to Consett. From Consett we turned left and picked up the line to the top of the Waskerley Way / Parkhead café. It was easy going up as we now had a lovely tailwind. The track surface was lovely and dry / fast going compared to the soft mushy surface from the heavy over night rain up to Consett. We did not pass any bikes on the way up and no one passed us. It was very quiet but once near the top, crossing the moor section it was busy with rides heading down with panniers etc on, must have been on the C2C.
When we turned at the top of the quarry and headed back past the café and down the line we had a massive head wind! 9 miles later we reached Consett and turned right towards Lanchester with a tailwind now. We called in past Knitsley Farm shop / café for a quick cuppa / bacon sarnie before heading back on the line back to Bearpark.
Below are a few pics from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon -