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Day 10 - 16th June 2015
Ponteland to Guisborough
110.2 kms - 68.5 miles
My supporter for today who has very generously donated to
The Fred Hollows Foundation
is my local bike shop and GIANT agent
REDCLIFFE CYCLES.
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110.2 kms (68.55 miles)
Highest Point - 151 metres - 495 ft |
Up - 840 metres - 2756 ft
Down - 795 metres - 2608 ft |
Day 10 - Ponteland to Guisborough
This was a day that has had me worried since the very early days of my planning. It seemed suddenly I would be reaching an area of dense population and considerably more traffic than I have encountered so far. Also lots of urban areas as opposed to beautiful countryside, passing through pretty little villages. With such towns as Newcastle, Gateshed, Washington, Sunderland, Durham, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and many many smaller towns, I shudder to think what the total population in this area might be. Anyway – if we want to get to Scarborough – we have to get through this lot first!!!
I looked at several different routes through here, and all came up with various “issues”. Whether to keep east, take a central route or stay more west were all studied. I’ll never know what the other options would have been like, but I make a call and stuck to it. It turned out to be more mentally stressful than physically so!!
Our “morning talk” and study of the map got us all on the same page. First meet-up point would be at Angel of the North – again something I had seen on TV and wanted to see in real life. Second meet-up at Houghton-le-Spring and from there we would decide where to meet one more time before our destination for the night. I knew the difficulties we had riding through Sydney – I was expecting this to be a lot worse – (but certainly not hotter than the 40 degrees we had then)! I don’t think dehydration is going to be an issue here!!
I had done a bit of work on the net the previous evening and booked accommodation at The Fox and Hound at Guisborough – about 10 kms further than my original plan for the day, but hopefully clear of all the densely populated areas. I was mentally psyched that today would be my longest day in the saddle so far at about 110 kms, taxing mentally finding my way through urban areas, and that depending how I was progressing that I may take the "easy" option from a navigational point of view and ride on the busy A19 dual carriage-way – but of course dependant on how much traffic there was. Certainly a lot of “unknown” as to exactly how busy it would be! At least we had a bed organised – just had to get there!!
Setting off from Ponteland I hadn’t realised how close we were to Newcastle Airport. I hooked up with another cyclist and followed him along bike paths in the general direction of Newcastle – the plan on my little notepad had me going through Gateshead. For a short period of time I needed to be on the extremely busy A1 ring road as the bike path had me a bit too far east. As I went to go on the A1 - signs saying no cyclists as there were road-works and cyclists not allowed until completed - August 2016!! Oh no – I didn’t have a “B” plan – and “diversion” signs for cyclists just don’t exist!!! I had to rely on my internal compass and hope I was heading in the right direction.
I think there are about 10 bridges across the River Tyne and I had wanted to go on the most recent - the Gateshead Millenium Bridge. Unfortunately I was way west of this and ended up on the Redheugh Bridge (I think) which wasn’t nearly as impressive as the pics I had seen of the Millenium Bridge. Not to worry – these things happen!! I have to admit to becoming a little bit lost so asked a guy at Gateshead Peugot dealership. I couldn’t have picked anyone better!! It turned out he did a lot of cycling in the area, and he directed me to Saltwell Rd and told me to follow, follow follow it telling me exactly where it would be hilly – and that I would eventually meet the A167 and would see the place I was aiming for – the Angel of the North. His directions were absolutely spot on – and it was a huge relief to see the Angel and catch up with Pat and Pauline. Their trip to this point hadn’t been too great either as they had copped all the roadworks on the A1 ring road and had long queues and delays. With the roadworks ongoing to August 2016 – patience is needed in that area for another year!! It will be interesting to see how they include cycle lanes in this new construction.
The Angel of the North was stunning – so big – it had looked that in pictures, but it is something else seeing it in real life. It is very difficult to photograph completely and there is a well-trodden path down the hill which indicated the best option. I was so glad I had made this as a meet-up point.
As well, it was a relief to have made this first quarter of the day – and the next bit didn’t look too bad as we headed south-easterly for “Houghton” a town I wanted to stop at as we think of our extremely kind neighbours and good friends James and Di Houghton who certainly make it a lot easier for us to be away from our home on these rides. Thank you James and Di.
I felt this section of the ride was almost a “reward” to make up for the horribleness of the first section. In contrast the roads were quiet – the joy of having a big “M” motorway nearby that all the traffic heads for. Continuing on the A167, A183 and then on the A1052 was very pleasant indeed. I was again tootling along through countryside and small villages with pretty window boxes and flower beds that gave life to what generally were dull coloured brick and stone homes - rows and rows of them that all look alike. I kept imagining trying to get home from school as a little kid - how do they recognise which house is theirs - they all look alike?? It seemed to take no time to travel that 25 kms - and I had closed in on Houghton. Time to stop for some photo’s a catch up with the crew and a decision on where to meet next.
A study of the map and it looked like Elwick was about halfway between our current location and our end point for the day – about 60 kms to go in total. There were a couple of options – to continue down the A182 and take the B1280 – or to continue on and go on the A19 – a dual carriageway. As it was all an “unknown” – I wasn’t too sure what to do for the best. In the end I decided to give the A19 a go. My experience to date on dual carriageways had been good, and some of the lesser roads in busier areas had been rather hectic with narrower roads, traffic stopping and starting, turning etc etc. that could cause progress to be very slow. So rightly or wrongly – off I went. I have to admit that the names of some of the places amused me. How would you like to live in “Hetton-Le-Hole”
On reaching the A19 – it was a bit like – WOW!! Very busy is an understatement, and at least every second vehicle was a truck. There was a “shoulder” not wide by Australian standards but the widest I had encountered to date. So off I went!! I’ll admit – not the most pleasant ride – but uppermost in my thoughts was to clear this densely populated area and get back into the countryside as fast as possible!! I wouldn’t recommend this part of the ride to anyone. While there have been many times riding in the countryside I have missed the company of Annie and Don – if we were together on this section – it needed full concentration on what you were doing and would have been difficult to look out for each other. On and off ramps in particular – frequently double laned, and the traffic moving at terrific speed. These weren’t signed for cyclists like they were between Sydney and Brisbane – but I applied the same principles to safely negotiate this madness - often taking the safer option and dismounting and walking across.
I knew Pat and Pauline would be about 25 kms along the way and would hopefully find somewhere to have a bite of lunch at as I was starting to feel a bit hungry. It was a great relief to spot the little white Vauxhall Astra at a “P” pull off area and I was able to get a banana. We hadn’t seen any other eating places. However – just after pushing on there was a service centre so we pulled in and had a Subway for lunch. I must say my “sub” was very welcome and tasty – but the salad option that Pauline chose while looking lovely in the pictures – left a lot to be desired!!!!
Fed and watered and with another 30 – 35 kms to go Pat and Pauline headed for Guisborough to find and check in at the hotel. I decided to continue to battle away along the A19 until the A174 junction when hopefully I would be on quieter roads for the final 10 kms to Guisborough. Not too far along I felt great joy as a cycle path alongside the road appeared. This continued for quite some distance, and although it took me in quite a weird way through some massive and hugely busy round-abouts – it certainly felt a lot safer and I was very pleased to be able to negotiate this area in this manner!! The sign-posting of the route was excellent too - it must have been - I managed to follow it!!!!
As I write this, with the full JOGLE ride completed this was, without doubt, the worst section – and probably the only time I could have really done with a Garmin as opposed to my simple notes that I would take off a paper map each morning. I am certain there are better ways and local cycling knowledge of the area would be an asset in finding the way!!
Reaching the A174 turn-off was a huge relief – and the traffic immediately subsided. It did however coincide with school knock off time so I had a couple of little battles getting through queues of mum’s picking up their children – no different from Australia or anywhere else in the world I guess!!.
Pat and Pauline discovered that the Fox and Hound Guisborough is not actually at Guisborough but closer to a little place called Charlton. Fortunately they were able to ring me and direct me to home for the night, saving me from more kms by riding into Guisborough. It was wonderful to arrive at The Fox and Hound just before 4:00 pm after a pretty tough day at the office!! A hot shower is the most wonderful thing after a day like today!!
Another fantastic pub meal that night and some red wine to celebrate negotiating today safely. I was feeling a huge sense of relief!! Congratulations to the crew as well for today - it wasn’t an easy day for them either.
And through all this – I have been trying to make contact with Liz – a friend of a friend in Brisbane!! Again – mobile and internet in this area are not good – I couldn’t believe it!! I had sent Liz messages – both via Facebook and txt but only some seemed to be getting through. I think it was more to do with where Liz lived on the Moors than the hustle and bustle of where I had been riding. Not to worry – I went to bed thinking a much shorter day tomorrow – about 25 kms to go to our first lunch stop – so an early start wasn’t called for.
I also managed to get on the net long enough to book an hotel. It’s always hard booking a place you can’t see - photographs do lie!!!! But if we wanted the peace of mind knowing we were booked in somewhere – sorry guys – I did my best – particularly after a harrowing day on the bike - and we just had to accept what was in store!!!
This was a day that has had me worried since the very early days of my planning. It seemed suddenly I would be reaching an area of dense population and considerably more traffic than I have encountered so far. Also lots of urban areas as opposed to beautiful countryside, passing through pretty little villages. With such towns as Newcastle, Gateshed, Washington, Sunderland, Durham, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and many many smaller towns, I shudder to think what the total population in this area might be. Anyway – if we want to get to Scarborough – we have to get through this lot first!!!
I looked at several different routes through here, and all came up with various “issues”. Whether to keep east, take a central route or stay more west were all studied. I’ll never know what the other options would have been like, but I make a call and stuck to it. It turned out to be more mentally stressful than physically so!!
Our “morning talk” and study of the map got us all on the same page. First meet-up point would be at Angel of the North – again something I had seen on TV and wanted to see in real life. Second meet-up at Houghton-le-Spring and from there we would decide where to meet one more time before our destination for the night. I knew the difficulties we had riding through Sydney – I was expecting this to be a lot worse – (but certainly not hotter than the 40 degrees we had then)! I don’t think dehydration is going to be an issue here!!
I had done a bit of work on the net the previous evening and booked accommodation at The Fox and Hound at Guisborough – about 10 kms further than my original plan for the day, but hopefully clear of all the densely populated areas. I was mentally psyched that today would be my longest day in the saddle so far at about 110 kms, taxing mentally finding my way through urban areas, and that depending how I was progressing that I may take the "easy" option from a navigational point of view and ride on the busy A19 dual carriage-way – but of course dependant on how much traffic there was. Certainly a lot of “unknown” as to exactly how busy it would be! At least we had a bed organised – just had to get there!!
Setting off from Ponteland I hadn’t realised how close we were to Newcastle Airport. I hooked up with another cyclist and followed him along bike paths in the general direction of Newcastle – the plan on my little notepad had me going through Gateshead. For a short period of time I needed to be on the extremely busy A1 ring road as the bike path had me a bit too far east. As I went to go on the A1 - signs saying no cyclists as there were road-works and cyclists not allowed until completed - August 2016!! Oh no – I didn’t have a “B” plan – and “diversion” signs for cyclists just don’t exist!!! I had to rely on my internal compass and hope I was heading in the right direction.
I think there are about 10 bridges across the River Tyne and I had wanted to go on the most recent - the Gateshead Millenium Bridge. Unfortunately I was way west of this and ended up on the Redheugh Bridge (I think) which wasn’t nearly as impressive as the pics I had seen of the Millenium Bridge. Not to worry – these things happen!! I have to admit to becoming a little bit lost so asked a guy at Gateshead Peugot dealership. I couldn’t have picked anyone better!! It turned out he did a lot of cycling in the area, and he directed me to Saltwell Rd and told me to follow, follow follow it telling me exactly where it would be hilly – and that I would eventually meet the A167 and would see the place I was aiming for – the Angel of the North. His directions were absolutely spot on – and it was a huge relief to see the Angel and catch up with Pat and Pauline. Their trip to this point hadn’t been too great either as they had copped all the roadworks on the A1 ring road and had long queues and delays. With the roadworks ongoing to August 2016 – patience is needed in that area for another year!! It will be interesting to see how they include cycle lanes in this new construction.
The Angel of the North was stunning – so big – it had looked that in pictures, but it is something else seeing it in real life. It is very difficult to photograph completely and there is a well-trodden path down the hill which indicated the best option. I was so glad I had made this as a meet-up point.
As well, it was a relief to have made this first quarter of the day – and the next bit didn’t look too bad as we headed south-easterly for “Houghton” a town I wanted to stop at as we think of our extremely kind neighbours and good friends James and Di Houghton who certainly make it a lot easier for us to be away from our home on these rides. Thank you James and Di.
I felt this section of the ride was almost a “reward” to make up for the horribleness of the first section. In contrast the roads were quiet – the joy of having a big “M” motorway nearby that all the traffic heads for. Continuing on the A167, A183 and then on the A1052 was very pleasant indeed. I was again tootling along through countryside and small villages with pretty window boxes and flower beds that gave life to what generally were dull coloured brick and stone homes - rows and rows of them that all look alike. I kept imagining trying to get home from school as a little kid - how do they recognise which house is theirs - they all look alike?? It seemed to take no time to travel that 25 kms - and I had closed in on Houghton. Time to stop for some photo’s a catch up with the crew and a decision on where to meet next.
A study of the map and it looked like Elwick was about halfway between our current location and our end point for the day – about 60 kms to go in total. There were a couple of options – to continue down the A182 and take the B1280 – or to continue on and go on the A19 – a dual carriageway. As it was all an “unknown” – I wasn’t too sure what to do for the best. In the end I decided to give the A19 a go. My experience to date on dual carriageways had been good, and some of the lesser roads in busier areas had been rather hectic with narrower roads, traffic stopping and starting, turning etc etc. that could cause progress to be very slow. So rightly or wrongly – off I went. I have to admit that the names of some of the places amused me. How would you like to live in “Hetton-Le-Hole”
On reaching the A19 – it was a bit like – WOW!! Very busy is an understatement, and at least every second vehicle was a truck. There was a “shoulder” not wide by Australian standards but the widest I had encountered to date. So off I went!! I’ll admit – not the most pleasant ride – but uppermost in my thoughts was to clear this densely populated area and get back into the countryside as fast as possible!! I wouldn’t recommend this part of the ride to anyone. While there have been many times riding in the countryside I have missed the company of Annie and Don – if we were together on this section – it needed full concentration on what you were doing and would have been difficult to look out for each other. On and off ramps in particular – frequently double laned, and the traffic moving at terrific speed. These weren’t signed for cyclists like they were between Sydney and Brisbane – but I applied the same principles to safely negotiate this madness - often taking the safer option and dismounting and walking across.
I knew Pat and Pauline would be about 25 kms along the way and would hopefully find somewhere to have a bite of lunch at as I was starting to feel a bit hungry. It was a great relief to spot the little white Vauxhall Astra at a “P” pull off area and I was able to get a banana. We hadn’t seen any other eating places. However – just after pushing on there was a service centre so we pulled in and had a Subway for lunch. I must say my “sub” was very welcome and tasty – but the salad option that Pauline chose while looking lovely in the pictures – left a lot to be desired!!!!
Fed and watered and with another 30 – 35 kms to go Pat and Pauline headed for Guisborough to find and check in at the hotel. I decided to continue to battle away along the A19 until the A174 junction when hopefully I would be on quieter roads for the final 10 kms to Guisborough. Not too far along I felt great joy as a cycle path alongside the road appeared. This continued for quite some distance, and although it took me in quite a weird way through some massive and hugely busy round-abouts – it certainly felt a lot safer and I was very pleased to be able to negotiate this area in this manner!! The sign-posting of the route was excellent too - it must have been - I managed to follow it!!!!
As I write this, with the full JOGLE ride completed this was, without doubt, the worst section – and probably the only time I could have really done with a Garmin as opposed to my simple notes that I would take off a paper map each morning. I am certain there are better ways and local cycling knowledge of the area would be an asset in finding the way!!
Reaching the A174 turn-off was a huge relief – and the traffic immediately subsided. It did however coincide with school knock off time so I had a couple of little battles getting through queues of mum’s picking up their children – no different from Australia or anywhere else in the world I guess!!.
Pat and Pauline discovered that the Fox and Hound Guisborough is not actually at Guisborough but closer to a little place called Charlton. Fortunately they were able to ring me and direct me to home for the night, saving me from more kms by riding into Guisborough. It was wonderful to arrive at The Fox and Hound just before 4:00 pm after a pretty tough day at the office!! A hot shower is the most wonderful thing after a day like today!!
Another fantastic pub meal that night and some red wine to celebrate negotiating today safely. I was feeling a huge sense of relief!! Congratulations to the crew as well for today - it wasn’t an easy day for them either.
And through all this – I have been trying to make contact with Liz – a friend of a friend in Brisbane!! Again – mobile and internet in this area are not good – I couldn’t believe it!! I had sent Liz messages – both via Facebook and txt but only some seemed to be getting through. I think it was more to do with where Liz lived on the Moors than the hustle and bustle of where I had been riding. Not to worry – I went to bed thinking a much shorter day tomorrow – about 25 kms to go to our first lunch stop – so an early start wasn’t called for.
I also managed to get on the net long enough to book an hotel. It’s always hard booking a place you can’t see - photographs do lie!!!! But if we wanted the peace of mind knowing we were booked in somewhere – sorry guys – I did my best – particularly after a harrowing day on the bike - and we just had to accept what was in store!!!
