Socially distanced Fresh Air

 When you have been cooped up for weeks, more like months on end, man it is great to get out. To taste the fresh air and even feel a few drops of rain as you lift your face skyward. The weather was apparently a bit brighter yesterday, but I didn't care. So what if it was slightly overcast and a little blustery.

I had set my alarm for 8:20 am, somewhat of a novelty for me as I have been in my shielding/lockdown routine, which generally involves staying in bed as long as possible and practising dreaming of a life in Scotland.

Anyhoo my alarm was set for a good reason my mate John was coming down, as we had arranged a socially distanced bit of exercise on our bikes. I checked the governments shielding advice. It said I could meet one other person outside and as long as we didn't kiss n cuddle things would be fine.

Amazingly I had everything sorted by the time John arrived and was pretty much waiting for him to rally down the hill and meet me. I say amazingly as almost every time I plan to head out, either something is missing, is broken or I can't find it. My OCD then kicks in, and it drives me insane, so much, so I think about it the whole ride LoL.

Off we went heading over towards Craghead. I had given John a quick idea of a loop and decided to take my Silverback Fat Bike, so no E-Assist this morning. The ride over to Craghead was pretty laid back, however as soon as we got down to Fox & Parrot wood, which is on the way down to Chester Le Street, it soon became pretty clear that the trails were like quagmires.

Out on my Silverback Synergy Fat Bike sporting a new haircut

Good to be out

 

I was informed  just after buying these new Schwalbe Jumbo Jim's that they are not great in the mud and I soon discovered this out for myself. To be fair some parts of the trail were un-rideable and required plodging through about 10" inches of deep mud. Not great with two legs, however a complete nightmare with only one. Add the fact I got tripped up on at least two occasions by pesky bramble bushes which caused John great amusement. Just wait until the summer though John I am sure you will be up to your old tricks and getting dog shit on your bike and having to scour the vicinity for a suitable poo stick.

 

John on his Marin

Following down through Fox & Parrot, you can ride down into the valley where there is a stream flowing. I'm not sure of the history of the area, but I think the valley or "Burn" is not a natural one. I think it was hand cut to mine the area. I know from personal experience if John and I had taken a different route further up the trail that there is what appears to be a quite wide path, however this soon becomes really narrow I am talking about 6 to 10 inches narrow. It is impossible to ride a bike and there is a canny big drop on your left-hand side as you try to navigate the path. As memory recalls there is this huge big rock that has fallen from the bank side, and it looks as if it could go tumbling down into the burn at any moment. It's quite scary trying to pass it, as it looks so unsettled. When the miners strike was on back in the 80s, people used to come down to the top of the burn and dig out coal from the face, it left the top field somewhat precarious, as the hillside became unstable.

We crossed over the small bridge and the stream down in the burn, and rode up the other side, a short but technical climb, made all the more difficult with mud and exposed tree roots.

When we arrived at the top, what do you know? Another area of deep mud and undergrowth. This is where all the water and debris from the farmers fields has run off and accumulated.  Our route was a narrow off track affair between two fields, probably about 6 to 8 feet in width, one side had a thick natural sort of  thicket, the other was fenced off, with barbed wire. This trail wasn't going to be easy, but did provide us with some canny laughs as we tried to  make our way along it. One field being on a slope had emptied its contents onto the trail, and it was water logged, so some more pushing ensued along with lots of squelching sounds and a few choice words when attacked by brambles.

 

Bit muddy like

FAIL

 At the end of this trail we came out onto the farmers road, so at least riding in towards the farm wasn't too bad and a chance to catch our breath and continue catching up. As we rode along John spotted a beautiful rainbow, one of natures wonders and something we all just take for granted I guess. Funny how when you have been isolated little things just make you smile, and you appreciate how lucky you are.

Next came the dreaded, now what shall I call it...Mmmmm, maybe "shit climb". Basically once through the farmers gate and into one of his fields we encountered "The Shit Climb". This is an area where the farmer has collected all his horse manure, a good majority of it left in steaming piles, there is just so much of it. However, what he has done with a lot of it is spread it all along this kind of dirt road, that is on a hill. Now I thought mud was bad, but trying to ride up a steep hill with horse crap under your tyres is no fun at all. Just pleased it wasn't a hot day as man it would be honking!

 

Eventually we came out near where the Jingling Gate used to be, also near the vets at the end of Edenfield. We rode around the back of the houses and just a couple of hundred meters down the road there is a public byway, which leads you into a field. Once you take this it leads you towards the woods which sit by the new road and Beamish. So this is the route we took. More mud, mud glorious mud.

Lovely view especially with the rainbow

 

 

 

Coming out of the woods we rode up to the big roundabout and crossed the road as if heading down towards Beamish Museum. Our aim was to hit the cycle path. At first, we didn't think we would be able to go down as there was a couple of lads trimming back trees with chainsaws, however one of the friendly chaps let us through, and we said our hellos and thank-yous to the two workmen.

Once on the C2C it was just a case of riding up the line and into Stanley. Once at Stanley John popped to Mains Brothers as he wanted to get a replacement waste for his sink. I looked after his bike as he went in. At this point John had to head off home as he had stuff to do, so I decided to extend my ride and headed off up towards the Morrison.

By now the wind had really picked up and the ride along the New Road was pretty tough as I was riding straight into it. Once at the Morrison I turned Left and headed towards Maiden Law and the entrance to Chapman's Wells Nature reserve.

Again more mud and I almost came a cropper as my front tyre got tram lined and threw me off balance on my prosthetic side, what a save LoL. I stopped to grab a drink of water and allow two tractors with large trailers that had come from one of the lanes to reverse and set themselves in place. As I did this a lad on his bike who I recognised gave me a wave. "Hey how's it's going?" I said to which Paul replied "Yeah good mate", we then rode down the trail to the fork in the road and stopped for a good bit chat. Paul was going home to Quakies and I took the other fork and headed through the meandering trail which eventually led me to the Drift, which leads to South Moor Park.

Once through South Moor Park, another little piece of my childhood and a place I enjoy riding through I crossed the road and cut in at the new Greenland school and headed up and into the "Pines". This is a wooded area that has been there as long as I can remember, however has changed a lot over the years. We used to play Tally Ho there and at that time the wood as my mind recalls was very dense and occupied by a great deal of Snu gliffers or Glue Sniffers. I checked behind me just in case, however all was clear.

Out of the pines and down the hill towards Hustledown. Past the new houses on the Old South Moor Hospital grounds I again headed towards Craghead, however turned off over by the houses at the Middles and made my way all the way down to where I could enter South Stanley Woods. Down the bank, across the small bridge, and I was into the woods near where the sewage plant is. From there a nice relaxed ride through the woods, coming out the other end at the bottom of Durham Road and almost home.

At home, I got the hose out and shouted through to my dad to fill me a bucket of lovely hot water. I gave both my bike and my Bartlett Tendon a good wash, then removed my caked shoes and also gave them a good wash.

Not a bad ride out covering 13.41 muddy miles. It was great to catch up with John and just share a bit banter and also have a few laughs. Cheers John for sending me some pics of this morning.