Christams Bimble, from Craster to Alnmouth and back.

I met up with Bruce (Coastkid) & Si (Doc) yesterday at Craster. Craster is situated on the cost of Northumberland to the north east of Alnwick, it's around 52 miles from where I live and roughly a hour and a half's drive away. Bruce had brought his Surly Moonlander equipped with 4.7 Surly Big Fat Larry's, whilst Si was on his Surly Pugsley equipped with 3.8 Nates which offered a lot more grip.

Weather wise the day wasn't too bad, which was surprising as according to the radio on my drive up it was supposed to be very windy and wet.

The coast line was beautiful, with some smashing trails (though the majority of trails where really hard going as they where so thick with mud). I found myself falling off a couple of times as I just had no grip and my bike slid away from under me.

I really enjoyed the ride out and back though did feel a bit guilty as both Bruce and Si had to keep waiting for me to catch up. I'm just not as fit and find some of the terrain difficult to ride. On a positive note I did manage to ride on some stuff I've never really ridden on before without getting off my bike, which is pretty scary when your clipped in and only have one leg. Stuff like slippery rocks and stretches of pebble strewn beach.

When we arrived in Alnmouth we managed to find a lovely hotel/restaurant type place, don't remember the name. Bruce, Si and myself put in an order for 3 fish and chips and Bruce and Si also got a nice refreshing bottle of Crabbies. We decided to take our meal to go, even though the lady behind the bar was very kind and said we could sit in in our muddy gear. Once outside we realised the wind was getting up and we were starting to cool off, so we took shelter in the back of the restaurant which was deserted.

One of the ales on sale in the hotel

 It was then a case of riding back to Craster, the light was starting to fade and the tide had come in so riding back along the same route wasn't possible. We followed the coastline as much as possible, using coastal trails and only really popping onto the tarmac roads on a couple of occasions to get back to the Quarry car park in Craster. At the car park was a mobile kitchen so we had a nice hot drink before saying our goodbyes.

When I got home it was a case of a hot shower and I was so worn out I went straight to bed. Don't know but over the past few months I just haven't had much energy and I can't shake this bothersome cough.

Today I decided to checkout the GoPro footage I had taken and was most disappointed in that it came out absolutely terrible. I think I need to change the settings on my GoPro as everything came out with way too much "Fish Eye", so much so the whole coastline appeared distorted and I hardly got any footage of either Bruce or Si. I think my camera needs lifting slightly on my helmet. Of course it could also have been that the majority of the time I had my head down checking to see where I was going or puffing and blowing to get along a trail/beach lol.

Looking out towards the sea

I've been trying to find software that's free/easy to use to remove the "Fish Eye" effect and also at replacement lenses for my GoPro HD2.

Settings wise I think I'll try 1080 - 25fps and either medium 127deg or narrow 90 deg for my next shoot see how that comes out.

The Bartlett Tendon - Settings

I've now been using my new Bartlett Tendon for a good few weeks now so thought I'd write a little more on how things are going.

 Also add a little bit about some of the settings which I got from Brian Bartlett the knees designer.
 

Well first off I have to say this knee is amazing...No I'm not just saying that as I'm sponsored on the unit. Brian always requests that I be honest with him when trying out his designs as this feedback then goes on to help improve on future models. The knee is amazing in what it allows you to do as an above knee amputee. I'm now trialling the new "cam" top end on my knee and have found things have just got even better.

A lot of time and hard work has gone into making the knee work and feel something like a leg someone has lost. By work and feel I mean in it's action. With the new "cam" the movement is now smoother, with a more progressive feel (the further you flex the knee the more resistance can be felt). Instead of using a combo of hard and soft tendons, you can now leave the 2 soft tendons in place and choose how much resistance you would like by removing the "cam" locking pins and placing them in positions 1 to 3 on each "cam". Or even leaving the locking pin out completely giving you the least amount of resistance.

Here's an idea of the settings... 

The new knee is basically the same knee but with a cam instead of a wheel for the Tendons.  This will give you a softer engagement feel  to the start of your knee bend but start to ramp up into a stiffer feel towards the deeper part of the bend in the knee, this feel is also adjustable as you have four positions on each side of the knee to adjust the cam into. 

 

Here is how it works: As described by Brian Bartlett the designer of the Bartlett Tendon.

 

Position 1)  No locking pin inserted leaves the cam in the least amount of flex for the tendon and does not engage the tendon as you flex the knee because you have disengaged the locking pin; great position for road riding, snorkeling/ diving or just about anything you want to have as little tension as you can but still have something there in the end.

 

Position 2)  Top hole engaged with locking pin inserted will give you cam engagement into the tendon as the knee bends but not a lot of cam effect as for sports or applications you want to have some more tension but not enough to work against you; sports like XC skiing, road biking, XC mountain biking, SUP and any others that feel good to the users.

 

Position 3)  Middle hole in the cam engaged by locking pin inserted allowing the cam to come into the tendon more putting more pressure against it giving the user a stiffer feel at the deeper part of the knee bend;  I like this position for XC mountain biking as I have my seat up high in that application and the stiffness comes on right where I want it to as I am biking in about the 90 degree knee bend position as if I had my seat lower on the bike it might be a tad to much tension; again a lot of the same sports can apply here just depending on the users preference due to limb length and tension desired for application; Alpine skiing, snow boarding, Ice hockey, etc.

 

Position 4)  Bottom hole in the cam engaged by locking pin inserted will give you the most cam effect of Tendon tension as the knee bends moving the cam into the tendon, this will be great for DH riding, motocross, things where you want to really bend into the knee with a lot of pressure in the bottom half of the bend.

 

Here is the kicker though because you get an incredible feel to all these adjustments in the cam but these have all been tested with no air in the shock in which you'll find by just adjusting the shock a bit gives you even more tension if desired.  The next part is also that the cam is adjustable independently on each side allowing a user to adjust the cam on the right side say to hole position four and then on the left side put the cam into hole position 2 which gives a combination of tension that gives you the most natural feel for that application......you have more than twenty different ways to configure this cam for a desired cam effect.....crazy huh.

 

Also if you change the stop bushing diameter this will adjust the cam feel also as the knee will come back further in its neutral position as I like the big(15 degree) bushing in when I am utilizing the knee.

Christmas day out in the mud

Hey Merry Christmas and a very Happy New year to you all...

Since we lost my mom in 2002 we haven't really celebrated Christmas as it's kind of lost it's magic. So today I thought rather than stay in and watch more Christmas re-runs or the Queens speech I would instead head out on my bike for a while.

Yeah the weather wasn't great, but hey riding muddy trails is half the fun.

I got soaked today, yet again and found it increasingly difficult to get my winter gloves back on each time I took them off to mess with my camera, they were so wet and what with them having a double liner they got all bunched up in the fingers. Inevitably I ended up ripping the inner liners so binned them when I got home, oh dear.

I think my Canon camera is suffering because of the wet weather, can't blame the camera as it's not a water proof model, so again struggled for any shots at all.

Apart from this one...

 

  

Put together a video of today's riding...

WoW it was soaking wet today

Set off for a early morning ride this morning with my son Kyle. Although it was raining it didn't feel particularly cold. I decided to treat Kyle to a KFC so we headed up to Consett.

As you would expect the trails were pretty wet and muddy,we had a really enjoyable ride up to KFC. Once inside the restaurant we grabbed a couple of seats and a table near the entrance/exit so that we could keep an eye on our bikes and went over to order our meals. Mmmm delicious.

After we had finished we decided to set off back home, the weather had turned decidedly worse, the wind was getting up and it was lashing down. After we had both been in doors it was freezing to come back out into the cold rain and wind...Brrrrr!!!

On the way home we tried to get a few snaps, this proved to be rather difficult as my camera was keep getting soaked and here when I've actually looked at the images the majority are blurry (water on the lense I think).

Did manage to get a few as you can see, not the best quality.

As we neared home I decide to take a slight detour and we headed off down through South Moor park. It was really funny trying to take pics here as we were both so cold we couldn't operate the camera, hence no pictures.

Got in and soaked to the skin, so everything in the washer and try to get warm. It was kind of weird as just as we were coming over the playing field near the "pines" a we call it I said to Kyle I'm freezing everywhere except in my foot (The one I haven't got). Now I know this sounds like "well yeah obviously your foot or leg you don't have isn't going to be cold,as it's missing", but No I can actually still feel my amputated foot and it felt lovely and toasty warm,so bonus at least I wasn't all chilled through lol.

Like I say got in and I decided to checkout my images. I noticed my camera was feeling a little "gritty" on the scroll wheel, where the menu button is. So thought I'd take the camera apart and have a go at giving it a clean out. I got the camera apart no probs and was checking out the scroll wheel. I thought "Oh I'll just give it a little blow to dry it out, maybe remove some grit or debri" and the bloody wheel flew off and landed on the floor under my computer desk. I picked it up and went to pop it back in place and this is when I noticed the darn menu button wasn't there. So my dad, Kyle and myself have been on the better part of like 2 hours trying to find the missing button in my room, without success I may add. My dad reckons the Borrowers have nicked it the thieving little bastards. So now my camera is knackered.... awww great. Hopefully I can get it fixed, otherwise it's an expensive new year if I have to buy a camera of similar quality.

My first go on my new Bartlett Tendon, fitted with the "Cam" system...

Hi there...

Well this morning I got up, yeah rather late I mean come on I'm not used to these early starts and since getting my voluntary job at the hospital well I've been up around 7'ish every morning. So I thought I was entitled to a lie in.

I had planned to remove my old Bartlett Tendon knee and replace it with my new one, however my dad beat me to it as I got caught chatting to a friendly neighbour who was passing. My dad decided to sort the knee/socket indoors as it was a bit cold outside. So I was able to give him a bit of a hand and I did the final adjustments and tightening of the required bolts, aligned the knee and just made sure everything was as it should be. Oh I also swapped out the larger plastic bump stops (think that's what they are called. I'm not good with all the technical terms lol) and replaced these with the smaller ones Brian had supplied as I'm more accustomed to not having a slight flex in my knee. Basically if you have the larger stops in, it helps you bend the knee easier as it is already partly flexed.

It was then a case of changing my shorts and popping my SPD shoes on and going for a quick blast up and down our back street.

If you checkout my earlier photo's you can clearly see the different adjustment holes marked by dots on the side of each "cams"

I left the locking pins that go through the "cams" in position one (1 dot) to start with and had a ride up and down a few times. In terms of resistance I would probably say it's like running the 2 soft tendons with no pressure in the shock on the Original designed wheels. I did feel slightly more resistance the further I flexed the knee and that is the intended purpose of the "cams"

From there I decided to relocate both pins into the position two ( 2 dots) WoW now I could tell immediately the difference. At the top end of the stroke when cycling and the knee is not in full flexion there is minimal resistance, however when you go to flex the knee you can really feel the tendons becoming stiffer and a lot more resistance. From a mountain biker point of view this is brilliant as it means you can hang off the back of your seat and really use the tension in the tendons to help you take jumps, bumps and drops. I'm sure from other sporting perspectives the knee will be just as good.

So after my initial bit play up and down our back street I thought it would be a good idea to have a look out and decided to go over to some woods about 4 or 5 miles away. I cheated slightly as time was getting on so got my dad to drop me off in the car along with my Sandman Fat Bike and all my gear. I intended to get a little bit footag but was worried as the weather looked a bit bleak, it was dark and dull and ever so cold.

We arrived at the woods and like I say it was real cold, the trails where actually frozen in places and you could see the mist hanging and frost on the grass....brrrrrr!!!. Never mind I was on a mission to try out my new knee and have a bit of fun. Plus I had to do something otherwise I wouldn't have anything to write for you nice people, see your my motivation lol.

Anyhoo I got a little bit of ride footage, hope you like it. I will definitely be getting more, could do with better close ups of the knee. I actually found it hard to ride over in the woods as there was just so much thick deep mud. I could do with a new back tyre to be honest as my Surly Larry isn't gripping. Looks like I'll have to save for a Nate.

On the ride back home I was thinking about what I was going to write in my blog about the new Bartlett Tendon and for some reason Goldilocks sprang to mind. Let me explain... well as we all know Goldilocks apart from being a thief actually tried out all of the 3 bears bowls of porridge, until she found a one that was "Just Right" and in that respect the Bartlett Tendon with the new "cams" is exactly the same. You see each individual can adjust and tweak the knee unit to suit themselves and for whatever sport they intend on doing.

I'm very impressed with my first outing, even if I was freezing cold by the time I got in.

Me and the New BT with "Cams"

 

My Sandman

New Bartlett Tendon has arrived

Further to my last post saying I was awaiting the arrival of my new Bartlett Tendon (sporting prosthetic knee) well fantastic news it's arrived.

I managed to  take a few shots last night after I got it home from the UPS delivery office, sorry they aren't exactly mint images, just it was dark in our dinning room and for some reason my camera didn't want to focus on the unit on anything less than an 800 iso setting (hence the grainy appearance). Never mind it gives those of you interested in anything prosthetical (if that is even a word lol) or if you appreciate design, craftsmanship, engineering and the amount of hard work the designer Mr Brian Bartlett has put into this awesome prosthetic device.

So lets have a look at a few pics huh?

The Bartlett Tendon with new "cam" system

Notice there are 3 settings which can be chosen on either "Cam" this is so the tendons can work in different stages of tautness and effect just how much stiffness can be applied to the knee unit.

Still in the box, the Bartlett Tendon, with "Cam" system

Checkout the new RockShox Monarch RT3

Notice the 2 locking pins which go through the "Cams" and lock them in position

One of the locking pins removed from the "Cam"

The 2 locking pins in place through the "Cams"

Anyhoo prepare yourself for the next instalment when I will be fitting my new BT to my Pace Rehabilitation  provided socket  and getting some riding footage, along with a few photo's of me in action . Oh and also doing a little bit of a piece on how the knee works and feels to ride with.

Huge thanks goto 

LEFTSIDE INC

PACE REHABILITATION

For their on going support...

Not feeling Too Hot

Planned to go out for a ride with wor Kyle early this morning. I wasn't really sure whether I would be up to venturing far as I didn't feel too good last night, think I'm stressing slightly over my visit to hospital tomorrow. You see I have non Hodgkin's lymphoma, it was diagnosed around the end of October 2008 and up till now I've been lucky in that it hasn't really effected me.

 I go for the usual routine check-ups with the haematology team,who I have to say have been very supportive. I get my blood taken  and generally either my doctor or one of the nurses gives me the quick once over.

Over the last few months I've been suffering from some enlarged nodes down in my groin. The first one was on my right side, generally these nodes don't hurt they just kind of bug me and I like them to settle down and behave themselves. This node on my right got rather sore as unfortunately the top edge of my socket used to rub right in the same area, it wasn't a big deal like I say just sore and uncomfortable. Anyhoo the node on my right settled down and disappeared, however about a month or so ago a new node came up on my left side. This node is huge and it's actually hurting, hence why "I'm not feeling too Hot"... Well at least I think it's a node. I had to go for a scan last Thursday and the results have come back inconclusive, suppose this is what is worrying me. I would much prefer to know exactly what it is.

This past week has been full of ups and downs. Like I mentioned in my earlier blog I started doing voluntary work within the NHS at the Royal Victoria Hospital. I'm helping out on the Acute stroke unit. I've only done 3 mornings so far, the work is so interesting. I was actually very pleasantly surprised at just how hands on I am involved, basically I'm getting invaluable experience which will come in handy when I'm applying for the positions I'm after, which is a physio assistant.  Speaking of which I had good news on Friday evening when I opened my emails, as I have been contacted to let me know I have been successful in gaining 2 interviews for a physio assistant position. This is great news, as though I've been applying for jobs I haven't even gotten to the interview stage in sometime.

It's Sods law,well in my case whenever I plan to do something some dam health issue crops up. And I'm not talking just Man Flu...No it's always something that involves either getting bits of  metal shoved in my body, or bits cut off, or things taken out...

So anyhoo this morning I thought sod it I'm going out for a ride. I woke Kyle up at 5.00am, we had a cuppa and some toast and made some jam as well as chocolate spread sandwiches, using fruit loaf Mmmmm gorgeous. We then headed off for a ride to the coast. Bloody hell it was cold this morning, with a lot of ground frost (Ern -my dad said it was 2 degrees) so again "Not feeling too Hot" lol

Didn't manage to get a great deal of footage on my GoPro, so much so I haven't even bothered editing it and only a few pics today.

We rode down to Roker (Sunderland) following the C2C route7 I think.  Then followed the coastline down to South Shields. Once at Shields it was a case of cutting through the main street and we eventually came out at the Port of Tyne. From there straight up to White Mare Pool roundabout and up towards Springwell. We actually got on to the Bowes Railway route and came past the Bowes Railway Museum, first time I've been past it so may venture back to check it out. I'm no trainspotter, but I do like local history, stuff about our lost mining community etc. Once at the top of Springwell it was a short ride to Lamsley and along to Birtley. It was at this point I just didn't feel to well, we had done around 43 miles I was gutted we couldn't manage the other 6.33 miles home. So I rang Johnstones Taxi's, yeah that's right my dad and he came down to pick us up along with our bike rack.

 From there it was home, shower and to updating my blog. Now going for a well earned lie down.

A short autum ride

So as you will see I haven't been up to much Blog wise. To be honest I haven't been feeling too good the last few weeks, but hey I don't want to bring you guys down with my worries and concerns.

 I thought I'd better have a blast out on my bike I mean it was last week since I'd been out for a ride. I didn't plan to go far, just thought I would checkout a little bit of woodland which is quite nearby, it's down towards a place called Hamsterley Mill. Even though I didn't really ride to far today I still had a laugh and some fun. It's good to get out, kind of takes my mind off other stuff that's going on.

 Today was pretty productive actually as I found some nice new trails and definitely think I will be paying this area another visit to do some in depth exploring. Even found a small waterfall which I have never noticed before when I've been down this way both on my bike and with wor Hinks (my pet pest lol)

 Oh and I forgot to mention next week as well as having to go to the dental hospital at Newcastle to get knocked out and have a wisdom tooth removed (BAD) I'm also starting a voluntary job. I'm very excited about this as it's a very worthwhile cause. I enjoy nothing more than being able to help out where I can and I have been invited to assist on the stroke unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle(GOOD). I'm hoping it will help me gain a bit more confidence as I've been out of work for a long time now due to one thing and another and as an added bonus I may learn some new skills and gain a bit of experience.

 I took a little bit of footage on my GoPro today and also some shots on my small canon, really I didn't get too many shots, so I just fudged a small vid together...

GoPro Heed

Edmondsley Woods

WoW so it's been quite a while since I last posted here on my blog. I guess I've just had one or two things on my mind, but hey won't go into that I mean I don't want to scare you all off lol.

Kyle and myself had a ride to Edmondsley Wood today. A few months back I had visited the wood with my dad and Mr Hinks for a walk and thought it may be a pretty cool place to try out for a quick blast on the bikes.

The woods trails were pretty soaking wet and muddy, never the less makes for an interesting ride.

I managed to get a little bit of footage on the GoPro so have quickly put a video together.


.As we were riding towards Edmondsley just as we came over the hill at Craghead there was a large vale of fog in the valley and it was a bit on the nippy side. As you can see by the few pics the sun got out and it turned into a really quite pleasant return journey with the sun on our backs. Surprisingly warm for an October morning.

Some lovely shafts of light from the sun as it broke through the woods.

I downloaded Perfect Effects and used the software on the very top image to get these results

Across the farmers field and down into my local wood at South Stanley

Just a short loop today, up towards and across the farmer's field (don't worry no crops were damaged in the making of the video). Then followed the fields down until I came to a break in the fence and could get into the local woods (South Stanley Woods) which are actually at the bottom of where I live.





Not too many shots today as it was just a quick excursion.

This section of the trail was a lot steeper than it looks

Took a bit of concentration to get over the roots and not end up over the bars

Taking a break in the Woods

I saw this Bee on a pretty flower, went to take a shot and the bloody thing turned round so I got  a photo of it's arse!!!

A Bee's Bottom

A dad n lad adventure in Cong Burn Woods

Kyle (my son) and I set off around 10'ish this morning on my bikes.
I'm still loaning my Ibis Mojo to Kyle until he can afford to get himself his own ride (of course would help if he could get a job to start saving towards one)

We headed over to, then through Craghead and continued down to Black House and up towards Edmondsley bank. At the top of Edmondsley bank we turned left and went down towards Waldridge and the fells.

I had intended to ride in some woodland at the back of the fell, but noticed various No horse riding and No cyclists signs. These signs have been put up when Durham County Council took over all the district councils so I have heard. It's a real shame as there are some really nice trails to ride and to be fair the majority of mountain bikers who use trails such as these actually take a pride in the area and look after the place.

 Ah well never mind, so it was a case of a small detour and we found ourselves at the start to a trail leading into Cong Burn Woods which we could ride.

Dad n Lad, WoW that Tree was slippy nearly set me neck lol

I've walked through Cong Burn Woods a few times with Mr Hinks and I have ridden through on my bike, but from the opposite direction, but have never actually been on some of the trails we found today. The woods are pretty big so it was real fun exploring different routes.

I shot more footage of our outing today and if you watch it you will see what a great time we were both having. I haven't laughed so much in ages, especially when Kyle went in a really deep water filled hole and then afterwards which you can't really see on video, (you will hear me laughing on camera) he tumbled off his bike coming down a gulley which the recent floods had made down a steep hill (excuse my language as it was pretty hairy as the ground was muddy, uneven and it was hard riding in the water made channel)





After we finished off at Cong Burn, we headed back over towards Chester -Le- Street and up towards Stellar Gill Industrial estate, where we cut through and joined the C2C route. A quick ride up to the Kings Head Statue or sculpture or whatever it is and we broke out the Cornbeef and Jam sandwiches, Ooh and a banana a piece. Then it was a steady ride home. Covered just under 20 miles, but what a fun filled 20 miles.

Kyle posing on the makeshift tripod I constructed

The tripod I engineered, even stood up lol

Did some canny jumps off this bit of the trail

Had a bit mess about with CS6

Nice and Vibrant

Kyle coming down the trail

Ooh bright T-shirt Kyle

One of Kyle's pedals bit him : (

Sunrise Secret

Checked the weather forecast last night and it said today should be a nice day, well in the morning at least. So I got my gear ready as I had a plan to shoot a bit of video at an area your not really supposed to ride the following morning. I asked wor Kyle and my dad if they fancied a look out with me to help take some shots, explaining I would be getting up at around 5:00am so as I could be at the undisclosed location at 5:49 for the sunrise. They both said they would come along. I think it's mainly to try catching me falling off my bike so they can have a good laugh about it lol.

The sunrise was very pretty,well worth getting up for....

A Beautiful Sunrise

Really enjoyed playing about on my Sandman, it's fantastic when you can find a nice bit of trail to ride, it's just a shame this area your not supposed to use a bike on.

Check out further on for more pic's and a movie I made of today's adventure
 

After a slightly elusive sunrise

I'm determined to catch a nice, or should I say beautiful sunrise. So far I've failed in my last couple of attempts. I used to be up at the crack of dawn when I worked as a postman, but that was years ago, before I became ill with my leg. Since then well I can find myself in bed till all hours of the morning and don't get to catch too many sunrises. Just lately however I've been getting up at silly o'clock like this morning for instance 4:00 AM and heading out on my bike.

 Last night I checked the weather on-line for our local area and from what I read I thought it was going to be a canny morning.......how wrong was I ? I had intended riding up to Consett to catch the sun coming up over the Hownsgill Viaduct and shoot a small movie with my GoPro.  Well to cut a long story short the weather was pants, very dull, lots of clouds, mostly of the miserable variety. I decided I wasn't going to let this ruin my day. So Kyle my son who had joined me on this early morning adventure thought about where we could go and capture a few photo's and a bit of movie footage. We decided to head towards Waskerley and the reservoir as we hadn't actually visited it before.

Once you start to get up into the moors and the area opens up, it's so beautiful over there. It's so peaceful down by the reservoir. I rode right down to the edge of the reservoir and got a little bit of footage and even had a bit plodge in the water at one point to capture some pics of my bike at the waters edge. I reckon we did around 35 miles or so today and had a really enjoyable time, even if the weather was caca doo doo.

 Oh one thing I'm not happy with is my new cycling shorts, the lycra padded variety. I bought a pair of Funkier 8 panel gel filled shorts thinking they would help me out in those long rides in the saddle. Boy how wrong was I, these particular brand or design of shorts are so uncomfortable for me and have actually chaffed me pretty bad on both my good side and socket side, so I think I'm going to have to invest in another pair from a different manufacturer. I've been sore in the saddle before but not like this Ouch lol !!!!

Here's a few photo's from today

I saw that some kind of work was being carried out on the Hownsgill Viaduct as there was a few barriers up. I then spotted this notice when heading over towards Waskerley Way near the farm.

Apparently some sort of fencing is being put in place in the hope it will stop people committing suicide off the viaduct, as it is a pretty well known area for people to actually jump off.

A Notice of work being carried out on the Hownsgill Viaduct

Me playing on my Sandman coming down a trail near the Viaduct

Kyle and me on our way up to Waskerley. Rowley Station was actually dismantled brick by brick and is now at Beamish Open Air Museum

Yeah I know it's just a gate, but the sky and trail leading off into the distance caught my imagination so I thought why not take a snap

Here are a few shots which I experimented with using different camera settings and a filter I got of my good friend Adrian. I took quite a flot of shots,  didn't want to bore you so only put up a few....

Sandman Hoggar Ti at the shore line of Waskerley Reservoir

In at the deep end lol

The sky was quite heavy with clouds, added to the shot though