Starting at Old Bewick 10.00am.
Great ride ..relaxed pace ..all welcome..
Grid ref as below ..

Screenshot_20180103-200333 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Please post if you would like to join us ..

Hello, I’d very much like to join you but will need to negotiate with management first. What’s the rough distance and duration of the ride? Cheers

Edit: just checked the location and I was map-scouting that area for a ride this afternoon

Depends what our leader for the day deems feasible ..all I can promise is that you will be finished in daylight ..but that you will never be too far away from the start should you need to cut things short ( clear as mud eh ? )..
Hope you can make it ..

Thanks, sounds flexible. I’ll get an answer by end of tomorrow if that’s ok

No problem Joe ..

Will you be doing the old school bewick moor loop? It has become a bit squelchy the last few years, might come along just to see how good your’e bog snorkeling is :D.

It’s only loosely based on the Purdy ride if that is what you mean ..mapping hasn’t caught up with some of the tracks …
Bog snorkling isn’t too impressive to be fair ..and yep some of it is going to be squelchy..
The pace will be extremely relaxed !

hi – I’m afraid I can’t make this, too much shuttling of children between various activities to be done unfortunately. Hope you have a good ride out

Shame Joe maybe next time ..
It’s going to be a bit of a wet slog anyway ..but it’s also a ride we visit quite regularly so there will definitely be a next time ..

Great, will keep an eye on the forum for future rides. Time is pretty scarce at the moment but it’s been a while since I had a good slog in the cheviots so I’d be up for something in the future

Hodgynd, I am interested. Will square with the family but will hope to be there.

Baden ..hopefully see you then.
Just let me know if you are ..and if so will pm you my mobile ..

East Cheviots? I think you may have missed the words “OF and THE”.
It will be as sloppy as a very sloppy thing, between Quarry house and Old Bewick… Enjoy yourselves 😀

Yes I will be there – do I need to bring my trunks?

Yep ..preparing for the worst ..
I’m actually thinking of taking some bin liners in my pack to wear while crossing a couple of the water features( which will no doubt be in spate)..
Quite frosty in N.W.Northumberland this morning ..hoping that is the case over there tomorrow !
Baden ..possibly along with face mask & snorkel…
I’m sending you a pm..

This ride went ahead despite an early morning txt from Colin wondering if we were this side of insane for even contemplating going out ..
But go out we did ..although to be fair the ground conditions were atrocious and not helped in the slightest by the fact that the bridleways had been churned to bits by the gun syndicates groundsmen from both tractor & quads..it resulted in the ride virtually being halved in distance as it was a right slog.
We were joined by Richard for the first time and he seemed to enjoy things with us old gits ..welcome to join us anytime the mood takes him ..
Colin has now relegated me to tail end charlie on the climbs with his new Scott ebike ..and everyone else for that matter ..but you know what ..I couldn’t be more pleased for him ( grrr..) 😆
Resting this ride now until the summer when hopefully the ground conditions will have had a chance to recover..
A few pics …

The track from Old Bewick up to the ruin at Blawearie.Colin leading the way in eco mode ..

20180106_105831 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

The new boy ..Richard.

20180106_110627 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Jaco(f)..and Colin toying with his prey ..

20180106_110633 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Ain’t mud brilliant !

20180106_112423 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

At the top of Cateran Hill..sweltering in the sunshine

20180106_114855 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

…and the drop off the other side

20180106_115713 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

A nice woodland bridleway near to the end of the ride ..

20180106_132619 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

A short ride in terms of mileage but not in terms of effort..cheers for your company lads it was good to be out ..

Oops !
Forgot to mention ..many thanks Colin for the soup & bacon buttie back at your house after the ride..very welcome

Been a while since I threw a leg over my bike, but keen to catch up for a ride.
Keep me posted on any future rides, Neil do you still have the same mobile number?

Excellent!

Will do Lee..same mobile …txt me with your email address again and I will stick you back on the list ..it would be good to catch up again .

Cheers Drac.. 😀

Use to tide that route from Alnwick on a lunchtime, great views.

Yeah the views are great ..I didn’t actually take a pic into the heart of the Cheviots but The Cheviot itself was looking spectacular covered in snow..

It was a great day out and a great intro to the area, “it is lovely in the summer”. Richard

looks proper clarty, glad you enjoyed it.

Riding around there was considered Old School a decade ago! Character-forming stuff.

I remember starting a ride from the old chapel, going over the moor and descending past the ruins where a low flying fighter jet made me jump out of my skin. Does my memory serve me correctly in that you can see the sea from the high point?

Cinammon Girl.
Your memory serves you very well ..you can indeed see the sea ..which we also saw yesterday .
On a clearer day it’s also possible to see Holy Island ..
Neil..there is character forming and utter destruction ..its quite heart breaking to see the damage that had been done to the moor in the last year by the new shooting syndicate on public rights of way ..

It’s a shame the singletrack on the classic loop is disapearing into the heather due to lack of use, not sure what the landowner is up to on the track from old bewick – Blaerwearie, it’s been like that for a few years now, possibly guests off roading or something.

There is a nice little singletrack detour around the hill fort above hangmans rock back to old bewick.

Fergal..there is loads of tracks not marked on the map in that area if you know where to look.. 😉

Thanks hodgynd, that’s comforting and wasn’t aware that Holy Island could be seen.

It does look quite a mess in your pics and it saddens me that a lovely area is being destroyed. Does the local access forum know about this, if not could be worth talking with them.

Have you ridden around the escarpment\hill fort it’s pretty good, as to the moor only the singletrack tempted me, used to like a quick blast up to blaerwearie combined with a ride up Cocklawfell(Ingram) will probably give it a wide birth now thanks to landowner.

Can’t really blame the landowner for taking a chunk of cash ..the blame lies with the shooting syndicate for what is blatant mis-management ..I think one of our number is on the case..