It's quite rude of us to bypass the cafe at parkhead station

It's quite rude of us to bypass the cafe at parkhead station

Next round of tweakage will be finding watering holes and making the route pass them.

I also don't like having the short stretch of the A66 to get from B'd Castle to The Stang; wonder if there's a better way?

I dont think we would bypass it – not with their homemade soup!

Mmmmmmm……park head home made soup. Would be rude not to say hello to Terry and the girls as well. When you planning this for? I'm currently out of action with a prolapsed disc but would be keen to do this ride if it's planned for next year sometime.

A couple of revisions you may consider

A66 avoidance route from Barney – head East to Whorlton, cross Tees by the suspension brige, then back road it to Thorpe Farm on the A66, underpass and bridleway to Greta Bridge, then Barningham and back road it via Scargill.

Newbiggin – you've missed the double chervon and stuck on the B6277, although not double chevron the Hude is steep enough to be worth inclusion and descent down Milly Lane (the double chevron) worth doing. Good views if you can take your eyes off the road.

Cotherston to Middleton – Turn off to Hunderthwaite (Mile 46 in Darlington Start), go over Bail Hill into Mickleton. Then as Darlington Route to Middleton. You could also turn up to Briscoe from from Cotherston, cross over infront of the Reservoir to Hury. Over past Botany (reverse miles 52 to 49 in Darlington Start), up Bail Hill, left at the mast and down in Romaldkirk, over to Eggleston, B6282 to Middleton.

It seems a shame to miss out St. John's – Langdon Beck – Garrigill – Nenthead – Cowshill

If this is next spring summer I'm interested

Newbiggin – you've missed the double chervon and stuck on the B6277

Ah, yes that's from using the mapping sites too quickly and without double checking. That's also one point where I can't see any way round reriding a stretch of road, which is a shame.

I'll have a look at the other additions tonight. I'm going to try using Google Maps as that makes rerouting much easier.

I can see this becoming a double century challenge by the end of tonight…

I can see this becoming a double century challenge by the end of tonight…

I do want to do a double century, but not one with 5x double chevron climbs 🙂

Im thinking cross bike with road tyres, nice low gears and light enough for climbing

road bike, the only way. with gator skins for the pave

I have the choice between a 25" MTB on 32:17 or a 'monstercross' bike, with 42c tyres and 34:16fixed/34:18free. Or, a 6-speed 40lb cargo bike 🙂

Warton- by all means I'm up for a ride most of the time, I'm no road pro though, just like big climbs and descents on the moors so you might have to put up with a bit of a wait if you're super fast.

It seems a shame to miss out St. John's – Langdon Beck – Garrigill – Nenthead – Cowshill

+1… Them's good hills there OAP.

Also have you tried using bikehike.co.uk Mike? The route will snap to the roads, so it's straightforward to use. Mind you I'm crap at online maps, so maybe bikely is easier to use.

DO we have to wait until spring? I guess we'd need the longer daylight hours! […]
I think we might need a bit more than the current 9 hours

You won't need to wait till longer days, even at Christmas there's about 6-7 hours light (on a good day). A ride pretty similar to the one you've marked up at the weekend, but with a few extra hills (mainly to the northwest and in and out of Weardale) added in and the bit to the south of Barney taken out, is almost exactly the same length, a bit more climbing took a little under 6 hours a week or so back. Certainly never felt like a struggle against the light. Main thing at this time of year is to avoid snow or ice if possible, and the wind (though that's pretty rare).

Oh and Mike, I'd go with the monstercross on the freewheel- I couldn't handle the descents fixed.

have you tried using bikehike.co.uk Mike?

Going to give that a go. All the ones I've tried snap to roads, so are quick to use, but making changes afterwards is a pain as you have to delete all the points from the start/end and then replot them all. I've decided to ditch Bikely after it gave me less climbing on the version with the Darlo start/end!

You won't need to wait till longer days, even at Christmas there's about 6-7 hours light

The last time I did the Hell O' the North (2008) it took me 8 hours 🙂 If we're going for an 'organised' ride with a set date, I'd like to know slower riders could do it without worrying about daylight – I'd hope people would have ridden a century before though, as this isn't really ideal as your first!

I'll probably ride it solo at some point, when I get a free Saturday or during a school holiday, then set a date for a group(s) ride of it.

Oh and Mike, I'd go with the monstercross on the freewheel- I couldn't handle the descents fixed

I've ridden up there on the fixed, but nothing that big. Biggest was a 65 miler: Darlington to Egglestone, then on to Middleton-in-Teesdale, then via Grassholme and Hury reservoirs to Barnard Castle and then home again via (some of) Sustrans route 52. It would be ace to fixie it though, but not on a group ride.

I just put CDDCCC into Google Maps – hope this works as this will be easiest to change.

Or you could ride up some pit heaps? isn't Co Durham just pit heaps?

Or you could ride up some pit heaps? isn't Co Durham just pit heaps?

Yeah, like the pit heaps in my photo on the front page.

Yep its a post-industrial wasteland up here, I wouldn't bother coming! 🙂
I've got the whippets in training for this ride too 😉

I'll bring the ferrets (we cross into Yorkshire).

You were right esselgruntfuttock, the only riding round there is on slag(s). That's all there is.

crouch potato, I'm no whippet either, just wouldn't mind a few pointers on routes…

warton- no worries, drop me an email if you fancy a ride sometime.