Meeting at 9.45am in Greenhaugh Grid ref NY795 872…but may drive along to a forest location depending on road conditions to start the ride .
All welcome ..for a rather chilled ride on tracks you may not have been on before ..unless you are fairly local..we will also most probably be visiting Kielder Forest’s latest bothy ..
Greenhaugh is top left ..Bellingham is the village bottom right

Screenshot_20171201-135823 by Neil Hodgson – Flickr2BBcode LITE

What a lovely spot to start a ride. I hope the stone cairns we put in many years ago for the walking trails at sidwood are still there, kept us busy for a while that did 🙂

Good to see a new Bothy opened up at that end, it’s been needed for a good while (what a loss Blackburnhead was)

I would do pal but the folks are visiting this weekend so no riding for me until Sunday evening…

Haven’t seen any cairns 😉 ..my brother lived in Sidwood Cottage for many years completely modernising it before moving to Hexham a few years ago..and my family ran a business from the Comb ( Reivers of Tarset/ Reivers Development ) which in turn ran the Inter Company Kielder Challenge for 25 years ..
Regarding the bothy ( Flittingford ) ..its more towards Falstone ..small but perfectly formed .

Shame Andy ..I will pm you any future rides ..we are still out most Saturdays ..I will check your profile for your email address ( or you can send me it again if it’s not there ) .

Sorry I missed this, I just saw the pics on the weekend riding thread.

Looks like there’s some decent (i.e. rideable) bridleways over that way. I was out for a bivvy at Thrunton last night and explored some bridleways on the way that looked reasonable. I should have known better. Miles of bog and tussocks, except the bits that were farm tracks, where they were 6″ deep in manure.

I found a nice enough path (not in the photo, but taken from it) over the other side of the river near Smales when I was up that way in October:

I had just checked out your post on the weekend riding ..and was looking at your profile when I saw that you had also posted on here ..I was going to reply immediately when the missus brought in a giant Yorkshire pud filled with roast beef & gravy ..sorry for the delay …
That bridleway you have taken your pic from we do a little( unofficial) work on from time to time ( if you looked to the side you might have noticed some seedling trees which we had removed )..but it is a constant struggle trying to keep it rideable.( It forms part of a two day bothy ride ..which I might just give to a magazine sometime )..
I know the area very well ..and most of the bridleways that are rideable ..you are more than welcome to join us whenever you can .
I should point out though that our group of riders are all well past 50 but reasonably experienced ..however the pace is never more than relaxed :D.
We are spread across the North ..Carlisle, Hexham , Bellingham , Kielder & Alnwick ..some of us meet up most Saturdays ..to go somewhere ..could be Lakes , Hexhamshire , Cheviots , Kielder ..even NYM ..but the rides tend to be shorter and closer to home at this time of year ..
Not sure where we are going next week yet ..but there is a meet-up at Hamsterley on the 16th .
Let me know if you would like to join us at anytime ..

Any other reason would have been unacceptable but for a roast beef filled Yorkshire I can forgive you 😀
I was surprised at how rideable that bridleway was through the field and the lower young woodland section. You couldn’t see the ground when I was there but it rolls nicely, so good work!
My experience generally of picking random bridleways in Northmuberland has resulted in much swearing, gnashing of teeth, pushing of bikes and snorkelling of bogs, but perhaps I’m just looking in the wrong places.

Would be great to join you for a ride sometime. Bikes is bikes whatever age you are, so I don’t mind if you don’t mind a “young” (I’m 29 next week, it doesn’t feel very young, but at the same time I don’t really feel like an adult) tag along. PM me or email when you’re going out and I’ll try and make it. I do struggle to find time to ride sometimes so bear with me if I have to turn a few rides down. I have no plans for the 16th at the moment but it’s my last free weekend before Christmas and I may need to do some stuff before I go away for the week. Work Christmas do on the Firday too so I may need to exercise restraint there!

I will stick you on our email list for future rides ..no problem in terms of what you can / can’t make …its not compulsory 😀
Cheers
Neil

My experience generally of picking random bridleways in Northmuberland has resulted in much swearing, gnashing of teeth, pushing of bikes and snorkelling of bogs, but perhaps I’m just looking in the wrong places.

Oh so true 🙂 but such a treat when you find one that is actually rideable.

my family ran a business from the Comb ( Reivers of Tarset/ Reivers Development ) which in turn ran the Inter Company Kielder Challenge for 25 years ..

I went to a stag do there in 2001 – driving tanks, quad bikes, proper serious paint balling with military scenarios. Would that be your lot then?

Hi Paul..
It was yes ..sadly those activities are no more ..however it has recently been redeveloped and marketed as luxury group accommodation and is being run by a distant ( to me ) family member ..please excuse the shameful link ( haha)
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/18760670
I also posted that in the Dirty Reiver Thread ..