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Depends what you want.
Hexham, Morpeth, Durham, Alnwick are 'proper' town with shops and pubs and which you could live in or near and not need to go to the city. Many other places, particularly within 30mins of Newcastle are taken over by commuting accountants/doctors/dentists (I should know) so are really just a collection of houses in a nice place but you'd forever be popping into the nearest town for stuff.
I live near Hexham (locals may be able to work out exactly which village ;-)) and it took a while to adjust to the idea that you don't need to go to Newcastle to buy things, Hexham really has it all. If you lived in Corbridge for example, as well as being more expensive, there are really only little boutiquey shops.
So probably decide whether you just want to live there or be part of a local community . . .
Chester-le-Street is decent for getting into town (Newcastle that is)and there are plenty of places to ride nearby although not necessarily technical. Of course, Great Lumley is nice, but makes the commute that little bit more awkward.
Someone mentioned riding on Waldridge Fell. The day the new Durham County Council was formed they slapped a ban on bikes on the Fell!
Woody - That's certainly true about Waldridge Fell car parks, I was once winked at and given the nod by a bloke on a scooter in the most suggestive way. 😆 And this was in the middle of the day! I just thought he was admiring my bike. 😆
As for banning bikes on the fell, well, people still ride there and you might get a dissaproving telling off, but to be honest the Council have done more to vandalise the paths than any cyclist ever has. There are loads of good trails off the beaten track that no one walks and you'll never be seen. Whether that is 'right' is another story though.
The woods just next to the fell are good too, and you will never see a soul all day. I spent most of my weekends there as a kid and the only person I used to bump into was me dad out for a run! Oh, and the occasional mountain biker and even Jason McCroy on the odd occasion, we named a steep bank the 'JMC' after he rode down it, it was like a cliff face. Great times.
GG That's good to know.Cheers.
I've been thinking about heading over that way via Burnhope/Holmside as I thought there might be some good stuff. I've had a sneaky look around Lord Lambtons land but not had much joy at joining it all up but on the plus side I didn't get shot 😀
Problem is, as the OP will find out, there is just so much choice!
To be fair if you plump for somewhere like Gosforth with is North West Newcastle if isn't a bad place and if you squint you could maybe think it's a "village like" atmoshere - it's got a High Street! Then 2 mins onto the A1 for the airport, and pretty much on the start of the Cyclone route for the road riding!
Watch out for the Lions on Lord Lambtons land.
Too true mate, there is loads of choice.
Lambton's land is ok and I've never had any bother when I've been pootling around, but I wouldn't really want to get caught by a gamekeeper with a gun. 😉 Or the lions!
You can do some good loops down from Burnhope into Holmside and fit in the woods at Waldridge, or even go as far as Beamish Woods, there really are some good trails in there. Also, there used to be an old BMX track in Sacriston, but I'm not sure if it's still there but it was good for messing about on.
Also, Chopwell isn't that far for a ride really, I think someone else already mentioned it earlier.
Watch out for the Lions on Lord Lambtons land.
I use them for sprint training. 8)
Edit : Chopwell is pretty good but I've only been to pick up wounded bikers there recently!
To summarise - all this is pretty much in a one hour radius of Newcastle! 😛
Welcome brother!!!
Lived in Newcastle area most of my life and of all the places around there I would live again in allendale. 5 bridleways going in different directions from the village or near enough to ride. If you want a few more luxuries then as people have said Hexham and Morpeth are both good. I think Alnwick is a touch far out. As others have said there's plenty of cycling in the region and most a short drive.
The oddsox calendar uses USA date formatting. Not nice.
No it doesn't...
A warning about Hexham...
It has a very good triathlon club with national level coaching and a competition standard swimming pool. If you choose to live in Hexham you may be tempted to ride on-road in a wet swimming costume... 😯
a mate of mine is going to be renting his house in chopwell village soon, not exactly the nicest area in the north east but cheap and smack bang next to chopwell woods for riding. about an hour commute to/from newcastle city centre by bike on 90% offroad route, 20mins bus/car. if anyones interested my email is in my profile
i live in newcastle (heaton) - you can do a bit of cheeky riding in jesmond dene/various other urban woods if you stay central say in gosforth, and chopwell/holywell dene are about an hour buy bike
personally i'd go for south of the tyne, Co. Durham way (burnopfield, consett etc) or Tyne Valley (wylam, hexham etc). it's all a bit too flat north of the river till you get further out past morpeth
No it doesn't...
not now, very odd (sox)
think Alnwick is a touch far out.
Ay? It's 32 mile to Newcastle takes about 50 min on a weekday.
Plus they talk funny up there. 😉
You're making me jealous. I live miles away but visit regularly as my wife is a native Northumbrian and we seriously thought about moving up to Rothbury but couldn't get jobs. I always take the bike on visits but have no where near exhausted the possibilities . Just do it.
So Mattjg, what are you waiting for? Give us a shout if you make it up here anytime. Only too happy to share the local knowledge.
So Mattjg, what are you waiting for? Give us a shout if you make it up here anytime. Only too happy to share the local knowledge.
We're waiting to pop the sproglet out and see if our house in Dorking works out. If it doesn't we'll likely end up renting, and there are no decent rentals in the SE so it's likely we'll be in the NE where the other half's family are and there's a bit more space. (And I've warmed to the idea a lot).
Thanks all for your hospitality and advice, appreciate it.
And if we stay down south, Dorking has masses of forest/cross country riding on the doorstep so gimme a squawk if you're down that way.